The Eye of Providence/Broken Souls

Souls are strong but they can break.

When broken they wander between the two worlds.

They are more to be pitied than feared.

The Eye has the power to heal all including broken souls.

The Eye of Providence in the Garden

The man and the woman would often smell the flowers of the garden. The smell was intoxicating.

After the apples, they gazed at the flowers and flowers gazed back.

The gaze of the flowers was unbearable. The couple fled the garden in shame.

The Eye of Providence/Measure

Some say measure came before the eye
Some say the eye came before measure
Some say the eye is measure
The triangle measure of the hard
The eye measure of the soft

The Eye of Providence in the Land of Sleep

The small daily death is a door to a world
Some of this world is us but some of this world is not us
The eye sits between the two worlds of the small death guarding the gate

Eye of Providence and Souls

Eye of Providence and Souls

 

The Eye is beyond East and West and only sees the soul

Those of the West say the souls go to heaven and hell

Those of the East say the souls return to Earth

Only the Eye truly knows

The Golden Eye of Providence

The Golden Eye of Providence

 

In the higher realms the seraphim’s circle

They have souls of gold

The Eye radiates a pure light that pulses through the universe

The Eye of Providence under the Oceans

 

Under dark oceans in mazes of dark green seaweed Ebony knowledge waits.

Before the apes, they created carved, jeweled, dark pearl towers that almost touched the sun

The towers fell in the great turning caused by the eye

The fragments of the tower wait…

DC vs. Marvel Funny Animals

 

This is the fifth post that pits non-superheroes from the DC universe against characters from the Marvel universe.  The first post looked at Westerns and Western heroes (http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/dc-vs-marvel-western-heroes/), the second post looked at war comics and war heroes (http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/dc-vs-marvel-war-heroes/), the third post looked at women’s comics and working women (http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/dc-vs-marvel-working-women) and the fourth post looked at space operas and spacemen (http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/dc-vs-marvel-spacemen/). 

 

What is a funny animal in comic books?  A funny animal is an anthropomorphic animal that is generally in humorous situations.  Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny are both famous examples of funny animals.  Disney and Looney Tunes funny animals are much more famous and relevant than DC and Marvel funny animals and many readers may be surprised that DC and Marvel even have had their own funny animals.  This is a bit of a media mystery.  Superheroes have dominated comic books but not other media such as video.  Funny animals would seem to a natural genre for comic books and why they are so much more popular and prevalent in video than comic books is an interesting topic that deserves attention.

 

The funny animals of DC include Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew, Dodo and the Frog, Doodles Duck, Flippity & Flop, J. Rufus Lion, Nutsy Squirrel, Peter Panda, Peter Porkchops, Racoon Kids, Tito and his Burrito and the Three Mouseketeers.  Warner Bros had a video series of Krypto the Super Dog.  Warner Bros is the parent company of DC.  Krypto is the dog of Superboy in DC but was rebotted by Warner Bros.  DC also licensed the Fox and the Crow from Columbia and this comic book title ran

 

Funny Stuff was the title in which many of DC’s funny animals appeared including Dunbar Dodo and Fennimore Frog, J. Rufus Lion, the Three Mouseketeers, Peter Porkchops and the Racoon Kids.  The Funny Stuff title ran from 1947 to 1957.

 

The funny animals of Marvel include Spider Ham, Super Rabbit and Top Dog.  Spider Ham is a parody of Spider-Man.  Marvel has far fewer funny animals than DC and they are all superhero parodies.  Howard the Duck would be Marvel’s top funny animals.  There was even a live action movie about Howard the Duck.  The problem is that Howard the Duck is more superhero than funny animal.  Howard the Duck exists in the mainstream Marvel Universe and is more a science fiction story than a funny animal story.

 

The only DC collection of funny animals that is around today is Captain Carrot and the Zoo crew, another superhero parody.  Captain Carrot is more or less a parody of Superman.  The other members of the Zoo Crew include Alley-Kat-Abra, Pig-Iron, Rubberduck, Yankee Poodle, Fastback, Little Cheese, and American Eagle.  The top funny animal of DC is Captain Carrot.  The top funny animal of Marvel is Spider Ham.  The two top funny animals go at it.

 

Spider Ham is a spider that was turned into an anthropomorphic pig with more or less than same powers as Spider Man.  Captain Carrot, as mentioned, has more or less the same superpowers as Superman but must eat a cosmic irradiated carrot to get the superpowers and they wear off after 24 hours.  Captain Carrot keeps two carrots holstered on his belt for supplies.  Superman can beat Spiderman easily so therefore Captain Carrot easily defeats Spider Ham.

Where can you buy American comic books in Asia?

I have some answers.  First of all American comic books are defined as comic books from the United States of America.  This means not anime, manga or whatever!  If you can’t find Japanese comic books in Asia then you have more serious problems than where to find American comic books.  Asia on the whole prefers Japanese comic books to American comic books by a factor of ten at least.  British stuff, especially 2000 AD stuff is found in the same places as American comic books which is why I initially titled this post where you can find Western comic books but I mean Western as in culture not as in cowboys and the latter meaning was misleading.

First of all there is a Japanese chain called Kinokuniya that is all over Asia. The chain sucks when it comes to Western comic books in Japan but is pretty good about having Western comic books in their stores outside of Japan.

 

Below is a list of Kinokuniya stores in Asia:

 

Singapore

Ngee Ann City, Orchard

Bugis Junction, Bugis

Liang Court, Chinatown

 

Indonesia

Sogo Plaza Senayan, Jakarta

Debenhams Plaza Indonesia, Jakarta

Sogo Pondok Indah Mall, Jakarta

Seibu Grand Indonesia, Jakarta
Malaysia

Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

 

Thailand

CentralWorld, Bangkok

Siam Paragon, Bangkok – The best source of Western comic books outside of the Philippines!

Emporium, Bangkok

 

Australia

I mention the store but of course Australia is basically a Western country that happens to be in Asia and Western comic books are everywhere.

Sydney The Galeries Victoria, New South Wales

 

Taiwan

Dayeh Takashimaya, Taipei

Breeze Center, Taipei

Kuang San Sogo, Taichung

Talee Isetan, Kaoshiung

 

United Arab Emirates

Dubai, Dubai Mall

 

Page One is a Singaporean chain of bookstores that is also all over Asia and also has a pretty good selection of Western comic books.

 

Page One locations are listed below:

 

Singapore

Vivocity

 

Malaysia

Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

 

Hong Kong

Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong (with cafe)

Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui

Times Square, Causeway Bay (formerly known as Page One Twins)

 

Taiwan

SOGO Fuxing, Taipei

Taipei 101, Taipei

 

The best country in Asia for Western comic books, besides Australia,  is the Philippines.  All the major chains have a section devoted to Western comic books and there are out and out dedicated comic book stores in most of the big malls in Manila.

Bangkok Cats

Cats at play in a school in a suburb at Bangkok.

 

More photos at

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73496&id=521247529&l=2ae3af66b6