Favorite Fictional Character --- Underdog

I always find it fascinating when a fictional character is created for a single purpose, but ends up being so much more than that. Many times they are created as an advertising gimmick used to sell toys, greeting cards, cat food, and just about anything else you can think of.  Some of them, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as an example, prove to be so popular that most people don't realize they were originally created to by an ad agency. There are some of that never leave the realm of advertising, Tony the Tiger for example, that still somehow manages to become bigger than the product itself.  The guy, while not as huge as Rudolph still managed to follow in his footsteps, and become more than the cereal peddler he started off as.

The superhero who always spoke in rhyming couplets, Underdog was the brainchild of General Mills, the company behind many of my favorite cereals from childhood. He, along with Tennessee Tuxedo, proved to be so popular they got their own cartoons, comic books, and merchandise.  Much like Superman, Underdog hid his greatness behind a mediocre front, Shoeshine Boy. They shared many of the same superpowers, and even had a familiar catchphrase, but that's were the similarities end.

Where Superman was focused on saving the world from extensional threats, Underdog was more concerned about saving his girl from the nefarious villains who just couldn't leave her alone.  And while he did in fact have great superpowers, he could never finish a episode without flying into a building, or causing so much collateral damage that I can't even begin to imagine the cost of his cleanups.  I would have suggested Karate Kat, who was a janitor by day, for cleanup duty, but he didn't come around until decades later. 

Favorite Fictional Character --- Popeye

If there is a pantheon of biggest fictional characters of all time, there are a few whose membership should never be doubted.  I dare anyone to not know the names of Superman, Sherlock Holmes, Mickey Mouse, Dracula, Bugs Bunny, or even Scooby-Doo.  These are names, and faces, that are universally recognized and loved.  I could make an argument for twenty or thirty other characters that I could easily names into their ranks, but this post is about one of them in particular.  I'm sure that there are going to be naysayers about this guy, those who say he really isn't as big of a pop culture icon as I believe he is, but I would humbly tell them that they are wrong.

If for some bizarre reason you don't recognize this guy, you can call him Popeye the Sailor Man, Popeye for short.  Popeye, bless his heart, comes across as a crass sailor with very little education.  For the most part, he sort of lives up to that characteristic, but he has these moments that not only defies all expectations, but always made me think his normal attitude was all a front.  Those moments when his intelligence shines, somehow solving problems that flummoxed everyone else, were the moments that made me think we were seeing the real Popeye. Spinach may have gave him super-strength, but I somehow doubt that it gave him super-intelligence as well.  I never understood what he saw in Olive, a woman who seemed to pit him and Bluto against each other, all for her enjoyment.  I guess it proves that when it comes to love, no amount of intelligence can keep you from acting a fool. 

If you doubt his iconic status, just think back on all the comic strips, comic books, movies, TV shows, books, and cartoons that he has starred in over the last 87 years.  That's not counting all the licenses merchandise, video and pinball games, toys and stuffed animals, his stint as a spokesman for Quaker Oats, or his stint as the mascot of the most popular soccer teams in the world at , Flamengo.   If you can name a product, he has been on it.  Popeye is the man, and Mickey, Bugs, and the rest, are making room for him.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Heckle & Jeckle

There are certain characters, dreamed up in bygone eras, that I really don't think would find an audience today.  Some of them are products of their times, created to fit into an era's zeitgeist.  They could be too naive, cute, or innocent to find an audience in today's jaded marketplace.  Or they could play to a stereotype that would not be tolerated in today's world.  Others, and I'm thinking of the characters I'm featuring today when I say this, just may be too abrasive to find refuge in the living rooms of 2016.  I could be wrong, maybe these guys could find an audience, but I'm thinking their shtick would have to be tweaked a bit, maybe a lot.  But even their abrasiveness may find a home. I look at some of what's on TV these days, including cartoons, and I'm amazed by the crassness of it all.  Toilet humor runs amok, and intelligence is downplayed.  If I were a kid of today, I would be watching a whole lot of vintage cartoons, not the drivel being produced now.  When all is said and done, I'm thinking Heckle & Jeckle may be a tad bit too mean spirited enough for today's youth, especially with the way bullying seems to be such a huge issue.  Despite it all, I still love them.  It's impossible to watch a cartoon of theirs, without cracking up.

For those of you who don't know Heckle & Jeckle, it's the two magpies in the picture above.  If you go by their accents, one is English, the other is from New York.  Other than that, I'm not really sure anyone could really tell them apart.  They are both temperamental, brash, antagonistic, sarcastic, and at times, a wee bit mean spirited.  They rarely ever aren't the instigators of their little capers, and often times go on the offensive, long before their "foe" knows what's going on.  They both can be devious in their actions, but that's seems to be Jeckle's forte, more than Heckle.  They are grifters and freeloaders, and damn proud of it.  They look out for themselves, and aren't overly concerned about the damage they inflict. 

Even with all those negative things I just said about them, they are the best of friends and have the other's  back, no matter what.  As with all partnerships, they have their sniping moments, but's it's almost impossible to not see the true friendship and camaraderie between the two of them.  They are loyal to each other, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and if they were real people, they probably would have met a similar fate.  And did I mention, they are frickin hilarious?  Unless I'm gagged, it would be impossible for me to not laugh out loud when I watch them.  I adore them, and if that makes me a mean person, I can live with it.  At least I'm a mean person with a wicked sense of humor. 

The First Doctor Strange Trailer Is Here!

By now you guys already know I'm a huge Doctor Strange fan, have been since I was a wee little tyke. He's been my avatar on Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Disqus, Pinterest, and about every other social media website I've been a part of, even GetGlue.

I was a little worried when I heard Benedict Cumberbatch was going to be playing him in the movie, the movie I've been waiting for my whole life.  They released the first trailer on the 12th, and now that I've seen the trailer, it's not his casting that has my concerned.  I'm still not sure what I think of him, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt still.  Instead it's the casting choice of the Ancient One that I'm overly confused by.

I'm used to Marvel changing the race of classic characters in order to make a cast more diverse.  They cast Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, a character that was a traditionally a cigar chomping, grey streaked white guy.  Idris Elba was cast as Heimdall, the guardian of Asgard, and the movie version of Doctor Strange has another casting change, Chiwetel Ejiofo will be playing Baron Mordo, another traditionally white character.

What I'm puzzled by, is the casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One.  It's not the idea of this character becoming a woman that bothers me, though I do think it's a rather odd choice to begin with.  Rather, it's changing the character from a really old Asian guy, into a bald white woman, that I find to be perplexing.  I get changing the race of a character to make a movie more diverse, I don't get changing a minority character into a white character though.  I really don't get changing a character who is supposed to teach Doctor Strange the mysteries of Asian mysticism, to someone who isn't Asian. Makes no sense.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still super excited for this movie, and it will be one that I will see on opening day.  To put things in perspective, I have never felt that I HAVE to see a movie on opening day.  I'm just hoping the casting doesn't distract me from what I'm hoping will be a terrific origin story.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Pig-Pen

 You know those moments in your childhood that stick with you, no matter how old you get?  Well I have two of them that relate to why I have always had a soft spot for Pig-Pen.  I know I've mentioned this before, in different contexts of course, but I had a rather unusual childhood.  Because of various factors, I really never had a mom, at least not one that truly acted like one.  Instead I had, for all intents and purposes, an older sister who made sure I had a roof over my head, and that I didn't go hungry.  She never acted like a mom until I was about to graduate high school, so needless to say, my childhood was an odd one.

For whatever reason, for a brief time in fifth grade, I got it into my head to sleep in my school clothes.  My mom didn't make sure we were up, generally slept through that part of the morning, so I'm pretty sure she never even noticed I was doing it.  Well you can imagine the way a kid who is doing that ends up smelling like after a while, and kids being kids, I was quickly told of my odoriferous situation.  I'm going to assume that most of the kids just assumed it was because I was poor, which we were, though that had nothing to do with my strange notion of sleeping in my clothes, or that I didn't know what a shower was, when I took one daily.  Add on the fact I was a rather shy kid back then, and the rest of 5th grade kinda sucked. There were other issues going on then too, but this certainly did not help.   That's also the year I had to go on a field trip, to the lake my father died in.

A few years later, during the whole carnival years, the aroma problem reared it's ugly head once again.  This time, it wasn't because I was sleeping in my clothes, it was because where we were living for the winter, I wasn't able to take a shower every day.  It was probably the most humiliating thing to happen to me at that age, though not one of the other kids ever said a word to me, so for that, I will always be grateful.  It also didn't help that I had been changing schools so much, every two weeks, due to the carnival moving towns.  So I was never comfortable around kids my own age, since all the other kids on the road were either older or younger to me.  And moving every two weeks, it was pretty hard to make friends.  Instances like this, just made it worse.

So I get Pig-Pen.  His friends are nice to his face, though their teasing can be a bit harsh at times.  They talk about him behind his back, and his creator regretted the fact he ever drew him.  We never learn his real name, or his family situation.  Half the time, it appears that there is no one at home looking out for him, but other times, his mom is calling him home to take a bath.  Most of the time it appears that his dirtiness is by choice, but other strips you can see the emotional damage the teasing inflicts on him.  I really do think he's just a boy who likes to play, and doesn't care about the dirt.  But I can relate to those glimpses of pain, when other kids don't bite their tongues.  When the choices of an adult, has a negative impact on your self esteem, I get the ramrod straight back you end up putting up, in an attempt to show the world they aren't getting to you. Pig-Pen, and the real human kids like him, like me, deserve better than what's said to them.  He's always going to be a part of me, and despite it all, I'm grateful for it. 

And for the record, both situations have stayed in my head.  It's part of the reason I take two showers a day, and have used cologne since high school.  I will never put myself in that situation again. That's a promise I made in TX after I was called to the principal's office that last time, being offered the use of the locker room showers before school.  

I'm At Book Bloggers International Waxing Poetically Over Doctor Strange

If any of you guys are interested in reading how much I love Doctor Strange and why I think Benedict Cumberbatch is an odd choice to play him, head on over and give it a go.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Mighty Mouse

I can't believe this will be the last post of my superhero month.  I was racking my brain trying to figure out who I wanted to end with, and I had so many running through my brain.  It was really hard for me to select one, but I ended up going with one that I've loved since I started watching cartoons.  I was so fascinated with this guy, and I loved the idea that he didn't have some complicated back story.  He was Mighty Mouse, no other identity or story was needed.  That's it.  He was a hero all the time.  He was the coolest mouse, and I knew he could kick Mickey Mouses's ass.

If I was being completely honest, I still think Mighty Mouse was way cooler than Superman.  He could do the same things Superman could, but he was so much smaller.  So in my head, that meant Mighty Mouse was stronger, and could kick Superman's butt as well.  Now I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be the case, but I would love to see it happen.  Truth be told, I've never been a huge Superman fan.

The other thing I loved about the cartoons was the way that Mighty Mouse, and most of the characters for that matter, was the way that they sang the entire time. It was this little operatic adventure story, that could enthrall me for long periods of time.  I didn't care about his love interests, mainly because I was too damn young to care,   I didn't even care that much for the villains, most of them were stock cats who were interchangeable.   But the singing, that grabbed, and kept my attention.  

Occasionally I will find an old Mighty Mouse cartoon on TV or as part of a old time cartoon DVD collection, and I'm just as entranced now as I was then.  I wish they still made cartoons like this, instead of the crap that is produced now.  I'm pretty sure cartoons will never be this good again, but the inner child in me, will always wish for it.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Space Ghost

I was a cartoon addict as a kid, and one of my favorite channels was USA.  Does anyone else remember Cartoon Express?  If I'm remembering right, they had a weekday version, and a weekend version.  I watched it every change I got, and it's the reason I'm so in love with cartoons that really were before my time.  Give me The Herculoids over Ren & Stimpy, any day.  I still have a lot of fond memories over the days I spent on my grandmother's living room floor, switching the dial to USA, and getting lost in cartoon worlds.

On of the shows I loved featured Space Ghost and his teenage sidekicks, Jan & Jace.  And you can't forget that damn monkey, Blip.  I'm so not a fan of inhuman sidekicks, and Blip is a large part of the reason why.  He was so frickin annoying.  I could handle Jan & Jace, especially since they seemed to keep the stoic Space Ghost from becoming to full himself.

And he was a little full of himself.  I'm not talking about that horrible talk show parody they stuck him in, I couldn't handle it.  I can never watch one of my favorite childhood characters, turned into a joke.  I much prefered him when he was racing across space, protecting planets form destruction, and beating his regular cast of bad guys.

I even liked his bad guys.  They were different, and while they seem kind of hokey to me now, they were really cool when I was a kid.  Moltar, Zorak, Black Widow, Metallus, and Brak, how I love you guys.  I used to pretend I was along for the ride, when Space Ghost would kick your asses.  The adventures were something I could get lost in, and let me imagine a world where right always wins, and the bad guys always lose.  That false sense of rightness is why I love cartoons, and why I love superheroes so much.  Even if the good guys suffer a defeat, you always know that they will some how land on top.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Banshee

Back in the day, even after I stopped reading comic books, I still collected superhero action figures.  At one point in time, my sophomore year in college, I had quite a few of them.  Now most of them were X-Men characters, though I had a few that weren't.  One of the figures that I really wanted, but never got, was of Banshee.  I looked high and low in every store I could get to, and I never found it.  By the time I found one, I was no longer collecting them, and I had given all of them away to a neighbor kid.

The man who would go by the name of Banshee, was born Sean Cassidy.  He was raised in his ancestral home, on the rugged, wind swept coast of Northern Ireland.  He grew up with all of his family's noble history, and for the most part, it rubbed off on him. As he grew up, he realized that he had one of the coolest mutant powers I've ever seen.  He can produce a sonic scream so powerful, that he can use it to fly, take out his enemies, and a myriad of other cool things.  

As he continued to age, he joined Interpol, fell in love and got married. While on a rather lenghty, undercover assignment, he lost his wife in a horrible terrorist attack.  She was pregnant at the time, which he never knew about, and it was kept from him when he got back from his mission.  It was thought by those around him, that it would be better for him not to know he lost a daughter as well.  What many didn't know, is that she lived, and was raised by Sean's cousin.  Let's just say, the two men didn't like each other very well, so his cousin never filled him in on the truth.  So his daughter was raised by his criminal cousin, and he continued with life, not knowing anything about her.

In the meantime he joined the X-Men and a few other organizations, and lived and loved on Muir Island. He put his life in danger, more often than most, all in the name of doing what's right and noble.  At one point in time, he did appear to be dead, but it's recently come to light that he has been brought back.

What I've always loved about Banshee, even when he was at his lowest, is he never allowef the darkness to completely overwhelm him.  I'm not saying he hasn't been rocked on his heels a few times, and hasn't hit the bottle, but that innate nobility always shines through in the end.  He, at his core, is a genuinely good guy.  He wants to do what is right, and wants to put the needs and safety of those around him, ahead of his self.  In my book, that makes him the perfect superhero. 

Of course it doesn't hurt that he's hot, for a blond, and has an awesome superpower.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Stingray

Ever since I was a kid, I've been a superhero geek.  Now I'm not one of those that would ever go to Comic-Con, or dress up like their favorite character.  I haven't touched a comic book in years, and most of the superhero movies don't do anything for me.  But there is a select group of heroes that I love.  I've loved them since I first stumbled up on them, and I will probably always love them.  Over the years I've highlighted only a few of them, Doctor Strange, Mandrake the Magician, and Northstar.  So in the month of September, I'm going to be posting on some of my other favorite superheroes.  Some of them will be familiar to a lot of you, others only if you grew up reading comic books.  And for those superhero fanatics who happen to stumble upon these posts, these are not character bios or in depth studies of their behaviors, these are simply posts about why I like them.

Born Walter Newell, the man who would become the costumed crime fighter, Stingray, started off as a famed oceanographer.  He is one of those men who got caught up in the adventuring game, purely by accident.  The U.S. government asked him to supervise the construction of a underwater city, and he quickly became friends with Namor, the Sub-Mariner.  When the government thought Namor was in league with terrorists, Dr. Newell, donned the Stingray costume to capture his friend.

Over the years he has worked with the Avengers on a needed basis, and even helped to house them in his underwater research lab when their mansion was destroyed.  He has helped beat back alien and terrestrial threats to the Earth, and shows almost undaunted courage in the face of danger.  Which, when you think about it, is pretty amazing.  He has no special powers and really no trained combat skills. He has to rely on his suit, which allows him to breath underwater, has a pretty cool propulsion system, gives him super strength while he is wearing it, and since his name is Stingray, it gives off controlled electric shocks.

If you knew the kid I was growing up, you would understand why I loved Stingray.  For years, all I wanted to be was an oceanographer.  I could think of no cooler career choice.  I even knew I wanted to go to school in Hawaii.  I'm not sure what weakened my resolve, but after a few years I focused on medicine, and we all know how that turned out.  And the idea of an ordinary guy, with no unique powers, putting himself out there to help others, it's something I admire and strive to emulate in my life.  Of course I'm not donning a costume and chasing down criminals, but there are so many ways you can positively influence the lives of others.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Dagwood Bumstead

Today, I'm feeling a lot like the subject of this post.  I'm a little lazy, and would like nothing better to do than curl up on the couch and take a nap.  And I'll admit to being a bit peckish as well, maybe a nice large sandwich would hit the spot.  I would even be up for one of the long, soaking baths he is so fond of, but I'm just a tad bit too tall for that one, at least in the standard sized bathtub.  I also don't seem to have the energy to make, let alone eat, the type of sandwich that he is so know for.  So if I'm going to emulate Dagwood Bumstead at all, it will be taking a quick (or long) nap on the couch.

Growing up, I'm sure that Dagwood did not foresee the adult life he wasn't that far away from.  Growing up in a rather wealthy family, they did own a locomotive company after all, I don't think Dagwood dreamed of working at J.C. Dithers & Company, as an office manager.  Nor do I think he saw himself with two kids, a dog, and a mortgage.  But the life young Dagwood dreamed of, quickly disappeared when he met Blondie Boopadoop, a young flapper out on the town.  The two fell in love, married, and Dagwood quickly saw himself disowned by his parents.

So know he slaves away, working for someone else, just to provide for his family.  His social life now revolves around the neighborhood he lives in, and he has found comfort in lives simple pleasures; food, sleep, and water.  I'm not sure I would have liked the Dagwood of yesteryear, before he met Blondie, but I know that I love the family man that he became.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Hagar the Horrible

I had an unusual childhood to say the least, a lot of the details you guys already know, some you don't, but that's not what this post is about.  What it is about is that despite my strange upbringing, I have some really happy memories of that time in my life, and I"m sure yo won't be surprised when I tell you that many of them revolve around books.  We moved around so much, that it was hard for me to make friends, but books stayed with me the entire time.  Of course, they came and went, but they were still constant in a way that other kids never were.  One of the books that stands out so much for me, and I'm thinking it was around the 4th or 5th grade, was a collection of Hagar the Horrible strips.  I had loved him in the funny pages, so my mom bought me one of the books, and I read it cover to cover in a flash.

When I think about Vikings, I'll admit that my first thought is not of Hagar.  Instead I picture a tall Nordic blond god, rippling with muscles, ready to ravage me.  Or, he could be there to kill me and steal all of my property, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for the first option.  But that is the adult fantasy I have in my head, as a kid, it was Hagar all the way.  He was a family man; nagged by a stronger wife, bemused by an intellectual son (the way I saw myself), and in states of panic over the idea of his buxom daughter involved with an idiot of a bard.  He was trying to provide for his family in the only way he knew how, pillage it from others, and he wasn't always that successful at it.

The poor guy wasn't blessed with the brightest mind, nor was he all that much better off with the crew he had, but despite all that, his family was family.  He even managed to keep the dog and duck fed.  Not growing up with a father, or at least not with a father I have great memories of, Hagar was the the kind of father I wanted as a kid.  Strong, caring, gruff but tolerant, willing to bet here when needed... it was a laundry list of what I always hoped my dad could have been.  The only thing my dad had on Hagar, he bathed more than once a year.  Now that I couldn't have handled.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Billy

Once upon a time, during a lifetime long since passed, I used to look forward to Sundays for one particular reason.  I loved the comic section of the Sunday paper, loved it!  I would wait patiently for my turn, well if we had the paper on that particular day, so I could dive in and visit my friends that I haven't seen in at least a week.  There were certain strips that I loved more than others, some of which my mom would by book versions of for me to read.  But I read them all, even if it was one that I didn't love all that much, I would still read it, and normally found myself interested despite myself.  So the next four weeks are going to focus on some of my favorite characters to appear in the Sunday comic section, or the Funny Pages, depending on where you are from.

Up to bat first is my favorite 7 year old, Billy from Family Circus.  I would have done anything to trade in my real younger brother for Billy.  Where my brother was mopey, surly, and annoying to be around, I always thought that Billy would be a blast to hang out with.  He's not perfect, and he's constantly getting into trouble, but the kid has such an inspiring outlook on life.  He is willing to throw himself into almost any situation, he comes at the world with so much curiosity and wonder, and he has to have one of the best imagination in the world.  If Billy had been my little brother, I would have been nine to his seven, and I think that would have been so cool, though I'm sure we would have been in even more trouble than either of us got into on our own.

An aspiring artist, as is his father, Billy is never shy to share what his mind is thinking, and quite truthfully, it's one of the best things about this character.  He is open and expressive, and will take twenty minutes to go from the kitchen to his front door.  I'm just wishing I had that much energy now.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Chilly Willy

So sue me, I'm a cartoon addict.  I always have been, always will be,and I'm not ashamed of it.  But just because I'm an addict, doesn't mean I don't have standards.  The crap that passes as cartoons on TV these days sucks.  It's not worth my time, hell they haven't been worth my time since the mid 1990s.  Most of them are animated by computers, with the brains of 2 a two year old.  They are horrible, why can't they be like they were in the 1980s, or better yet, the cartoons I grew up with that were even older than that.  That's what the next few weeks will be dedicated to, the cartoons I loved as a kid, but were really the ones my mom grew up with.

To get the party started, we start off with Chilly Willy, the only penguin to make his home in Alaska.  I'm really not sure how he got that far away from home, or what possessed him to move there, but I'm glad he took the risk.  He wouldn't be as much fun had he stayed home, surrounded by a bazillion other little penguins.  What I really never understood is why he chose Alaska.  The poor guy is always cold, and is always trying to stay warm.  Why didn't he move to the Cayman Islands or San Diego?  It would have been warmer there, and he probably would have had an easier time finding the pancakes he loved so much.

But no matter where Chilly Willy chose to live, he was frickin adorable and could never do any wrong in my book.  I wanted to hang out with him as a kid, he just seemed like he would be cool to chill out with, puns intended.  I would've even put up with Smedley, it if meant hanging with Chilly.  Since the cartoon gods never answered that particular wish, I guess I'll have to satisfy myself with watching him on Youtube.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Pikachu

The day before Thanksgiving is never one of my favorite days.  It's a busy day at work, then I have to run to the grocery store and grab the things I didn't remember to get earlier.  It's a crazy, frantic, draining day that I never look forward to.  Of course it's followed by Thanksgiving, which is just as busy and crazy, but for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to get on my nerves at all.  So right now, well tonight actually, I will be doing some basic prep work, but mostly, I will be trying to relax.  I will chill out with a book, ignore everyone who tries to talk to me, and set my alarm clock so I can get up early enough to start cooking and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  It's tradition in my house, and one that seems to tone down all the craziness of the day.

Despite having a son, who never seemed to get into Pokemon all that much, I know very little about Pikachu, the species.  I don't know there habitat choices, their mating habits, or how to tell the difference between a male and a female.  I'm sure I can read all about it on Wikipedia, but to be honest, I really don't care.  So this post is about a particular Pikachu, well the Pikachu from the animated series.  It's not even a show I really ever watched that much, but when I did, it was Pikachu I fell in love with.  When I did catch the show, he was the only reason I didn't turn the station.

When the young Pokemon trainer, Ash Ketchum, begins his journey of animal enslavement, he is given a young Pikachu as his first charge.   Which by the way, I think it was pretty lazy of Ash to not give Pikachu a different name, but that's neither here nor there.  At first our young hero, and I'm talking about Pikachu here, refuses to do what Ash tells him to do.  Oftentimes, Pikachu, who is an electrical Pokemon, would shock Ash instead of listening to him.  He rebelled if put in his Poke Ball, and good for him on that one.  Pikachu begins to warm up to Ash when he realizes Ash isn't all that bad, and actually has the best intentions.  When Ash saves his life, Pikachu and Ash's bond starts to deepen, and it's not long before they are the best of friends.  But true to form, Pikachu still hates to be inside that stupid Poke Ball.

Now I know I'm not the only one who finds Pikachu adorable.  At the height of his popularity, Pikachu appeared to have taken over the world.  He was named Second Best Person of the Year by Time magazine.  He was the 15th greatest cartoon character of all time, as named by TV Guide, and he was everywhere.  Stuffed animals, sheet sets, toothbrushes, towels, cutlery.... you name it, he's on it.  He is the Japanese version of Mickey Mouse, and I never want him to go away.  When he says "Pika, pika", my heart melts, my knees get weak, and my breathe catches just a bit.  He is cuteness personified, and I hope he stays that way.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Mandrake the Magician

I'm not sure if some of you will think I'm cheating this month or not, but here it goes anyway.  As you all know, when I love a character, I really do love them.  Every single character I've featured over the last few years is someone that I have grown to care about and hold dear for one reason or another.  Some have taught me important lessons, others have simply entertained me.  So this month is dedicated to those characters that I've featured before, but never really got a lot of love from my readers.  It will be my second chance to spread the word about some very special characters, and hopefully it will give those characters one more chance to win over some fans.  

Now I may be shooting myself in the foot with this, but I'm hoping that this time around these very special characters will win some new followers of their own.  If even one more person is exposed to them, I'll consider this month to be a success.  So with no further ado, I would love to reintroduce you to a character that I first feature on June 9th, 2010.  He is one that has been around for decades and deserves all the attention he can get, Mandrake the Magician.

Growing up, I was always fascinated by stage magicians.  There was something so wondrous about a elegantly dressed man wearing a a top hat who can make things disappear or appear at will.  So when I came across a bunch of old comic books, during the 4th grade, that showcased a stage magician who not only performed real magic but fought criminals and saved innocents, I was hooked.

Mandrake the Magician started as a syndicated comic strip appearing in newspapers around the country in the 1930s.  He quickly became so popular that he started to appear in his own comic books, the ones I fell in love with plus a radio series in the 1940s and a movie serial from Columbia pictures, which is now available on DVD (I'm so buying them).

Needless to say with all the moving we did as I kid I eventually lost track of those comic books and Mandrake had slowly started to fade in my memory, so when the animated series, Defenders of the Earth, came out in the late 1980s I was hooked once again.  Defenders paired Mandrake up with his old sidekick Lothar (who was one of the earliest black heroes to appear in comic books), The Phantom, and Flash Gordon, both of which where first created by King Features, the company behind the Mandrake comic strip.  I loved this show, these heroes, along with their younger heirs, fought off Ming the Merciless from conquering our world.  It was only on for about one season, but every once in a while I find episodes of it for sale on DVD.

I have a lot of fond memories of Mandrake as he fought evil villains like The Cobra.  He stuck to his guns and never let the situations he found himself in, get the best of him.  He was strong and kind and I owe a big thank you to whoever put those comics in that box, then forgot about then.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Wonder Woman

Well here it is, another week and finally a new character to post about.  I know she's not from One Life To Live, though that would have made the show even more interesting.  I've been rather upset about the show going off the air, so I'm just not prepared to dive back into the pool of characters.  It's pathetic, but I miss them too much right now.  Instead I'm going to briefly talk about one of my favorite super heroes of all time, Wonder Woman.  Now I was never a fan of DC comic books, so I can't talk about that version of her.  Instead this will be about the TV version played by the gorgeous Lynda Carter.

As some of you may know, the television series only lasted 3 seasons, though I think it should have gone for many more.  I actually own every season on DVD and probably watch it a bit too much.  The show was cheesy and the timeline was hilarious.  Season one takes place while the U.S. is fighting Nazi Germany, and most of the action takes place along those lines.  The second season takes place decades later and the main male lead actor is now playing the son of the first character he played.  It's just lots of fun.

Like I said earlier I don't know much about the comic version of Wonder Woman, but from what I've seen form the TV show makes me fall in lover with her every time she steps onto my screen.  Besides being drop dead gorgeous with some of the sexiest eyes to ever grace a human being, she is one of those rare characters that has no ulterior motives.  She does what she does because she believes it to be the right thing to do and she wants to help the human race survive the pitfalls that are laid before it.

She is everything a super hero should be.  She has superior strength, stamina, and can leap like a gazelle.  She has a lasso that forces those caught with it to tell the truth, she can stop bullets with her bracelets, and even has an invisible plane to ride around in.  But most of all she is purely selfless.  She is an Amazonian princess who grew up (without aging) on an enchanted island that protects it's inhabitants.  It's by her own choice to get involved in the outside world and protect man from outside enemies and from itself.  It's not something she has to do because the gods tell her, it's because she knows it's the right thing to do.  I can only hope that she is an example that more people live up to in that regard.

I think this is where I will end this post because I have an burning desire to go watch season 3.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Northstar

Growing up I was a comic book junkie, not as bad as a lot of kids my age were, but serious enough.  As I grew older though, my interest died down a bit, but never went away completely.  I still knew what was going on with my favorites, even if I didn't read the books all the time.  So when Northstar came out of the closet, I was thrilled.  I had enjoyed him for a few years and found him to be my favorite of Alpha Flight, so him being gay just topped of my love for him.

Born Jean-Paul Beaubier, Northstar had a rather hard childhood.  Shortly after he was born both of his parents were killed and he was separated from his twin sister.  He was raised by distant relatives until they were both killed when he was six, and he was put into foster care.  As he got older he started to realize that he was both gay and a mutant, he has the ability of super speed and can manipulate his own kinetic energy. He acted out by petty theft until someone took him under his wing and introduced him to skiing, an activity that allowed him to train his powers as well.  He had a brief run as a trapeze artist for a circus but quickly went back to skiing, where he won an Olympic Gold Medal.  A medal he had to give back years later when the public found out he was a mutant.

He eventually joined the Canadian team, Alpha Flight, were he was reunited with his twin sister who went by the codename Aurora.  She shared his same ability and when they touched, their powers were amplified.  Throughout the years he was been killed, turned into a zombie, brainwashed to kill other heroes, and adopted a young baby girl with AIDS who dies shortly after.  Now since this is superhero land, he was done all this in different alternate realities, instead of in the same time and space.

His sexuality has been both ignored and explored, in one reality he dated Colossus.  He has had issues with his sister and the public over it and has even mentored another young hero who was gay.  He was been a role  model for thousands of gay kids who needed a hero they could look up to, and thankfully the Marvel writers (for the most part) have allowed him to do just that.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Mandrake the Magician

Growing up, I was always fascinated by stage magicians.  There was something so wondrous about a elegantly dressed man wearing a a top hat who can make things disappear or appear at will.  So when I came across a bunch of old comic books, during the 4th grade, that showcased a stage magician who not only performed real magic but fought criminals and saved innocents, I was hooked.

Mandrake the Magician started as a syndicated comic strip appearing in newspapers are the country in the 1930s.  He quickly became so popular that he started to appear in his own comic books, the ones I fell in love with plus a radio series in the 1940s and a movie serial from Columbia pictures, which is now available on DVD (I'm so buying them).

Needless to say with all the moving we did as I kid I eventually lost track of those comic books and Mandrake had slowly started to fade in my memory, so when the animated series, Defenders of the Earth, came out in the late 1980s I was hooked once again.  Defenders paired Mandrake up with his old sidekick Lothar (who was one of the earliest black heroes to appear in comic books), The Phantom, and Flash Gordon, both of which where first created by King Features, the company behind the Mandrake comic strip.  I loved this show, these heroes, along with their younger heirs, fought off Ming the Merciless from conquering our world.  It was only on for about one season, but every once in a while I find episodes of it for sale on DVD.

I have a lot of fond memories of Mandrake as he fought evil villians like The Cobra.  He stuck to his guns and never let the situations he found himself in, get the best of him.  He was strong and kind and I owe a big thank you to whoever put those comics in that box, then forgot about then.

Favorite Fictional Characters --- Doctor Strange

This is going to be the shortest Favorite Fictional Character post I do. Not because I have nothing to say but because Doctor Stephen Strange is simply the coolest super hero ever, enough said! I mean after all I use his image as my avatar on Blogger, Google Friend Connect, and on Twitter.

Whether he's kicking demonic butt in the comic books, fighting off evil sorcerers in the animated movie, or saving lives is the cheesy 1978 made for TV movie, he is simply the Sorcerer Supreme.

For those of you who don't know the Sorcerer Supreme is the one mystical powerhouse who defends our realm from demonic forces and those who want to wreak havoc with our reality.

I was a comic book junkie as a kid and always found myself fascinated by this character who is arrogant and kind at the same time. I would get lost for hours in his stories. His struggles against demons like Dormammu and The Nameless One would hold me spellbound for what seemed like an eternity. He still remains my favorite super hero of all time and I'm dying for them to make a "good" movie out of this character.

I encourage anyone who is even a little curious to visit Marvel.com biography and read about the most powerful sorcerer in the world.