Tears of a Clown

The End of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

Such sad news, but it’s the end of an era. No longer will the circus come to town. Looking at the web site, they’re not even coming back to the West Coast before they shut down, so we’re out of luck here in San Diego.

I remember going to the circus with my parents as a child. The elephants and tigers were always so wonderful. Sure, I lived in Southern California so we could easily go to the zoo to see these majestic creatures, but the circus brought them to us…and they performed tricks. You don’t see a trainer sticking his head in the mouth of a lion at the zoo. Or an elephant standing on his hind legs.

My imagination ran wild with trapeze artists and tightrope walkers. Clowns never really scared me until I was older and watched the movies, but they were fun as a child. To see how many would pile out of a VW Bug or how they’d drive around on unicycles.

To think that children of the future will never have the opportunity to experience any of that make as me sad. Sure, Cirque Du Soleil has some of the human acts, but they never have such beautiful animals. The parading horses, the rope walking dogs, the camels, the monkeys…guess we’ll just have to go to the zoo. At least as long as they can hold out against the PETA people.

First Sea World, now the circus. Wait till they come after your dog and cat, and maybe then people will start to question there’s zealots.

Hulk #3

It’s interesting to that on the day I hear about the shutting down of Ringling Bros., I read the third issue of The Hulk. This issue is broken into 3 parts and the 3rd section introduces The Ringmaster.

But first, General “Thunderbolt” Ross tricks Rick Jones into getting the Hulk into a rocket that they shoot into space. The plan is to just let the capsule keep going and be rid of the Hulk for good. Rick freaks out since he know’s that’ll mean Bruce Banner is gone too, so he reroutes the capsule to return, but not before he gets irradiated and mentally tied to the Hulk. Now it seems the Hulk must obey Rick’s commands.

After a intermission during the second part where we revisit the origin of the Hulk, we turn to the Ringmaster in the third part. He and his band of circus performers are going around hypnotizing whole towns and stealing everything, including the kitchen sink.

Rick, taking a break from dealing with the pressure that the Hulk brings, decides to visit the circus in town, and the Ringmaster takes control. The whole town is paralyzed, but Rick can still call out to the Hulk. Who comes to save him, but ends up trapped by the Ringmaster who figures he’ll make a great addition to the circus.

Fortunately the agents who had been following the hypnotized towns rouse Rick who then frees the Hulk. They capture the Ringmaster, but when Thunderbolt Ross tries to take the Hulk prisoner, Rick climbs on his back and the Hulk jumps to safety.

On the whole, the issue wasn’t that great. The art is getting better as it seems the creative team is getting accustomed to how they want to portray the Hulk. This whole twist of Rick being the brains behind the beast is interesting, and we barely see Bruce Banner in this issue except in the origin flashback.

I’d say this issue is a step up from the 2nd issue, but it’s not on the same level as the Fantastic Four and Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) issues I’ve read so far. One thing that may hold some promise though, is that there seems to be the potential for some sort of continuation since at the end of the issue it seems Rick is still mentally connected to the Hulk.

I rate this issue a C+.

Beginning My Promotion Series

Just a quick note about my progress in League of Legends…I’ve finally made it to my promotion series for Silver. I’ve got to win 3 outta 5 of my next matches to make the jump. Wish me luck.