I Hate When That Happens

I Hate When That Happens
or: D'oh!

I'd like to pretend I'm posting late because of some great cosmic interference. That I'd been binge watching the Charlie Manson tinged Aquarius (true) or that I'd pulled FF21 with the HateMonger for this weeks grab bag (also true) and that the forces of goodness had slapped my hand but, the sadder, more boring truth is, I finished cleaning up my scan, laid down for a minute and just slept right through…d'oh!

I know there's a tendency to humanize villains these days. Not so much for sympathies sake but to show how they got there. Still, ya' gotta' love a villain who's in it simply for villiany's sake. I've always had a soft spot for the Hatemonger. No mealy-mouthed, wishy washy, my mommy was mean to me, nonsense for him. He's in it because he just flat out enjoys it. You know where you stand with this guy.

I've never been a fan of George (Bell) Roussos' inks. This is a guy who bragged about inking a book over a weekend, then holding on to it for a month and would then rub it with a dirty sock before turning it in so people would think he spent time on it. Sorry, George, you didn't fool anyone. How people can disregard the work of the immortal Vince Colletta while this garbage exists is beyond me. Still, for the Hatemonger, something about Roussos brutal hackwork almost works.

As to Aquarius, don't bother. Season one has next to nothing to do with Manson, it's just another version of Law and Order: Los Angeles that happens to take place during the late sixties before the Manson murders. Even their "Manson" has nothing to do with Charlie. Unless I fell through the wormhole and Charlie was actually a tall, blonde, close cropped, young republican, quarterback of the football team. Bad enough that Carlie and the undercover cop are nearly twins but the cop has a snitch that would've been quite effective as Charlie, tiny, twitchy, paranoid, wild-eyed…

Yeah, I know, not everyone was living down the street when it happened but Charlie's hardly an obscure character. Hollywood is replete with stories of ingenues in trenches while their leading men stood on a box. But this guys no closer to Manson than Michael Jordan or Miss Piggy. If NBC can't be bothered to try, I don't see why I should bother to watch. You fooled me once (shame on me) but, not again.

Ladies and Gents, the villain we love to hate, the Hatemonger.

Happy Trails
Smitty