|
Post by Prince Hal on Sept 20, 2023 17:05:35 GMT -5
Have you reviewed WW #186 yet? I didn't see it when I flicked through the thread. I wrote it up but neglected to post it at the appropriate time. I will post it tomorrow, after #192 today. Thanks for pointing that out. Very informative and entertaining thread, rberman. Glad you're back to "regular" status.
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Sept 20, 2023 17:33:34 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #193 “Angela” (April 1971)Theme: Catching Dr. Feelgood Art & Story: Mike Sekowsky Inking: Dick Giordano Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, boutique owner I Ching, blind man, martial arts mentor Tony Petrucci, handsome neighbor Angela Petrucci, convalescing victim Eddie Dean, Vietnam veteran, practical joker Runty Sneed, hirer of thugs The Story: Another in media res beginning, with the cover functioning as the first panel before a flashback explains why Tony Petrucci is trying to gun down some lowlife. In it, Diana gets a visit from Tony’s mom, who tells her a story – a flashback within the flashback -- of the time that her daughter Angela was poisoned at a party. Tony blamed his old Army buddy Eddie Dean, who was known for dangerous practical jokes. Angela eventually awoke from her coma but is a basket case living in a sanitarium. When Diana starts asking questions around the neighborhood, she must beat up a gang of toughs sent to scare her off the case. After a little light torture, they direct her toward their boss, Runty Sneed. By the time Diana tracks Runty down, he has just died in front of her. (And she somehow recognizes him instantly.) She cleverly pretends that he has whispered his secret to her before dying. Diana strolls the night streets hoping to get attacked by Sneed’s attacker. When he fails to shoot her down, she gets his license number, which leads her back to Eddie Dean’s apartment. The doorman there reports that Tony just chased Eddie down the darkened street, murder in his eyes. Diana follows the two men into a construction site. Eddie initially professes he accidentally poisoned Angela as part of a party prank gone wrong. But then the truth comes out. Eddie is a drug dealer, and he laced the food with heroin to get people addicted. Diana subdues Eddie and prevents Tony from executing him. Let the cops do their job! Back at Mrs. Petrucci’s apartment, the good news just keeps coming. Angela has found her marbles! And she instantly fell in love with her physician! He's a class act; he smokes a pipe, and everything. She’s getting married, to a doctor! Can you believe it? Happy endings all around! My Two Cents: Just as “THEM!” used heavily coded language to dramatize sex trafficking, this issue deals with the drug trade. Sekowsky can’t say it outright. But when he explains that Angela became comatose while Eddie was trying to generate “a new batch of customers,” adult readers understand the subtext. This makes sense of the final two panels of the story, in which Tony and Diana obliquely discuss the daunting but important task of staunching the flow of narcotics. This is a good place to review how American comic books handled drug themes in this era. The Comics Code forbade depictions of drug use. This did not stop Deadman from busting an opium ring in his origin story (written by Arnold Drake) in Strange Adventures #205 (1965) however. Nobody in that story was using drugs, just distributing them. Among the taboos of Sekowsky’s “THEM!” story in Wonder Woman #185 was a comment about Moose Momma taking sleeping pills. Amazing Spider-Man ran a story in issues #96-98 (May-July 1971) in which Harry Osborne got hooked on sedatives, and numerous characters including J. Jonah Jameson and Peter Parker discuss the menace of drug addiction. Marvel ran the first two parts without the CCA logo since they showed Harry actually consuming pills. The Comics Code had already been revised in January 1971 to allow the depiction of classic horror monsters, corruption of public officials, and the suggestion of sexual seduction. By mid-year, drug stories were allowed if presented as cautionary tales. Denny O’Neil leaped onto this with his famous “Speedy is a junkie!” two-parter in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85-86. It featured a graphic depiction of a heroin overdose. I also admire Sekowsky’s careful clue-dropping. First, Diana notices how nice Eddie’s apartment is. Later, we learn it’s on Park Avenue, at an address which New York readers would recognize as not far from Rockefeller Center. Then Tony draws our attention to the problem of Eddie living in unexplained luxury. For that matter, Sekowsky knew 18 months ago that he was going to tell this story. In issue #185 (“THEM!”) we meet Tony’s mom and learn that something terrible has happened to his sister. But Sekowsky patiently waited to tell stories in other genres before returning to finish the tale he was teasing. Tony’s mom appears to be an immigrant, judging by her broken English. She says Tony kept his Army pistol. Does the Army allow such a thing? I would have expected they would require its return as part of decommissioning. Tony and Eddie are Vietnam veterans. I wonder how many DC Comics referred explicitly to that. Fashion Plate: White dress with pearl necklace. When Diana hits the streets, she wisely leaves the pearls at home. During the denouement, she wears a black-and-white striped blouse with a complicated-looking necklace. On the cover, she sports a neck scarf, and her belt has an unusual fringe of tassels on her left hip. Sexual Politics: Angela asks her brother’s permission to get married. Such conventions were taken for granted in 1971 but are difficult to imagine in 2023. Body Count: Three other people overdosed at the party, fatally. We never find out what part Runty Snead played; presumably he was involved in the drug trade as well since he paid each gang member “a bill” (I assume a hundred dollar bill) to rough up Diana. Lettercol: Gregory Kent loved the brilliant idea of a reprint issue framed with scant new material. Frank Rizzo recognized the Burroughs influence on the “Detour” story, saying, “Barsoom lives again!” Sekowsky asks his readers to tell him whether to do more fantasy stories or tackle more real-world problems. There’s a big blank space at the bottom of the page where another letter could have been. Not getting much mail? Another statement of ownership shows 172,000 in sales and an equal number of returns.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 20, 2023 19:11:06 GMT -5
Two possibilities on the pistol question:
1) He was issued an M1911A1 pistol and them claimed it was lost during a combat incident and then took it home with him. It happened, especially with sidearms. The Army had a ton of them.
2) He purchased his own sidearm (many did) and then brought it home. Most officers, during the Gulf War, and many non-coms, purchased their own sidearms, commercially, to have something they were comfortable using.
In most cases, a sidearm was never or very rarely used, as you were more likely to use a rifle (or carbine) in combat because of the range.
The pistol I carried (rarely) was checked out from the ship's weapons locker. I used to have to be armed, when I picked up the ship's payroll (and my Disbursing clerk would also carry a pistol) and the Petty Officer of the Watch, on the Quarterdeck (where you entered and departed the ship) carried a sidearm. However, there were some piers that were at a higher level and you had to split your quarterdeck watch between the main deck, where the 1MC was (ship's PA system) and the flight deck, which was high enough to receive the gangplank. We had that, in Charleston, once in a while, and I would have to carry the sidearm, since I would be stationed on the flight deck, instead of the POOW.
I once had to pick up the entire payroll for a 6 month deployment around South America, over $900,000, in cash, and carried a pistol, while I had a disbursing clerk with a pistol and a gunner's mate with a 12 ga. shotgun. When we arrived at the bank, it looked like we were robbing it. Took 2 seabags to carry it all, which is why I always laugh at Hollywood bank robberies, when they give out the amount taken. A $20,000 "brick" of Twenty Dollar bills is pretty damn big.
Many officers and non-coms, especially for deployment to a warzone, purchased their own weapons and ammunition and carried it in combat, through their tour. They would carry that weapon on every combat tour and it was as much a part of them as their arm. Those are the pistols they kept, in retirement. You trusted them more than an issued weapon.
Now, me? The only firearm I ever owned was a 20 ga. shotgun I was given on my 14th birthday, to use for rabbit hunting. Only hunted for a couple of seasons before I had enough (after my dad wounded a rabbit, picked it up and it started thrashing and squealing) and it remained in its case for the next 40 years. I believe my brother has it, at his house, along with his 20 ga. and my Dad's 12 ga. double-barrel and .22 cal rifle. I have never had a desire to get it back from him or to get a FOID card to legally keep it (in Illinois). Kind of ironic, given the size of my toy gun arsenal, as a kid.
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Sept 21, 2023 21:38:59 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #186 “Morgana the Witch!” (February 1970)Theme: Ms. Mxyzptlk Art & Story: Mike Sekowsky Inking: Dick Giordano Lettering: John Costanza Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, boutique owner Cathy Perkins, Diana’s shopgirl Abbie, Millie, and Henry, Cathy’s friends I Ching, mighty warlock Morgana, ancient witch Frimost, Morgana’s cat The Story: Diana and Cathy move back into her apartment after the arson is repaired. Cathy seemed friendless last issue, but now we meet her two friends Abbie and Millie. Their third friend Henry is here too, but he’s been turned into a frog by a witch whom they conjured during a séance. From their description, I Ching (fresh back from Paradise Island) immediately recognizes the witch as Morgana, daughter of Morgan Le Fay. Morgana is quite the trickster. She runs around Manhattan making police sing with longhairs, stuffed animals come to life, stuff like that. Every time Diana gets in range to punch her, Morgana just teleports further down the line, and the whole sequence repeats. Eventually, I Ching reveals himself as a “mighty warlock” who knows a spell to strip Morgana of her powers. This allows Diana to finally attack Morgana. But their fisticuffs end inconclusively when Morgana simply teleports away again. I guess Morgana wasn’t as depowered as we thought. But what about the frog? The whole “chasing Morgana” thing proved unnecessary. Abbie simply had to kiss the frog to turn it human again. The story ends with a one page teaser asking, “Why do Diana and I Ching go to Hong Kong?” Also a one page advertisement for “Jason’s Quest,” a motorcycle-based adventure story written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky, which ran in Showcase #88-90 but failed to get its own series. Can’t blame a guy for trying though! My Two Cents: Sekowsky shifts gears for this lightweight tale in the spirit of 1950s trickster stories with Qwisp, Mr. Mxyzptlk, or Bat Mite. Another point of comparison would be Samantha’s meddling magical mother Endora on television program “Bewitched.” Whichever point of reference you choose, the story is mainly a pretext to show the chaos wreaked by Morgana, with a little combat, and an ending that leaves her available for future appearance. Sekowsky did use her again a few months later in Adventure Comics #397 to help Supergirl and Diana face a wizard. These are her only two appearances, surprisingly. Anyway, Sekowsky seems to have a lot of fun drawing a zillion faces and other details on every page, with Sergio Aragones-level mayhem in the backgrounds. I Ching says that calling a mentally ill person a “yo-yo” refers to manic depression’s wide mood swings. I was unaware of that derivation, but it makes sense. All we see from Morgana is egotism. Henry has a funky car that he made himself. It’s a sort of dune buggy with parasols over the bucket seats. Far out! Fashion Plate: “White” is the theme color. Diana starts in the black blouse and white jacket and slacks from last issue. Then comes a white pinstripe suit, a white sun dress, a white suit with some sort of frilly necktie or scarf, and finally an all-white mini-dress with diagonal buttons down the front. Bond Girl: No chains or collars. Cathy makes a joke about being Diana’s slave, which is surprising after what happened last issue. I guess she’s over THEM. Sexual Politics: The main story is woman vs. woman. But I Ching spends the whole issue trying to get Diana to step aside so he can neutralize Morgana. Not until the end does he get his chance. His convenient “mighty warlock” abilities sure would have been useful to, say, prevent the death of Steve Trevor, or fight Ares’ army. I suspect we won’t be seeing them again soon though. Does She Cry? Diana does not, but Abbie cries about her boyfriend becoming a frog. Body Count: Nah, this is a comedy story, with Diana as the butt of the joke, the Darin to Morgana's Endora. Sekowsky gives her some hilariously exasperated faces as seen in examples above. Lettercol: Polarizing letters continue. “I am so mad I could eat nails.” “I intend to drop her and buy some other book like Superman.” (“Your letter arrived with two cents postage due,” snarks Sekowsky.) “You have made WW a much better mag.” “Keep her the way she is now.” “such a wonderful and human new look.” “My, boy, is she nice, the greatest.”
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Sept 22, 2023 11:38:13 GMT -5
Kanigher hit on something very insightful, and one of comics' then-new revolutionaries--one Denny O'Neil--was just the kind of writer to take the Golden Age heroine into the rapidly, radically changing identity and landscape for women. Admittedly, the landscape has its rough patches, but I feel this was a bold experiment to bridge Wonder Woman from the late 60s, to the coming 70s. Never a fan of Sekowsky, especially on Justice League of America, as he was never the kind of artist with the dynamic talent necessary for making the superhero come alive on the page. That said, he was the kind of artist who could translate the "regular" kind of adventure world that a power-free Diana would inhabit (in an honestly Apartment 3-G kind of style). This was also part of experiment O'Neil was carrying on at DC at the time: Superman and Supergirl had their powers reduced; the Teen Titans and the Metal Men started fighting crime out of costume (or, in the MM's case, in costume as normal humans). I always hated Sekowsky in the Justice League, as I thought he made the comic look stodgy and boring, but he is one of my favorite Silver Age artists when working on adventure, humor, or romance comics.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 22, 2023 21:43:27 GMT -5
If Sekowsky wants to add Uncle Arthur, I'm totally behind him!
Hard to believe Endora was also Margo Lane, on the radio.
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on Sept 22, 2023 22:06:38 GMT -5
If Sekowsky wants to add Uncle Arthur, I'm totally behind him! Hard to believe Endora was also Margo Lane, on the radio. Agnes Moorehead also played Lara, mother of Kal-El in the first episode of the Superman radio show.
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Sept 23, 2023 5:59:07 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #194 “The Prisoner” (June 1971) Theme: The Prisoner of Zenda Art & Story: Mike Sekowsky Inking: Dick Giordano Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, vacationing lookalike Princess Fabiola of Daldonia, Diana’s doppelganger General Rudolph, Uncle of Fabiola Prince Rupert, fiancé of Fabiola Frieda, cousin of Fabiola and next in line for the throne Helmut, husband of Frieda The Story: Diana is attacked while vacationing alone in the Balkan state of Daldonia. She handily bests her attackers before the police arrive to cart them away. Diana is whisked off to the castle and discovers she is a dead ringer for Princess Fabiola, who is about to be married. That night, Fabiola is kidnapped from the castle. Her uncle Rudolph begs Diana to pretend to be Fabiola so that the kingdom is not thrown into upheaval. However, Fabiola’s fiancé Rupert is no dummy. He immediately recognizes Diana as a fake but is persuaded to go along with the ruse until Fabiola can be located. The next day, the wedding of Diana and Rupert is interrupted by an assassination attempt, much to her relief. She chases down and subdues the would-be assassin, unmasked as Fabiola’s cousin Frieda, who for unexplained reasons stands the most to gain from Fabiola’s failure to get married. In gratitude, Rudolph gives Diana a fancy ring as a souvenir of her adventure in Daldonia. My Two Cents: Anthony Hope Hopkins (known professionally as Anthony Hope) published “The Prisoner of Zenda” in 1894. It tells of the Balkan kingdom of Ruritania whose King Rudolph V has been kidnapped. Visiting British gentleman Rudolf Rassendyll must pose as the king until he can be rescued. It’s been made into a film at least four times. I assume it is the reference behind the famous “Legend of Zelda” video game series. It also has the same basic plot conceit as Robert Heinlein’s Hugo-winning 1956 novel “Double Star” and the 1993 Kevin Kline film “Dave,” in which the U.S. President must be impersonated. Chris Claremont referred to it in Uncanny X-Men #204 (1986), in which Nightcrawler assists a woman who turns out to be a Rassendyll and the heir of Ruritania. Sekowsky may have based his character designs on Charles Dana Gibson’s frontispiece for the novel. Here we see Rudolph with Princess Flavia and Prince Rupert. Fashion Plate: Diana wears a white choker with her usual white minidress. I now wonder whether the monotonous (literally) white costuming was an attempt to satisfy some branding agreement. Marvel and DC both had merchandising deals with makers of toys, T-shirts, lunchboxes, and other consumer goods. Part of the deal was that the comic books had to depict the characters consistently so that they’d be recognizable on the merchandise. If Diana wears different clothes every issue, the merchandisers complain. This was probably one of the reasons that the era of costumeless Diana had to end eventually. Princess Fabiola wears a purple gown with a gold necklace set with an oval ruby. One detail I just noticed: Diana’s ears are not pierced. At least, she never wears earrings. But Fabiola’s ears are pierced. Diana’s ears are mostly hidden when she’s wearing Fabiola’s wedding dress. One panel suggests she’s wearing white earrings, but that may be a colorist error. Sexual Politics: Anthony Hope’s original story makes perfect sense: If King Rudolph is not crowned, the kingdom will fall into chaos. It’s much less clear why Frieda will get control of the kingdom unless Fabiola marries Rupert, and Sekowsky doesn't slow his story to make sense of it through exposition. Frieda was a pretty obvious choice as the secret villain since she is given no other reason to be in the story. Covers That Lie: At no point does General Rudolph pull a gun on Diana. The cover would have been just as effective if it simply showed Diana looking surprised at the wedding altar, with no explanation of why she was in such a scene. Note that on the cover, Rudolph wears his sword on the left, implying that he is right handed, but also holds the pistol with his left hand, implying the opposite. The layout of the page blocks his right half, so it’s sensible to portray him as left handed to show the pistol at all. I guess Sekowsky really wanted to show the sabre too. Bond Girl: Fabiona is tied up for the second half of the story, including the in media res opening splash page. I like the use of the mirror to show us Diana's face during the duel. Frieda holds her rapier left-handed on page one but right-handed on page twenty-one, again for reasons of composition rather than consistency. After the rescue, Frieda is the one who’s tied up, and Sekowsky shows Diana in her underwear, instead of just skipping to the wedding. Body Count: Nobody dies in this lighthearted romp. Lettercol: James Kaston begs for issue #200 to be a reprint of classic WW stories. Airman Dennis Rule says unpowered Diana still needs a costume, like Black Canary. (Black Canary originally had no powers, if you recall.) Will "white minidress" satisfy him? Lynne Pope reports she can’t consistently find WW on spinner racks and wishes subscriptions were available. Laurie Madonick must be young; she writes as if WW herself were reading the letters. Laurie wants a family photo from Paradise Island. Gerard Triano likes the stories set in Manhattan best.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 23, 2023 7:16:12 GMT -5
Sekowsky may have had the 1937 version of the film in mind, when designing characters, as much as anything. Rudolph has a resemblance to C Aubrey Smith, who played Col. Zapt, in that version. Smith was later the inspiration for Commander McBragg, on the Tennessee Tuxedo show (and Underdog).
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Sept 24, 2023 16:33:58 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #195 “The House That Wasn’t” (August 1971)
Theme: House of Mystery Art & Story: Mike Sekowsky Inking: Wally Wood Dramatis PersonaeDiana Prince, boutique owner I Ching, blind man, martial arts mentor Joe Collins and Marty Fellmen, escaped convicts Lemuel and his unnamed mother, old timey proprietors of the Inn of the White Horse Mr. James Arnett, stranded novelist Unnamed man with briefcase The Story: Driving on a snowy rural road, Diana and I Ching pick up Joe and Marty, two stranded commuters who turn out to be escaped convicts. Their own car is stuck in a snowdrift, forcing all four to seek refuge in the spooky house atop a nearby hill. Its two inhabitants seem oddly antiquated, like someone from a past century. There’s a stranded writer there too, by the name of James Arnett, but he does not do much but make comments like, "This would make a good novel!" Note that the Inn’s sign shows Death riding a pale horse. Ominous! Another traveler soon arrives, a spindly man with a briefcase which he refuses to put down. Could he be embezzler they heard about on the radio? Marty thinks so and murders him in the night. But Marty dies too somehow, crashing down the stairs while being choked by an invisible force. The dead man’s briefcase contained no fortune, only art supplies and a ticket to Tahiti so he could escape his nagging wife. Which he has done, after a fashion. Joe refuses to believe there was no treasure and decides to search upstairs for himself. Soon he too is being choked by invisible hands. All the while the innkeeper chirps cheerfully as if no violence is happening under her roof. She offers them hot drinks in pewter mugs, but Diana has figured out that this is some time-lost ghost tavern, whose concoctions should not be trusted. The innkeeper lady doesn’t even cast a reflection! (See cover) If enough travelers die here, the inn can stop traveling through time. Lemuel is a phantasm who can become corporeal enough to choke Diana, but I Ching’s magic mojo allows him to club the brute. Mighty warlock for the win! Diana gets her kicks too when Lemuel threatens her with a pair of ancient pistols. The heroes run fleeing into the blizzard, but not before I Ching throws a lamp to the floor, ensuring that the inn will burn down rather than threaten future travelers. They huddle in Diana’s car until the storm passes, and the police rescue squad tells them the legend of the spooky old Inn of the White Horse that once stood on this very spot, luring travelers to their doom. No kidding! James Arnett gets dropped off at the train station, having contributed absolutely nothing to the story except color commentary. My Two Cents: Obviously this ghost story would have fit just fine on one of DC’s several supernatural-themed series of the early 1970s, which included House of Secrets, House of Mystery, and Tales of the Unexpected. This one is pretty much by-the-numbers by adult suspense standards, though the kiddie market probably found it novel enough. I really don’t know why James Arnett was included in the story. Writers often include a character who is a writer, and it’s tempting to see him as Sekowsky’s avatar. He's also another "urbane guy with pipe." Were pipes still popular in 1971? The legendary Wally Wood inked this issue, but I must confess that I prefer Giordano’s work on surrounding stories. Maybe Wood was shooting for “atmospheric” on this creepy story, but I find it scratchy and muddy. Is that heresy? Fashion Plate: The whole story takes place in a few hours, so Diana wears only one suit. It’s all white, of course. The front cover shows her wearing some cool fringed white boots, but we never see them in the interior. Lettercol: The title has changed from “Wonderful World of Wonder Woman” to “Wonder Woman’s Write-In.” Barbara Champayne writes for over one column to explain why she loves the new WW and would like more real world stories and less fantasy. Sekowsky puts in a good word for Denny O’Neil’s socially conscious work on GL/GA. Angel Gonzalez points out that Amazonian history doesn’t match some book he read on Greek mythology. He also wants to know why Steve Trevor died. Sekowsky responds, “Steve Trevor was dull and boring and I didn’t like him much so I disposed of him.”
|
|
|
Post by tarkintino on Sept 24, 2023 18:09:03 GMT -5
Wonder Woman #194 “The Prisoner” (June 1971)
Fashion Plate: Diana wears a white choker with her usual white minidress. I now wonder whether the monotonous (literally) white costuming was an attempt to satisfy some branding agreement. Marvel and DC both had merchandising deals with makers of toys, T-shirts, lunchboxes, and other consumer goods. Part of the deal was that the comic books had to depict the characters consistently so that they’d be recognizable on the merchandise. If Diana wears different clothes every issue, the merchandisers complain. This was probably one of the reasons that the era of costumeless Diana had to end eventually.
From what I've gathered, it appears Diana in the white outfit(s) saw limited merchandising presence, even as this phase lasted until February of 1973, and by that time, Wonder Woman's ancillary market products featured the traditional character / costume, as seen in this 1973 advertisement for DC drinking cups produced for the Southland Corporation's 7-Eleven franchise: There's some characters who might be considered "C" level, but they made the cut for this well-remembered set of cups, but Diana? Nope. Some might say DC had already decided to bring back WW, thus her merchandise going forward would only represent the original character (arguably to avoid brand confusion), yet, Marvel did not seem to have an issue merchandising two distinct alter-egos from the same character, such as Clint Barton's Hawkeye and his brief stint as the second Goliath--both getting their own stickers as part of Topps' Comic Book Heroes & Super Hero Stickers[/i] trading cards from 1975 and '76:
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Sept 25, 2023 9:29:10 GMT -5
Gene Ha is a modern artist who worked on last year's amazing "Wonder Woman: Historia" project with Phil Jiminez and Nicola Scott. He just posted these two commissions of a brawny 40s H.G. Peters-style Diana and a 1960s Mod Diana, which seemed apropos for this thread.
|
|
|
Post by Rob Allen on Sept 25, 2023 12:45:47 GMT -5
I've always thought of Ruritania as Balkan rather than Baltic. Not that far from each other, but distinct.
|
|
|
Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 25, 2023 14:22:23 GMT -5
I've always thought of Ruritania as Balkan rather than Baltic. Not that far from each other, but distinct. In Hope's book, the original Ruritania is somewhere in 'central Europe,' so probably closer to the Balkans (and politics in the Balkans have often been derogatorily referred to as 'Ruritanian' both by locals and outside observers). By the way, as someone currently living in the Balkans, I can tell you that the Baltic is pretty far away from here...
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 25, 2023 14:23:50 GMT -5
I've always thought of Ruritania as Balkan rather than Baltic. Not that far from each other, but distinct. In Hope's book, the original Ruritania is somewhere in 'central Europe,' so probably closer to the Balkans (and politics in the Balkans have often been derogatorily referred to as 'Ruritanian' both by locals and outside observers). By the way, as someone currently living in the Balkans, I can tell you that the Baltic is pretty far away from here...
Geographically and culturally.
|
|