No, really! For one thing there actually was a time when there was no Star Wars. In those pre-Saga days my first love was dinosaurs. A love that exists to this day. I cut my teeth on classic dinosaur cinema from oversized monitor lizards sporting prosthetic sail fins to animated fare from greats like Willis O’Brian (King Kong) and Ray Harryhausen (Valley of Gwangi). And then there were the dinosaur figurines of my youth. The best were produced by Marx and came in various colors from flat “hospital green” to vivid “screaming yellow”. So you can imagine my thrill as an adult when Michael Chrichton’s Jurassic Park was adapted to the big screen with the best dinosaurs in cinema history!
And then there were comics nearly as far back as I can remember. The earliest “collection” was a big grocery bag full of assorted comic books a babysitter once gave myself and my brothers to keep us busy. It was probably the best possible tactic to dealing with three young boys as I suspect we were far too enthralled in our new four color library to be the least bit of trouble. These were the days of reading a comic over and over until it finally fell apart from use. The days of piling your collection into a red wagon to take to a friend’s house to swap for some of their comics. The days when 7-11 was your comic book shop. And a comic did not garner the same price as a fast food meal! Damn I am sounding like an old geezer!Growing up we also had G.I. Joes. Back when a G.I. Joe stood a masculine 12” in height, wore durable cloth uniforms and gear, sported a fuzzy cropped hairdo and beard, and sometimes a Kung-Fu grip. The Action Team were outfitted with an array of military ordinance and vehicles that were often beyond cool. We used to make parachutes and hammocks for our Joes out of old sheets and spend countless hours in the backyard leading them on dangerous missions.
Of course there was that fateful summer of 1977 when Star Wars exploded onto an unsuspecting movie-going public and subsequently changed everything. Especially for me. But that is just a brief mention in keeping with the chronology of things. But this is not an article about the influence that movie (and those that followed) had on me and who I am today. So we shall just move along now.
After Return of the Jedi had come and gone from the theatres and some years later when there were no longer any toys to be had I went back to my roots. I discovered the new smaller G.I. Joes that took their cues from the scale of the Star Wars toys. And about the same time I discovered Kenner’s Super Powers action figure line. Martian Manhunter was my first Super Powers figure and Snowjob the first Joe I purchased. For several years these lines filled in a major gap in my collecting life during the years when there were not Star Wars figures on the market.
My taste in films also goes well outside the realm and genre of Star Wars. My personal collection of home video is a testament to that diversity. The titles range from art film to pointless fun movies that have no technical merit whatsoever. David Lynch’s The Elephant Man shares a shelf with the bizarre Japanese movie Infra-Man. There are James Bond films, movies from the Thin Man series, several Akira Kurosawa masterpieces, and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure!
While I no longer actively collect comics, I was an avid collector for many years. I maintain a healthy library of trade papberbacks and other collected editions featuring story arcs from Superman titles, groundbreaking titles like Watchmen, Marvels, and Crisis on Infinite Earths, and even a Sam & Max collection.
Then there are the “books without pictures” (a.k.a. novels) that grace the shelves. Nearly every Michael Chrichton novel, every Tarzan and John Carter Warlord of Mars book, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy saga and a number of other individual works by a variety of other authors. Not to mention a number of “making of” and “art of” books on certain movies, the Life in Hell series of cartoon books, and my personal reference library.
Finally I would point out my lengthy podcasting career. Granted it did have its origins in a Star Wars vein (VaderCast), but since then I have been a co-host on Amazing Comicast, United States of Geekdom, and the soon to be released Super Geek-Out. It is within these pursuits that I have really been able to explore just how varied the aspects of my fandom have been over the years. And in the process I have discovered so much more that appeals to me. While Star Wars has been a major part of who I am for over three decades, it does not (apart from my moniker) define me.
The purpose of revealing all of this about myself is to illustrate that, like me, this site is not strictly about Star Wars. Needless to say there will be Star Wars related content, but that is not my sole purpose in creating this web page. Hence the name, The JediCole Universe. As time goes on you will find that this particular universe has many facets that each become little worlds of their own. You will find informative articles, witty larks, engaging interviews, and anything else that crosses my infamous Ever-Ticking Brain!
JediCole Houston
Jedi at Large - jedicole.com |
| Yeah, I know it is still mostly Star Wars. |
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