ROLLING STONE ON STEVE DITKO

From Jay Deitcher's 7-2-24 ROLLING STONE article entitled "The Secret Life of Steve Ditko: Spider-Man Co-Creator’s Family Opens Up":

Journalists called him the J.D. Salinger of comics and portrayed him as an Ayn Rand-obsessed recluse. Neil Gaiman referred to him as “impossibly uptight.” Peers refused to work with him. Fans harassed him, slamming their fists on his office door, trying to catch a glimpse. Pulling from the little he offered them, people dehumanized him, to the point it seemed unfathomable to think he had a life with friends and family. Critics jeered at his moral absolutism. [Stan] Lee talked about him as if he were a stubborn quack who sabotaged his own career, and fans acted as if he were a traitor for leaving Spider-Man.  

With a recent settlement over the rights of Ditko’s Marvel characters behind them, the extended Ditko family wants people to recognize that their uncle was a normal guy. But what is deemed normal is constantly fluctuating — and in this case, is defined in relation to the way Lee spoke of him to the press.

Today, Ditko would probably be looked at with more empathy, as a vulnerable character similar to Spider-Man. In exclusive interviews with Rolling Stone, family members and friends describe a driven artist who never fit into social norms, yet cultivated thriving relationships. Similar to how Peter Parker never lets loved ones get too close for fear it would put them in danger, Ditko compartmentalized his life, keeping work and family distinct to retain some power in a world that overwhelmed him. And the same way Spider-Man’s neuroticism makes him amazing, the traits that people marginalized Ditko for are what transformed comics forever.

To read the entire article, click HERE. On a related note, Alex Grand's recent interview with Pat and Patrick Ditko is well worth watching...

Steve Ditko Biographical Interview with Pat & Patrick Ditko by Alex Grand:

Recommended Reading: "The 'Punk' In Splatterpunk"

Earlier this month, PUNK NOIR MAGAZINE published my review of Wrath James White's latest short story collection, THE ECSTASY OF AGONY (Clash Books, 2023). I suggest checking out White's 5-23-24 essay, "The 'Punk' In Splatterpunk: Why You Absolutely Should Be Talking About What’s Going On Right Now." Here's an excerpt: 

In the 1980s, when I was an angry teenager reading Marvel comics, horror and Splatterpunk novels, watching horror movies, listening to punk rock, Industrial music, and Black Consciousness Rap, we had a lot to be pissed off about. We had high interest rates and high unemployment, the AIDS Crises, the imminent threat of nuclear war, a drug war that turned the nation’s ghettos into warzones and police states, Reaganomics exponentially widening the gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else, factories closing down and machines taking our jobs. From that chaos we got Punk Rock music and Black Consciousness Rap, post apocalyptic novels and films, a surge of horror films and novels dominating the box office and the New York Times Bestseller list, and we got Splatterpunk [...].

I will never forget how Brian Keene got so much shit after Trump was elected when he suggested we turn our outrage into art like we did in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. And I'll never forget how we, except for a very few, failed to heed that call. We need to get angry again. We need to get radical again. We need to take real risks again. We need to get punk again!

To read the entire essay, click HERE.

GATSBY BOOKS

If you're a bibliophile and live anywhere near Long Beach, CA, I suggest visiting Gatsby Books, which is currently having a "70% Off, Everything Must Go" sale. Though it's certainly sad that yet another used bookstore is leaving Southern California, at the very least you can take this opportunity to rescue some precious items from the dwindling shelves. Here are a few treasures I succeeded in excavating from the irradiated, post-apocalyptic wreckage of one of the last independent bookstores in Long Beach...

UFO Corner

1) From Josh Marcus's 6-13-24 INDEPENDENT article entitled "I Want to Believe: Trump Gives Surprising Answer on the Existence of UFOs":

Donald Trump has revealed whether he believes in UFOs during an interview with social media personality Logan Paul released on Thursday.

While the former president said he doesn’t personally believe in UFOs, he acknowledged the growing contingent of people in- and outside of government who believe aliens exist might have a point.

Trump described meeting with military pilots who had strange encounters with unidentified anomalous phenomena, as the government refers to them.

“I met with pilots, like beautiful — Tom Cruise but taller — handsome perfect, people. ‘Sir, there was something there that was round in form and going like four times faster than my super jet fighter plane,’” Trump recalled being told. “And I looked at these guys and they really mean it.”

“Am I a believer? No,” Trump continued. “Probably I can’t say I am. But I have met with people that are serious people that say there’s some really strange things that they see flying around out there.”

To read the entire article, click HERE. 

2) From Matthew Phelan's 6-12-24 DAILY MAIL article entitled "Pentagon Official Reveals Tantalizing Seven-minute Encounter with Glowing Blue UFO - Which Emitted Enough Energy to 'Power a Small City'":

A US Department of Defense contractor's tantalizing encounter with a giant, glowing UFO has sparked 10 years of research and two patents inspired by his encounter.

Three witnesses, including that Pentagon engineer, report that they captured electronic evidence of a 'barbell' UFO, half the length of a football field, that glowed an eerie 'indigo' blue.

The craft, they said, flew silently over an old logging road in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on August 28, 2013, near where the trio had camped for a hunting trip.

DailyMail.com spoke with the case's first investigators, who shared electronic data from the contractor's attempt to film the object — showing 'white noise' pulses in the video that recur in one-second loops identical to strobing light from the UFO itself [...].

What looked just like 'white noise' on the video tape actually showed 'a perfect pulsation function,' according to their report.

This hidden 'perfect' pulse revealed by the scope was 'timed to the revolution of the lights' on the UFO and repeated at the same speed 'roughly 1-second intervals.'

According to the defense contractor witness, the pattern was what would be expected if the 'indigo' plasma outside the UFO was behaving like a very large version of an normal alternating current (A/C) motor.

Such a giant A/C motor would produce a magnetic field around it that could disrupt nearby electronics in a similar way.

'I believe this to be a poly phasing of two immense high frequency A/C fields polarized differently,' as the defense contractor put it.

'A more in-depth report is being generated for continued studies of this apparent "electronic signature,"' the defense contractor witness noted.

But Powell and Leech added that interesting progress has already been made: 'The witness has two patents that resulted from information derived from the event.'

To read the entire article, click HERE. 

3) From Victor Tangermann's 6-11-24 FUTURISM article entitled "Harvard Scientists Say There May Be an Unknown, Technologically Advanced Civilization Hiding on Earth":

What if — stick with us here — an unknown technological civilization is hiding right here on Earth, sheltering in bases deep underground and possibly even emerging with UFOs or disguised as everyday humans?

In a new paper that's bound to raise eyebrows in the scientific community, a team of researchers from Harvard and Montana Technological University speculates that sightings of "Unidentified Anomalous Phemonemona" (UAP) — bureaucracy-speak for UFOs, basically — "may reflect activities of intelligent beings concealed in stealth here on Earth (e.g., underground), and/or its near environs (e.g., the Moon), and/or even 'walking among us' (e.g., passing as humans)."

Yes, that's a direct quote from the paper. Needless to say, the researchers admit, this idea of hidden "crypoterrestrials" is a highly exotic hypothesis that's "likely to be regarded skeptically by most scientists." Nonetheless, they argue, the theory "deserves genuine consideration in a spirit of epistemic humility and openness" [...].

In the paper, they suggest a range of possibilities, each more outlandish than the next.

First is that a "remnant form" of an ancient, highly advanced human civilization is still hanging around, observing us. Second is that an intelligent species evolved independently of humans in the distant past, possibly from "intelligent dinosaurs," and is now hiding their presence from us. Third is that these hidden occupants of Earth traveled here from another planet or time period. And fourth — please keep a straight face, everybody — is that these unknown inhabitants of Earth are "less technological than magical," which the researchers liken to "earthbound angels."

UFO sightings of "craft and other phenomena (e.g., 'orbs') appearing to enter/exit potential underground access points, like volcanoes," they write, could be evidence that these cryptoterrestrials may not be drawn to these spots, but actually reside in underground or underwater bases [...].

The researchers didn't stop there, even suggesting that these cryptoterrestrials may take on different, non-human primate or even reptile forms.

Beyond residing deep underground, they even speculate that this mysterious species could even be concealing themselves on the Moon or have mastered the art of blending in as human beings, a folk theory that has inspired countless works of science fiction.

To read the entire article, click HERE.

Summer Solstice

 

“The summer solstice is regarded as occurring in Cancer (the Crab), which the Egyptians called the scarab--a beetle of the family Lamellicornes, the head of the insect kingdom, and sacred to the Egyptians as the symbol of Eternal Life. It is evident that the constellation of the Crab is represented by this peculiar creature because the sun, after passing through this house, proceeds to walk backwards, or descend the zodiacal arc. Cancer is the symbol of generation, for it is the house of the Moon, the great Mother of all things and the patroness of the life forces of Nature. Diana, the moon goddess of the Greeks, is called the Mother of the World.”

--Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, 1928 (p. LIV)

Kooky QAnon Corner

 

1) From Will Carless and Jessica Guynn's 5-23-24 USA TODAY article entitled "As Trump Campaigns, He's Spreading QAnon Posts Anew. Some Call That 'Playing with Fire'":

As Donald Trump heads toward a November rematch election against President Joe Biden, his online posts are reinvigorating a key element of his support from years past: the conspiracy theory known as QAnon.

While QAnon largely faded from the spotlight after Trump left office, he has newly amplified the ideas on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Since the site launched two years ago, Trump has reposted or promoted QAnon-affiliated accounts more than 800 times, ensuring their messages will be widely seen, according to a new study from liberal watchdog group Media Matters shared exclusively with USA TODAY.

Experts say the support amounts to a tacit endorsement of a dangerous movement that has been linked to criminal acts ranging from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to isolated cases of violence and even murder.

The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment about QAnon. While he was president, Trump spoke favorably of the movement and today he encourages QAnon chants and plays a song associated with QAnon at rallies.

To read the entire article, click HERE.

2) From Guy Chazan's 5-21-24 FINANCIAL TIMES article entitled "Trial of German Plotters Lifts Curtain on QAnon-style Conspiracy":

Nine men and women went on trial in Frankfurt on Tuesday accused of plotting to overthrow the German government, in a sensational case that has revealed how deeply QAnon conspiracy theories have penetrated the world of the country’s far-right. 

The suspects, who were arrested in December 2022, stand accused of belonging to, or supporting, a terrorist organisation that planned to attack the German parliament, detain MPs and do away with the country’s postwar political order. They face 10 to 15 years in prison if found guilty. 

Prosecutors have identified the ringleaders as Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a real estate broker and scion of an aristocratic family, and Rüdiger von Pescatore, a former lieutenant colonel and paratrooper commander. The group also includes a former MP from the far-right Alternative for Germany party, ex-judge Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. 

Prosecutor Tobias Engelstetter spent most of the first day of the trial reading out the 617-page indictment, detailing a conspiracy that seemed so outlandish at times it drew gasps of astonishment from the public gallery. 

Prosecutors said the conspirators shared a “profound rejection” of the country’s liberal democratic system, believed deeply in the QAnon conspiracy and shared the views of the “Reichsbürger” movement, which does not recognise Germany’s postwar order. 

Engelstetter presented the plotters’ worldview as being built around the idea that Germany is controlled by members of a “deep state”, which runs a series of “underground military bases”. Here children are abused, killed and their bodies used to produce a special rejuvenating elixir. 

According to this theory, the deep state is opposed by a secret association known as the Alliance, which brings together the armies, governments and intelligence services of various states, including the US and Russia, that have promised to liberate Germany.

To read the entire article, click HERE. 

3) From Ryan J. Reilly's 4-3-24 NBC News article entitled "Ex-military Member Charged with Crashing into FBI Office Had Online Links to QAnon, Report Says":

The ex-military member who federal authorities say drove his SUV into a barricade at the FBI office in Atlanta on Monday had online ties to QAnon-related content and appeared to be a supporter of former President Donald Trump, according to an open-source investigation by the group Advance Democracy.

Ervin Lee Bolling currently faces a count of destruction of government property. He has not yet entered a plea. An FBI affidavit states that after crashing his car, Bolling got out and tried to walk past the gate where he was stopped by three special agents. Bolling refused instructions to sit on the curb and resisted arrest when the agents tried to take him into custody, according to the charging documents.

Advance Democracy, in a report seen by NBC News, found social media accounts that appeared to be linked to Bolling that had a history of promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election as well as QAnon.

"I love you @realDonaldTrump," one account suspected to be linked to Bolling posted back in December 2020, according to Advance Democracy. "You have more support than even you know."

A separate Telegram account that used the name "Lee Bolling" and has a handle that Bolling appears to have used on other platforms was a member of nine public Telegram groups, several of which were related to QAnon, according to Advance Democracy.

To read the entire article, click HERE. 

You can hear me discussing my nonfiction book, OPERATION MINDFUCK: QANON & THE CULT OF DONALD TRUMP, in a series of recent interviews...

OPEN LOOPS

CONSENSUS UNREALITY

SOMEWHERE IN DREAMLAND 

TALK GNOSIS

CONSPIRINORMAL (2023)

EXPANDING FRONTIERS 

MARC MARON'S WTF PODCAST

THE TYLER'S PLACE PODCAST 

CONSPIRINORMAL (2024)

THE FARM

ALMOST CANON 

CROPfm

"It's great."

--Marc Maron, WTF Podcast

"Voltaire suggested that those who can make us believe absurdities can make us commit atrocities, and QAnon provided the practical demonstration. Robert Guffey’s razor-sharp postings illuminate how a collage of Shaver mysteries, Discordian prankster politics and recreational conspiracy theory played out as dissociative American fugue. Jaw-dropping and essential."

—Alan Moore, author of V for Vendetta and Watchmen

"One of the most difficult aspects of confronting QAnon conspiracism is finding the time and resolve to delve into its ever-expanding network of self-reinforcing connections and concepts. Robert Guffey does that work for you in OPERATION MINDFUCK, a codex to madness and a critical examination of how a massive fraction of our culture has imbibed a counter-reality. Guffey also explores underground sources lost on many mainstream historians, bringing us into an (occasionally ingenious) netherworld of outsider thought forms. Guffey is the Ernest Shackleton of paranoia—and one hopes his journey will result in a happier ending."

—Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award-winning author of Occult America and Uncertain Places

"It's practically a guide to your character to discover whether you find this expose of possibly the stupidest political movement in human history funny, alarming, or infuriating.... Highly recommended."

—Richard Smoley, author of Supernatural: Writings on an Unknown History and How God Became God

"OPERATION MINDFUCK: QANON & THE CULT OF DONALD TRUMP by Robert Guffey tackles the conspiracy theories Q draws from, the history of the Q phenomenon, and the eventual attempts by mobs at least partially influenced by Q, and certainly influenced by Donald Trump, to overturn the 2020 Presidential election. The book is well-researched, with a full Bibliography of notes that reference and identify each quote from each source that Guffey cites. Guffey, additionally, has a long background studying conspiracy theories and their origins [...]. Guffey is not a lightweight."

—Steve Henn, author of And God Said Let There Be Evolution

"Whether QAnon is a religion, a cult, a joke, a political movement, or just an online game gone awry, Robert Guffey's OPERATION MINDFUCK: QANON & THE CULT OF DONALD TRUMP is his attempt to figure it all out. Guffey's pedigree in this area is unmatched [...]. Throughout OPERATION MINDFUCK, Guffey follows Theodore Sturgeon's advice he quoted in his book CHAMELEO: 'Always ask the next question.'"

—Roy Christopher, author of Dead Precedents: How Hip-Hop Defines the Future

 

 "[Guffey's] expertise shines through in every chapter of this book. Operation Mindfuck: QAnon and the Cult of Donald Trump is not only a well written and well researched look into the abyss of bullshit known as QAnon, but it is also very funny and quite sad at the same time—an interesting, entertaining, and sometimes frightening read."

 

--Razorcake 

"If you are still dazed from this [QAnon] business, then Robert Guffey has written a book just for you. In readable yet well researched fashion, he lays it all out: where it began, who, why, how. He can’t make it go away for you—or me, for that matter—but he can make the whole bizarre business a bit less confusing... [T]his book is what you need. Get your fire lit, your cup of coffee (or something far stronger), curl up (in fetal position, if necessary), and prepare to learn."

 

--Seattle Book Mama 

 

TOD BROWNING'S SIDESHOW SHOCKERS

Depicted below is my favorite Father's Day gift, the recent Criterion blu-ray collection spotlighting the carnival-themed films of Tod Browning, one of Hollywood's original auteurs. This collection features stunning new 2K digital restorations of Browning's FREAKS, THE UNKNOWN, and THE MYSTIC. I recommend watching them all (particularly if you have an interest in the roots of modern day horror cinema), as these are three of the most important American films of the 1920s and '30s. One hopes Criterion will soon release a follow-up collection that includes such equally impressive films as Browning's THE SHOW, WEST OF ZANZIBAR, and THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR (this latter film marks the first time Browning worked with Bela Lugosi, a full two years before DRACULA).

After imbibing the trilogy of movies included in TOD BROWNING'S SIDESHOW SHOCKERS, I suggest reading Gary D. Rhodes' Rondo Award-nominated book, TOD BROWNING'S REVOLT OF THE UNDEAD (2022), which includes my 13,000-word essay entitled "'We Didn’t Lie to You, Folks!': The Thin Line Between Deception and Foma in the Worlds of Tod Browning." The essay analyzes a baker's dozen of Browning's most memorable films: THE UNHOLY THREE (1925), THE MYSTIC (1925), THE SHOW (1927), THE UNKNOWN (1927), LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (1927), WEST OF ZANZIBAR (1928), WHERE EAST IS EAST (1929), THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR (1929), DRACULA (1931), FREAKS (1932), MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935), THE DEVIL-DOLL (1936), and MIRACLES FOR SALE (1939). You can hear Gary D. Rhodes and I discussing Browning and his films at great length on the 10-27-22 episode of J.G. Michael's PARALLAX VIEWS podcast.

And apropos of nothing, here's a photo of me enjoying my Father's Day cigar (See's chocolate variety)...