Can't Blog, Being Entertained

I'd love to come up with a more clever post for you all today, but I've been to distracted by the glory of finding epsiodes of the old Earthworm Jim cartoon show on Youtube. You know, up until now, I hadn't really appreciated that sites' majesty, but well, that was before I got to watch a giant worm in a super-suit battle a professor with a monkey for a head for the first time in years. Oh, it's as beautiful as I remembered.

The show has a Silver Age DC feel to it, with the distinct lack of "everyday" problems you tended to see in Marvel's Silver Age. He's got evil twin problems, megalomaniacal villain problems, sidekick being deemed more of a hero than him, and being giving his suit problems, and yeah, he likes a girl that doesn't seem to recognize his affections. Of course, the lady in question is a leader of a rebel army that has the strength of a hundred man-sized crows, and knows nothing 'of life, of love, of romance!' (but man, can she dance!), so not exactly Average Joe problems. Unless, of course, your super-suit shuts down at the exact moment the evil queen appears to destroy your town, and you must venture to get the BATTERY OF THE GODS to get the suit up and running again. If that's a common problem for you, then I guess the show does deal with everyday problems. For the rest of us? Not so much.

Jim's enemies certainly don't do anything halfway, as every evil scheme involves destroying the universe, or destroying the world, or stealing his suit so they can conquer the world. Those plans involving anything from the Book of Doom (a children's pop-up book), to a Fur-Bearin' Trout, to mystical, reality-altering orbs poorly guarded by aliens that fear everything. Fortunately, Jim's always there to 'rend their plans asunder like so much used facial tissue!' usually by blasting and punching, plus he's got a talking, clothes-wearing, walks-on-two-legs canine sidekick, so what more do you need to stop evil? OK, he does occasionally require the aid of nutlog (???) or a falling cow, but that's rare. Not the falling cows, that happens frequently, the part about falling cows saving the day.

Plus the show has some great dialogue. It's certainly not the Bendisian "realistic" dialogue, what with lines like 'Eat dirt, ponderous-rumped blaggard!', or 'By the Great Worm Spirit, whose segments span the Labyrinth of Eternity!' I would like to see Bendis write a comic with actual dialogue like that, where the characters say it and mean it, not just as a way of mocking their foes. By the by, the Great Worm Spirit talks like Christopher Walken. Go figure.

I have to say, Earthworm Jim is one of the shows that I need them to release on DVD. I would buy it without hesitation. You hear that, whoever has the rights to it? Without hesitation. Yeah, I know it's on VHS, I don't have my VCR with me, alright? Sheesh.