The winds rise.
The clouds flee.
The air shimmers.
The ground quakes.
The frogs doubt.
The Dark Lord Char’Nagh has returned!

Somehow another year has passed already. Did you remember to clean all your tabernacles? I sure hope you did, because you don’t have another chance to before the calendar changes or whatever.

In any case, at some point as a child I chose 22 as my lucky number. Let’s hope that translates into 2022 being a good year.

I don’t think I have anything major to report at this time. Please stay tuned in case I remember anything worth saying.

Several years ago, I did a post about the Lee Family, a group of semi-recurring characters who I liked and wanted to see more of. As I have noted extensively on this site, a book called Superman Smashes the Klan came along and retold the 1940s radio story in which they debuted. I’m a big fan of that book and highly recommend it to all Superman fans.

But that radio show wasn’t the only appearance of the characters, I argued. Tommy Lee had also shown up as Clark Kent’s roommate in some Bronze Age stories. I didn’t know then if this was coincidence or not, but this year I decided I might as well get to the bottom of it. I sent an email to Bob Rozakis, the writer of the stories that introduced the comics version of Tommy, and got this reply: “Clark’s college roommate Tommy Lee was named after one of my college friends.” This proves that the 1980s Tommy and his family and their similarities to the 1940s versions wasn’t an homage, it was pure coincidence.

This just makes me all the more certain that these characters need to come back. On a rational level, I can understand that with the thousands of Superman stories told over decades, such coincidences are bound to happen just because of the sheer numbers. I don’t actually believe that the ideas of these characters is destined by the universe to break through and just needs our help to get it to be permanent. And while I may not actually believe it, I’ll gladly pretend to believe it if it helps me justify bringing these characters back.

As I said in the previous post the woman named Lee who served on Metropolis’s “SCU” police force in some 90s comics was a potential post-Crisis version of Tommy’s sister (then unnamed, now known as Lan-Shin “Roberta” Lee). The Lan-Shin of Superman Smashes the Klan is an inquisitive and adventurous young woman, traits that could easily be remade into the traits of a police detective. And I’ll also note that the connection between the SCU Lee and Tommy’s unnamed sister came to me in a dream. Another sign that the ideas are trying to manifest on their own.

I admit that apart from Rozakis’s input, this update is just me reiterating what I already felt. But I still feel it, so why not reiterate? Bring the Lee family back to the Superman franchise. It’s the only way to shut me up about it.

One of a pair of Aeobaxaen is captured by a falling Stepao

Aeobaxaen

Aeobaxaen are a type of Glounaph, and Glounaph are a type Aehubar that have adapted to life in the air. Though their leg design is like that of most Aehubar, even Strondovarians, the rest of their limbs have taken different roles: the middle limbs expanded into flexible wings that can catch wind currents and allow for flight, and the topmost limbs fused into a single neck-like appendage, on which the eyes are situated. Aeobaxaen specifically are migratory animals, following schools of the seaborne lifeforms they eat.

Stepao

An ocean-living type of Lapaouger that has evolved to launch itself out of the water and then to spread their limbs wide, allowing them to ride high until the spot prey within their reach. The Stepao will them drop down and engulf the target, pulling it back to the ocean where it can eat. Stepao were considered ill omens in ancient Strondovarian folklore and are still used as a colloquial way to describe impending doom.

Outhess

Outhess are typical of the flying Vootuph found on Gurx, but for the end of their life cycle. They spend their early lives down on the ground, eating away, until they’ve gained enough sustenance for their final voyage, then they launch into the sky to mate. The ultimate goal of the pregnant Outhess is to be eaten by one of the other sky-based animals (usually some variety of Glounaph). The seed/eggs bearing the offspring are not digested, but instead pass through digestive system and are expelled down to the ground below to be born and feast on the rest of the waste. It’s kind of beautiful.

We know that Bob Farrell’s career as a super-skateboarding outlaw was motivated by noble desires to help his community, and we can tell that, when things are going well for him he absolutely loves rocketboarding around and having rocket adventures.

But when things are not going well for him, the first thing he does is insult himself and imply his Rocket Racer setup is as stupid as everyone thinks it is. On multiple occasions he has downplayed his technological accomplishments, claiming they’re goofy or childish.

So why hasn’t Bob changed his superheroic identity? Why not design new equipment that’s edgy and cool and not skateboard-themed? Well, I have my ideas, but unless I get to tell those stories I don’t need to let them out right now. But really, when he’s in a good mood about it all, he doesn’t mind that he looks goofy. He’s having a ball. When he does dislike it, he wants out of the whole super-scene, so why bother recreating his identity to something else? He’s either the Rocket Racer or he’s not playing.