Each time the tide begins to turn it up to push us off the fence

[sovay]

I made this mixtape for kore as an antidote to the whole history-overwriting shenanigans of Marvel's Secret Empire, now with an extra side of this mishegos. It's not especially subtle, but with any luck it sounds good. Contributors include British Sea Power, Jawbox, Odetta, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, Arcade Fire, PJ Harvey, and Marc Blitzstein.

Sam Phillips, "Pretty Time Bomb"

Start counting, everybody—it's going to blow
Pretty time bomb, you're a mirror of your times

British Sea Power, "Remember Me"

Do you worry about your health?
Do you watch it slowly change?
And when you listen to yourself
Does it feel like somebody else?

Kate Bush, "Heads We're Dancing"

It looked just like you in every way
But it couldn't be true
You stepped out of a stranger

Jawbox, "Spoiler"

Working the wrecking ball, maybe you feel less small
Religion for the mean is disbelief

Odetta, "Masters of War"

You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
That I see through your masks

Oh, Rose, "Prom"

No, you're not summing up things with a black heart
Oh, you know something's there, but you're not sure what

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, "Episode 7: The Schizoid Man"

I keep running for you, it's not enough
I keep fighting for truth, it's not enough
I keep feeling I do, it's not enough

Eleventh Dream Day, "The People's History"

My head is spinning in a spiral
The people's history also lies
My heart is strung up on a timeline

Arcade Fire, "My Body Is a Cage"

I'm living in an age that calls darkness light
Though my language is dead, still the shapes fill my head
I'm living in an age whose name I don't know

PJ Harvey, "The Phone Song"

That the change, changes can happen
That the loop it can be broken
That your heart it can be open

Editors, "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors"

Someone turn me round
Can I start this again?

Scott Hirsch, "Loss of Forgetfulness"

In the parking lot, time had stopped
Recalled all that he forgot
Come on, you remember what it means?

Johnny Flynn, "Barnacled Warship"

Made my way with the fusiliers
I even fought my way back home
But the front line shifted and my rifle got lifted
Had to fight the war on my own

Belly, "Low Red Moon"

I look up and I see the raising of an old hope
Brave and tattered
A shining knight with shining eyes, he shines around me brightly

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer, "Lancelot"

I ain't no untarnished Galahad
Down from Arcadia like a dream in your head
But, gentle lady, lend me the true heart I never had
And I'll bring you roses and bread
And we'll fashion gold out of lead
With all the illusions we shed

DANN KOMMT DIE MORAL:

Marc Blitzstein, "Nickel Under Your Foot"

Maybe you wonder what it is makes people good or bad
Why some guy, an ace without a doubt
Turns out to be a bastard and the other way about
I'll tell you what I feel—it's just the nickel under the heel

I've had a headache on the right side of my face since about two in the afternoon, so I am going to bed.

Comments

[dewline]

This whole Standoff through Secret Empire mess is getting creepier by the week. The one hope I maintain about it is that Secret Empire # 8's version of that mini-series' wordmark has the "HYDRA-Shield" centrepiece shattered into about 30-50 pieces...and that has to imply something hopeful.

Right?

[kore]

It's just so fucking horrible. I was able to hateread the Hydra Cap comic and joke about how bad it was with some friends, but Secret Empire so far just makes me feel sick.

[sovay]

The one hope I maintain about it is that Secret Empire # 8's version of that mini-series' wordmark has the "HYDRA-Shield" centrepiece shattered into about 30-50 pieces...and that has to imply something hopeful.

I certainly hope that you're right to hope, but even the possibility of this storyline being reversed doesn't make me think it was a brilliant idea in the first place. As kore heard me expound at length, there are certainly relevant stories to tell about American ideals being perverted into bigotry and totalitarianism right now, but the decision to rewrite a cultural icon in the very history-denying style that the icon was actively serving to combat (Steve as living memory, a link with the reality of the past that unlike the rest of the generation he was born into is not dying out any time soon) was unthinkingly conservative at best.

[dewline]

It's not the first time they've played with the "Steve turned against his cause by the Skull" cards. The first that I know of was in Tales of Suspense, put together by no less than Lee and Kirby themselves. But it was a done-in-two-issues deal back then, and they didn't have a Cosmic Cube, sentient or not, to play with in the process. This is the longest-running and creepiest-to-read variant of the idea yet.

[gwynnega]

I really like that Sam Phillips song (and Sam Phillips in general).

I'm not much of a comics person, but the whole Secret Empire business is the worst.

[sovay]

I really like that Sam Phillips song (and Sam Phillips in general).

I really like the album it comes from, too. The most recent song of hers I've heard is "World on Sticks," from a forthcoming album, and I am indeed looking forward to it. "I see time all at once when I look at the face / Of our world on sticks, so brave, so small."

I'm not much of a comics person, but the whole Secret Empire business is the worst.

I don't even think it would have been a good idea in a year in which 45 did not win the election and the country did not suffer a massive backlash into nationalism, fascism, xenophobia, you name it, but especially in context of the timing and what readers want Captain America for right now, it's a disaster.

[rosefox]

The latest thing from Marvel is that they asked comic book stores to replace their social media logos with Hydra logos. At least one store has responded by saying that they will no longer hand-sell Marvel comics out of respect for their queer and Jewish employees.

[kore]

YES, and also the "Secret Empire Party Kit": https://www.previewsworld.com/Article/192214-Marvel-Launch-Parties-for-Secret-Empire

All qualifying retailers will receive the following as the part of the SECRET EMPIRE PARTY KIT:

Secret Empire Invitational Postcards
Secret Empire Lenticular Backing Board (Bundles of 25)
Secret Empire Pins (Bundles of 25)
Secret Empire #1 Nauck Where’s Hydra? Sketch Variant
Downloadable Cake Toppers

NAZI FASCIST CAKE TOPPERS, in celebration of Captain America brutally taking over the country, I can't even anything.

[sovay]

All qualifying retailers will receive the following as the part of the SECRET EMPIRE PARTY KIT

I would be . . . is fascinated the right word? . . . to know who shows up for Hydra parties.

[gwynnega]

I am aghast.

[rosefox]

Yeah, they were mailing out t-shirts too. It's certainly given rise to an impressive number of anti-fascist versions of the Hydra logo.

[sovay]

At least one store has responded by saying that they will no longer hand-sell Marvel comics out of respect for their queer and Jewish employees.

That's actually what I linked under "mishegos." I hope the store is not alone in its decision; it should never have been required to make it.

[dewline]

Yeah, that is creepier still.

[kore]

YESSSSSSS. //gentle hugs

[sovay]

YESSSSSSS.

*hugs*

[dhampyresa]

I kind of ended up dropping Marvel after Secret Wars -- I was busy and didn't have time to keep up -- and I can't say I've been eager to catch up :/

Thank you for the mix.

[sovay]

I kind of ended up dropping Marvel after Secret Wars -- I was busy and didn't have time to keep up -- and I can't say I've been eager to catch up

I've been tracking the plot only through news articles and I think I can safely say you've dodged a bullet.

Thank you for the mix.

You're welcome!

[kore]

You missed diddly squat -- there was Pleasant Hill, which was yet another ginormous event and done by Spencer and which turns out to have been LEADING UP TO young Fascist Cap, ugh, and then a whole slew of solo books got cancelled, including faves on my pull list. >:-( Then there was a Kirby-tribute thing which got buried (Monsters Unleashed, which pissed me off because it had Elsa Bloodstone in it!). It got buried because they decided to do Civil War 2.0, I do not know why, and of course that was delayed and delayed and came out so late other books that were set after CW 2 were coming out well before it ended. CW 2 really fucked up Carol and Bruce and Hawkeye and Tony and a lot of other characters. I dunno if Carol might ever recover, they kind of Scarlet Witched her almost. I think it just got retconned that Evil Hydra Steve did a lot to cause Civil War 2.0 and shake up the board, too.

So Evil Hydra Steve is EVERYHERE now. Sort of like black mould. Only much more given to dull, dull monologues.

[alexxkay]

I haven't "kept up" with Marvel for decades, but The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl continues to rock my world. So far, it has avoided the taint of company-wide crossovers.

[ashlyme]

A great mixtape, thank you!

[sovay]

A great mixtape, thank you!

You're welcome!

(What is your icon a picture of? It suits you, but all I can tell is: moss, river, branches, buildings.)

[ada_hoffmann]

I've been telling my friends that this plotline was literally written by Hydra agents.

In any case, what a garbage fire, for all the reasons you and the other commenters have already said more articulately.

[sovay]

I've been telling my friends that this plotline was literally written by Hydra agents.

Headcanon sadly accepted.

(Nice icon.)

[choco_frosh]

Ok, we definitely need to get Ten Happy Fingers played next Readercon dance

[sovay]

Ok, we definitely need to get Ten Happy Fingers played next Readercon dance

Can you make this happen?