Reject Trump

Dear Major Book Publishers:

The pre-game National Football League ceremonies of Sunday, September 24 demonstrated how willing Americans are to put aside their differences, if only for a while, and unite in defense of free speech, the very bedrock upon which this country was built, and the very thing which our current President seems intent on destroying through his careless and thoughtless actions.

Just as the NFL players and owners and united to send Donald J. Trump the message that even if we disregard with a certain person's point of view, the right to agree to disagree is nothing with which to be trifled, so should also major book publishers, and all authors, published or rejected, best-selling or under-rated, unite to produce a single anthology of original work dedicated to one common theme: In order for free speech to flourish in this country, Mr. Trump should either see the error of his ways, be impeached, or defeated in a special election.

This anthology which I propose would be titled "Reject Trump," because none of the work contained therein, which would range from essays to short stories to graphic novellas to humor, would be rejected unless it either (A) advocated the total overthrow of the United States government, or concerned the (B) actual or (C) fictional assassination of the President. (The latter two would be subject to arrest.)

There would be minimal editing unless the authors themselves edited their own work, agents would be prohibited from interfering, it would only be available from bookstores and libraries (and Amazon) in the United States, as well as the authors themselves, the suggested retail price would be $17.76, with every penny going to American Red Cross Hurricane Relief, and reviewers would have to buy their own copies, It wouldn't be all about the Benjamins, but about THE Benjamin, THE Thomas, THE John, THE George, and a peaceful end to the tyranny of THE Donald.

My contribution to this anthology follows. I hope you enjoy it and that you like the idea.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Yours in freedom,
Steven L. Eisenpreis



                                                     GET LOST, TRUMP!

Once upon a time, (the years after those dark days in Dallas) there was a little boy who believed that Presidents of the United States were to be respected, good always won over evil, and good and evil were always well-defined.

I should know, since I was that boy. I was shocked that people were assailing President Johnson for keeping our soldiers in Vietnam, and I was afraid that two certain bullies were going to do to me what Lee Harvey Oswald did to JFK, James Earl Ray did to MLK, and Sirhan Sirhan did to RFK. While other boys worshipped real life heroes like Mickey Mantle and Tom Seaver, I always admired Superman and Captain America, two strong and invincible representations of the best young man America had to offer, and Batman, whose smarts, acrobatic abilities, and combat skills always won the day. I thought those boys were my Lex Luthor and Joker and I tried to attack them and convince them to renounce their evil ways like Supes, Cap, and Bats did, but there was one time I will remember to this day, when I ran at the brains (?) of the operation, and the teacher, who I was pretty sure I was saving, just as I was sure that I was saving myself, shouted, "If you don't stop that, I will send you out in the hall!"

If I were somebody else, I would have just stopped and taken a seat, but since I was mankind's self-appointed protector from those two supposed evildoers, I replied in my best hero voice, "IF YOU SEND ME OUT IN THE HALL, YOU SEND AMERICA OUT IN THE HALL!" To which, my best frenemy (whose name will be withheld for personal reasons) replied, "GET LOST, AMERICA!" Looking back on those years, I can understand why. Unlike those super heroes I idolized, I was fat, liked to spend time indoors, was more than a little klutzy, and could be classified as an "idiot savant," with varying emphasis on each respective element. How could I POSSIBLY be America's last, best hope against evil? (My attempted girlfriend kept telling me, "YOU'RE evil because you keep fighting 'em!" Not exactly what Lois would say to Clark, right?)

When I think of Old Me, I kind of think of our beloved (?) President, Donald John Trump, who doesn't resemble Superman, Captain America, or Batman any more than Old Me (Old I?) did, but annointed himself our best hope over evil forces like Crooked Hillary, the Fake News Media, Mexico (before the earthquakes), and Little Rocket Man. Eventually, I learned that if somebody teased me or bullied me, all I had to do was ignore it (or report it to the nearest adult) and it would stop, but The Donald hasn't ignored a single criticism of his record, his personality, or his past (alleged) achievements. Since those childhood days, I have grown to accept that no President, no athlete, nobody at all is perfect. (I also started reading post-1961 Marvel Comics and understanding that in many ways, I'm closer to Peter Parker, Spider-Man's alter ego, than to Superman, Batman, and Cap before he was assimilated into the contemporary Marvel Age of Comics.) but Mr. Trump is the farthest thing from perfect I have ever seen. He's bellicose, overweight, and unlike many of the people I have respected, he didn't come up from nothing to be where he is today. He used to preach the work ethic during THE APPRENTICE, but he never practiced what he preached. and while he professes support for our troops, he did not serve in Vietnam or any one of our recent Gulf Wars. He claims to be our protection against evil, but HE's the bad guy, because, well, let me count the ways...

1) He blamed the riots in Charlottesville, VA over Civil War monuments on "both sides."
2) He was the first President to decline an invitation to the Kennedy Center Honors.
3) Who can forget those notorious ACCESS HOLLYWOOD tapes? (I'll refrain from repeating what he said verbatim, but, suffice it to say, he wasn't talking about Tweety's adversary Sylvester.)
4) He completely violated the rules of decorum and diplomacy while addressing the United Nations General Assembly.
5) Those TWEETS!
6) That HAIR!
7) Instead of uniting the country in times of trouble, he keeps belittling the people on his ever-growing enemies list. Sad.
8) He's driving us closer to the brink of war than at any other time in our history as a nation.
9) Instead of respecting our allies, he keeps alienating them and kissing up to a certain Mr. V. Putin.
10) SHALL I GO ON?

I still respect my country, and I will still stand for my flag and sing along with the National Anthem, but I do so in the knowledge that Trump alone is NOT America anymore than I alone was America.
America is a country built on freedom, and all, not just a select few, are entitled to taste the fruits of that freedom. Without that freedom, we wouldn't have Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright Brothers,Walt Disney, M.S. Hershey,Ted Turner, Edward R. Murrow,Stan Lee, or the men who greet us on that famous mountain in South Dakota. Those men, and Christa McAuliffe, Billie Jean King, Janet Guthrie,Elanor Roosevelt,Joan Ganz Cooney, Michelle Obama, and,yes, the woman Trump calls Crooked Hillary to name but a few, represent America at its innovative,experimental,pioneering best, and those who wear our country's uniform, as well as the blue of our police departments, lay their lives on the line everyday, so that freedom can continue to flourish. No, Mr. Trump, you are NOT America, and you should take something resembling a time out, or, to boil it down, we, the people of the United States, the people who truly believe in the best America can truly believe, have three words that may save OUR lives someday..."

                         

                                                             GET LOST, TRUMP!

He Was The Very Best He Was At What He Did

Leonard Norman "Len" Wein, famous for creating Wolverine, the feral Canadian loose cannon who once said, "I'm the very best there is at what I do. Unfortunately, what I do ain't pretty," as well as his fellow X-Men, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Storm, passed away on September 10,2017, making an already sad time of year in the United States even moreso.  Born on June 12, 1948 in New York City, Lively Len, as Stan Lee called him,also created DC Comics' muck-encrusted monster Swamp Thing and edited the groundbreaking WATCHMEN series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. He fell in love with comics at age 7 when his father brought him a stack in the hospital. After much encouragement, he decided to devote his full energies to breaking into the comics business. His friend and fellow fanboy, Marv "The" Wolfman ,accompanied him on monthly visits to DC Comics, where he met, among others, legendary editor Julius "Julie" Schwartz.

Len sold his first professional story, "Eye of the Beholder", (TEEN TITANS 18, December 1968) starring Red Star, the DC Universe's first Russian super hero and Len and Marv's first published creation. In no time, he began writing horror, romance,and Western stories not just for DC, but also for Gold Key, Skywald, and the company where he would score the triumphs that would lead him to the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame, Mighty Marvel. After creating Swampy and other DC super stars, Len took his talents to Marvel where he not only created the all-new, all-different X-Men, but also wrote for Spider-Man,the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, and the Mighty Thor. His "Between Hammer and Anvil!" (THE INCREDIBLE HULK volume 2, number 182,December 1974) was cited in Tony "The Tiger" Isabella's  "1000 Comics You Must Read." He also wrote the textual novels "Mayhem In Manhattan" (starring Spider-Man) and "Cry Of The Beast" (starring the Hulk) with Marv.

After a fallout with the editor-in-chief many fans compared to J.R. Ewing, Jim "Trouble" Shooter, (FULL DISCLOSURE: Jim is a CWPF of the author, as was Len.) Len returned to DC, where he ran the gamut from the hilarious Superman story "Too Many Crooks!" to the tear-jerking Wonder Woman starrer, "Be Wonder Woman And DIE!" He also wrote for JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and a special magazine for the Rutland (VT) Halloween Parade along with Stainless Steve Englehart, Merry Gerry Conway, and the coloring work of his wife, the former Glynis Oliver.

In the 1990's, Len moved to California and edited The Walt Disney Company's reboot of its classic comics line after the family-owned Gladstone Publishing  (ironically named for lucky Disney character Gladstone Gander)decided to concentrate on other projects. After Len turned in his mouse ears, he wrote for such animated series as BATMAN and SPIDER-MAN, BEN 10, and MARVEL SUPER HERO SQUAD. Among other later accomplishments was an adaptation of an unproduced script by science fiction scribe Harlan Ellison for the Batman TV series pitting the Caped Crusader against the villainous Jekyll-Hyde baddie Two-Face.

After he divorced Glynis, he married photographer Christine Valada and became the stepfather of her son Michael. His home burned down in 2009 taking his awards and the family dog with it, but his wife appeared on JEOPARDY! to win $60,000 to replace most of the books lost in the fire.

In 2015, Len underwent triple-bypass surgery. Two years later, on September 10, he died, leaving behind some of the greatest comics stories ever written, and a legion of saddened super-fans. He took his characters seriously, but never himself. (When I once saw him in person long ago, he asked me, "Why aren't you in school? These comic books can do a number on your mind!")

Happy first Rosh Hashonah in Heaven, Len. Say hi to Siegel, Shuster, and Kirby for me. (And while you're at it, send a shout out to Dickens and Hugo too. You deserve to be associated with THOSE guys. too.)

Steve