Hellllloooooo Otterites!
Marty has thrown down the gauntlet regarding who to invite to dinner. So, being the “Hammer” I’m going to take that and run with it. Let’s call it the First Annual Otterite DInner Roast.
The idea is to invite interesting people to have over to dinner and enjoy the ensuing meal and conversation. Especially the conversation. We’ve got a lot of interesting people to choose from, just from the Our Hero’s category of the podcast. Marty mentioned Freddie Nietzsche, G.K. Chesterton and Mark Twain to start. Added in some P.J. O’Rourke, Bernard Cornwell and Ian
Effing McShane.
That’s a heady group of people. Ian might not be able to keep up with G.K., Fred and Mr. Twain, but then even P.J. is going to have to do some work to keep up there. If nothing else, his responses would enliven the table a bit.
So, who would Robert the Hammer pick to come to dinner?
I think I’d start with Thomas Aquinas. Yeah, Tom and G.K. at the same table might be a bit much for even me and Frannie to follow, so this would be a different dinner party I think.
Add in the King.
No, not Elvis. Different King. Stephen. Actually, let’s add in the REAL King as well, Jack “King” Kirby. I’d love to listen to Kirby talk about his ideas on what makes a hero and what would go in his Code of Honor episodes. Stevie King. Jack “King” Kirby. Thomas Aquinas. Covers all the natural and supernatural you could want as well as what makes something right, true and good. Right in our wheelhouse here at S&O.
Who else?
I’m going to go a little comic centric with the next set of three. John Byrne. George Perez and Walt Simonson. Why these three and why not do them with Kirby? Well, Kirby would overshadow all three put together. As much as I love John’s, George’s and Walt’s work, they aren’t Kirby, though they all added to and did great work with the creations of Jack. They’d have great insights into the changes of comics from the early days and to now. They saw the biggest changes come with creators’ rights and actually getting one’s artwork back from the publishers and being paid royalties on sales and re-prints. Plus, if you look closely at any Marvel movie, it’s almost a sure bet that one or more of these guys are credited for something at the end.
Finally, I’m going to choose some historical figures. Historical in the sense that history revolved around them and the things they did, not just what they said and wrote as with the original set of dinner guests.
Washington. Lincoln. Teddy Roosevelt.
Why them?
Washington helped define the nation. Lincoln redefined it and saved it. T.R. helped shepherd the U.S. onto the world stage at the beginning of the 20th century. All three incredibly influential, larger than life men. I’d love to hear what they have to say about where things are now and where we’ve gone wrong. And where we’ve gone right.
Frannie…. You’re up!
