ubj: Re: characters

Date: 98-01-12 18:13:38 EST

From: Tarak THB

To: erblist@beginners.net

I re-read predator's post, and see that he wanted reasons. Usually he has so much whimpering in his posts that I tend to skim sometimes.

1. Tarzan of the Apes. - no explanation needed. I've said it all here.

2. Conan the Cimmerian - Not much needed here, either, since I've discussed him quite a bit. He and his entire world; and in fact other REH characters, were superbly done. Tarak has as much Conan in him as Tarzan.

3. Superman. - I was just captivated by him as a kid, and collected the entire "Superman Family". I don't know where comic books would have been if it had not been for the man of steel. Though Marvel Comics, with more savage characters eventually stole much of his thunder, his debut in 1938 or something, in Action comics, was the beginning of it all, in my view, when it comes to the comic book world. I'm no expert, though. Nobody will ever compare to Superman when it comes right down to who can beat the hell out of who. His abilities were so numerous, and so subject to sheer idolatry, that I will never forget him, or the pleasure I got from these comics.

4. James Bond. Although my JB is Fleming's JB, and perhaps Sean Connery's JB in the first three movies, he was one of my all-time idols, in the same formative period as ERB. For whatever I might think of the books now, which isn't much, and for whatever they've done to him, and are still doing, his place in my own top five is secure. He is still a phenomenon, but that doesn't even count in my rating of this character, since to me that's in many respects a different Bond. Even a few of Connery's got a bit too much away from JB as I saw him. Debbie thinks of Roger Moore as JB. I just shake my head. (or used to, anyway)

5. Augustus Mcrae - It is rare to find an older hero, but this is one who compares with any young warrior, and his sense of humor just parallels my own. I laughed so much when I read "Lonesome Dove", even though it is a book where one tragic event follows another with astonishing regularity; and identified so much with this ex-Ranger, that I've read this book at least four times, and it's not an old publication. It took me awhile to drag through the first eighty pages or so, but after that I was simply mesmerized by this character. Robert Duvall was good in the part, but nothing will compare with Gus in the book.

Zone Agents of Vega - these were such marvelous James-Bonds of the future, with such amazing abilities and innovative concepts, that they swept me away, as did this writer. They were generally female, too, which was unusual and, as with Tarzan, I found this to be logical in their future world, and very well done.

Tarak