A New Voice for Darth Vader?
By Dan Brown James Earl Jones died one year ago this month. A true renaissance man, he is one of the few entertainers to be awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. That puts him in rare company. But to an entire generation, he is known for a single role, and he didn’t even play the whole character – Jones supplied just the vocal cords. If lines like, “No, I am your father,” and “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” and “Search your feelings” mean anything to you, then you know I’m referring to Darth Vader – the bad guy from the original Star Wars trilogy (by original I mean those three films appeared in movie theatres before the other trilogies and spinoffs). Jones wasn’t in the black suit, but his deep, booming baritone arguably did more to create the air of evil and menace that Vader exuded than David Prowse’s bodily presence. Now seems like the right time to discuss Jones’s future as Vader’s mouthpiece. Even though the character died in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, many Vader stories have been told since then and the baddie’s popularity has only grown. I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t Jones sign a deal so his voice could still be used to bring Vader to life, even after the actor had passed? According to sources like Deadline, yes, such a deal was hammered out a couple years before his death. But that doesn’t mean Lucasfilm is contractually obliged to do so. They could re-cast. In fact, there might even be an advantage to doing so. If I was in charge of finding a new sound for the role, my short list of performers would contain names like Ving Rhames (who is already the voice of Arby’s), Dennis Haysbert (who appears in commercials for Allstate Insurance), and Keith David (who has done a ton of voice roles and commercials). Star Wars director George Lucas had originally kicked around the idea of hiring Orson Welles for his space-opera villain, but decided the vocals would sound too familiar – Welles was the person who narrated a Martian invasion of Earth on the radio in 1938, after all. I admit re-casting comes with a substantial risk. Every fan who hears a different actor’s voice coming from the black mask would be comparing it to Jones. Star Wars fans can be tradition-minded folks who don’t like anything that strays too far from the blueprint laid down by Lucas before he sold his empire to Disney. The lure of using an actual person for Vader, on the other hand, is that it would be a reminder that Vader is somewhat human, and was redeemed in the end by his son, Luke Skywalker. What seems more likely is any future Star Wars production team will plunder the library of existing takes from Jones and use some sort of technical trickery. And I get how that would be an appropriate way to go for a character who is, according to Obi-Wan Kenobi, “more machine than man.” There’s something fitting about using technology to portray a cyborg, so AI may in fact be the route they choose. And yes, this is what the producers of the Kenobi series did in 2022, with Jones’s voice failing as he neared the end of his life. One thing we know for sure: Given movies like Rogue One and TV shows like Kenobi, we haven’t heard the last from Darth Vader. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Comic Cover Version an Interesting Experiment
By Dan Brown We all know what covers of songs are. Well, this summer I read my first cover version of a comic. It’s an interesting idea, with obvious nostalgia appeal for old-school superhero fans like yours truly. The issue that was covered was Giant Size X-Men No.1 from 1975, which was the first Marvel comic to feature Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus as a team. (Wolverine had made his first-ever appearance the previous year in the pages of the Hulk’s monthly title.) The cover version is billed as a tribute to the work done 50 years ago by creators Dave Cockrum and Len Wein, who were given the assignment of rebooting the X-Men series, which in the mid-1970s had been dormant for some time. The pair were told to come up with a new team, one which hopefully revive interest in mutants, and also sell into foreign markets – that’s why the new characters were a mix of nationalities. It features the work of such artists as Mike del Mundo, Alex Ross and Takeshi Miyazawa. If for nothing else, older readers can appreciate it as a one-stop introduction to the hottest modern-day pencillers and painters. Each artist covers one page from the original. For example, Ross did the opening splash page featuring the then-new class of mutants to be tutored by Charles Xavier in how to control their abilities and use them for the benefit of both mutants and humankind. So Ross brings his painterly realism to a group pose that was rendered by Cockrum back in the day. For the most part, the artists keep the panels as they were – many of them tipping their hats to Cockrum by showing how his original compositions were perfect in the first place. Few of them deviate from the original pages because the assignment was to tip their hats to Cockrum and Wein. There are some exceptions, such as the pages by Stephen Segovia and Joshua Cassara featuring Wolverine. The Canuck brawler looks a little more like the character he would eventually develop into. The book also includes the original 36-page story, so readers can compare the two versions, as well as other bonus material including comments from each of the individuals who were invited to participate in the project. Giant Size X-Men No. 1 is famous because it brought the X-Men back to life. The cover is also famous because Gil Kane mis-drew Wolverine’s mask, mistakenly giving him the headgear we are all familiar with today. It also featured the mutant island of Krakoa, which would decades later become an integral player in the history of the X-Men as their tropical sanctuary. Wein’s script is mostly intact. A "minor rewrite" was done “to address contemporary concerns about language.” I don’t approve of sanitizing stories from the past as a rule, however, the fact is I didn’t even notice the changes. As far as cover versions of songs go, I am of two minds. Some of them I appreciate for what the cover musicians bring to the old tunes. Other times, I can only hope young listeners will be turned on enough to trace the song back to its origins and come to appreciate musicians from yesteryear. Giant Size X-Men No.1 is the first cover version of a comic I have read, so I will wait to see if Marvel (or DC) publish any others before I make up my mind entirely on how I feel about them as a genre. It’s just awesome to know creators such as Cockrum and Wein were influential enough to inspire the current crop of artists and writers to take comic books seriously as an artform, moving the industry forward into the present day. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Ken Dryden, Canada’s Philosopher-Goalie
By Dan Brown Canada once had a prime minister who fancied himself a philosopher-king. Me, I was always more impressed by Canada’s philosopher-goalie, Ken Dryden, who died last week. You probably know Dryden backstopped the Montreal Canadians dynasty of the 1970s, and had a second career as a politician, including a stint in the federal cabinet. I never met Dryden, but I did meet his Habs teammates, like Pete Mahovlich, who was our neighbour when my family lived in Beaconsfield, Quebec, for two years during the Me Decade. I did “meet” Ken Dryden, however, in the pages of his many books. The tributes that have come pouring in since he died have mentioned how thoughtful Dryden was, and having read a good chunk of his output, I can confirm this was the case. He authored many more titles than just The Game, his player-by-player breakdown of what made the 1970s Canadians perpetual Stanley Cup champions (Dryden won six cups in the eight years he spent in the NHL). To call The Game the best hockey book ever, or even the best book about sports ever, is damning with faint praise. It is about so much more, a philosophy of life even. I first came across The Game when I was assigned a chapter to study during my undergrad at the University of Western Ontario in one of my writing classes. In that section of the book, Dryden uses the metaphor of pond hockey to make a point about the human imagination. He argues that to develop fully, the brain needs unstructured free time to just roam, to play freely, to improvise. Dryden lamented that kids – with school, after-school activities, camps and so on – don’t get the time to let their imaginations go like they once did. It’s a point that lands with even more force in the age of the cellphone. (And if you think imagination isn’t important, just remember that the 9/11 commission concluded it was a “failure of imagination” that allowed the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon to take place, so we’re talking about an ability that is crucial to the progress of human civilization.) The most recent Dryden volume I finished was Scotty, his profile of the winningest coach in NHL history, Scotty Bowman – who had been the netminder’s boss in Montreal. He also wrote In School, for which he followed a group of secondary students through the academic year to produce a study of the education system with a sociological bent. He even once tried his hand at fiction, penning the novel The Moved and the Shaken. This is a guy who had a lot of thoughts on a lot of subjects. Those who are eulogizing him right now are correct: He wasn’t only a genius of a hockey player. He was an intellectual on par with the likes of Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye. Many of the articles about Dryden’s career have also included photos of him when was a player, standing in the crease (because the action was usually at the other end of the ice) with his head forward, chin resting on his folded gloves as he watched his teammates. It was his trademark pose, and is recognizable to a generation of hockey fans. It also reminds me of another famous figure frozen deep in thought: Rodin’s bronze sculpture The Thinker. Our dominion has lost one of the finest minds it ever produced. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Lawrence Allan Mood Obituary
May 11, 1930 to September 1, 2025 With heavy hearts we announce the death of our father, grandfather and great grandfather, Lawrence Allan Mood. Lawrence was born in Goderich, but grew up mainly in London. After attending Sir Adam Beck Collegiate he was a salesman for the family business Bill Mood and Sons, a wholesale hardware company. He met his beautiful wife of 72 years Lois (predeceased) at a London YMCA dance. They had 3 children Anne, Thomas, and Gordon, living in Toronto, Dunnville, and London. While raising two children, Laurie decided to pursue a degree at UWO part time and Teacher’s College. After graduating he left the hardware business to become a high school teacher in Dunville, Wheable, Beck, and finally Clarke Road in London until he retired in 1990. Over the years he taught English, History, and Business, becoming a department head overseeing Co-op studies. When Lawrence retired from teaching, he decided to expand his hobby business of selling stamps to collectors and open a store front with his youngest son, Gordon, selling stamps and comic books under the name L.A. Mood. Eventually, he retired from the stamp portion of the business, to spend more time travelling with Lois to Great Britain and Europe researching their family trees. Gordon and Carol officially changed the name to L.A. Mood Comics & Games, but Laurie and Lois still enjoyed working at the store once a week, chatting with customers up until Covid. He was a member of the Canadian Stamp Dealers’ Association, London Middlesex Stamp Club, and the London Middlesex Historical Society. Lawrence is survived by his daughter Anne Badyk (Tony) of Calgary, son Gordon Mood (Carol Vandenberg), and Tom Mood of London. He is also survived by his grandson Neil Badyk (David Sanderson) granddaughter Dana Ambach (Drew), and two great-grandchildren Etta and Wesley Ambach. There will be a private internment, followed by a Celebration of Life at Forest Lawn Funeral Home, 1997 Dundas Street East, London, ON, on Friday, September 19, 2025 from 1:30-3 pm.
Will New Crossovers Keep It Fresh?
By Dan Brown Incoming! A new batch of DC/Marvel collaborations begins landing in comic stores this month. As old comic fans like me well know, crossovers are an age-old marketing tradition. The question is: Can the combined talent of comicdom’s two industry leaders make them feel fresh and exciting in 2025? The collabs, one published by each company, were announced in February. L.A. Mood’s Matt Finch alerted me they were in the pipeline because he knew I would remember the ones from the 1970s and onward. Those stories take place out of regular continuity. That allows the legal wall between DC and Marvel to be torn down, the result being Superman can team up with Spider-Man, the New Teen Titans with the X-Men, Batman with the Hulk, and so on. Crossovers were once rare, momentous events. When I cast my mind back to the 1970s, I still remember being stunned at the sight of the Man of Steel and Spidey squaring off on the cover of the same comic. Although I was just a dumb kid, I understood this was something special that didn’t happen every month. That’s probably why I grabbed every crossover – typically printed in a larger format – that came my way. Since these special issues sold so well, they quickly evolved into a cottage industry within the larger comics business, and as more independent publishers popped up, those new players tried to grab a piece of the action. Batman has co-starred with Judge Dredd. Archie met the Predator once. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have taken on Flaming Carrot. Flash-forward to this year, and Godzilla seems to be omnipresent in comics, breathing fire and stomping skyscrapers in every publisher’s imaginative universe. Crossovers represent an extension of the idea of continuity: If every Marvel superhero exists in the same metaverse together, why can’t they exist alongside DC’s stable of stars as well, at least temporarily? The first of the new books will see Deadpool face off against the Dark Knight, with backup stories combining Daredevil and Wonder Woman, and Krypto and Jeff the Land Shark, in the same volume. Along those lines, this summer I found an old Wizard magazine from 1994 in a second-hand bookstore. Among the then-current industry news was a brief touting an upcoming Batman/Punisher outing. That’s how ubiquitous they became. It was from those earlier crossovers that I was first introduced to such characters as the Jack Kirby-created baddie Darkseid. (Lord knows I love Walter Simonson’s art, but how did George Perez not get the assignment when the Titans met the X-Men in 1982?) So that particular volume was instrumental in introducing each company’s fans to the other’s lineup of characters. Crossovers became a way of cross-pollinating different fandoms. Those who loved both of this summer’s big-screen superhero outings – Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps – may be surprised to learn that Supes was, like the Silver Surfer, once a herald of Marvel planet-eater Galactus. Yep, it happened in 1999’s Superman/Fantastic Four: The Infinite Destruction, one of the best dual efforts from back in the day. Speaking of the movies, if it’s really true that audiences are finally tiring of superhero stories, how long will it be before one of the big brains in Hollywood suggests using the same strategy on the silver screen that has worked in comics? Isn’t that the logical next step – putting unlikely heroes beside each other to sell movie tickets? I’m betting it’s only a matter of time. If the Alien and the Predator can slug it out, why not put DC heroes and Marvel’s finest beside one another in a motion picture? Indeed, how long until a single mega-company – think Disney – assembles all the characters it owns from different media in the same movie adventure? Admit it: You love the idea of Luke Skywalker partnering with Tony Stark to fight the combined villainy of Darth Vader and Doctor Doom! Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Ozzy Had the X Factor
By Dan Brown A final word about Ozzy Osbourne as summer slowly gives way to fall. Osbourne – as you likely know – died this July, just days after performing at Black Sabbath’s farewell concert in his hometown of Birmingham, UK. But here’s the thing: If all Ozzy had ever been was the lead singer of Black Sabbath, his passing wouldn’t have sparked such a stir in the media. He didn’t just play a part in originating heavy metal. He didn’t just wail on songs like War Pigs and Paranoid. He was so much more: A solo star in his own right. Ozzfest impresario. Reality-show father. Ozzy was more than a vocalist. He was a star, which is a word that has lost so much of its meaning because it gets thrown around too much in 2025. Ozzy truly deserved the label because he transcended any one form of entertainment. After he was fired by Sabbath in 1979, the singer proved his name alone was enough to draw tens of thousands of fans to live shows, to sell records, to pique the public’s interest. And after establishing himself separate from Sabbath, he – aided by his crafty wife, Sharon – launched a series of concerts that bore his name. With Ozzfest, he became a brand. Then came The Osbournes in the early 2000s. Ozzy followed in the footsteps of actors such as Leslie Nielsen and William Shatner, who took their screen personas and inverted them in their later years, turning their own image inside-out, making it fodder for comedy by poking fun at the super-serious performances that made them famous. Ozzy generated four seasons of laughs by taking his Prince of Darkness shtick – well earned in the 1980s with the gnawing of doves and bats – and juxtaposing it with his doddering-dad act. This was the guy who our parents warned us about? Ozzy was able to do this because he had what Simon Cowell calls “the X factor.” It’s the undefinable quality that makes a star a star. It’s what makes them compelling to the general public. It’s that thing that makes Cowell himself say on TV talent shows, “I like you. You’re interesting.” The X factor can’t be quantified, but it can be described. It’s the right stuff of the entertainment industry and other famous people have had it, like Harry Belafonte, David Bowie, Barbara Streisand, Madonna, and Lady Gaga. Ozzy is just the latest well-known person to exemplify it. The X factor allowed Ozzy to change with the times and the tastes of the day. It made him a show-business survivor over a number of decades, an enduring presence on both stage and screen. It’s hard enough to have just one hit song, let alone a career in different areas of the arts that lasts and lasts. His X factor made Ozzy, more than anything else, an entertainer. Is it possible to trace where Ozzy got his X-factor from? Some would say it must have been a deal with the devil, but surely being a working-class bloke from a regular family had a lot to do with Ozzy’s lasting Everyman appeal. Does that mean anyone can be Ozzy? I’m not sure. Let me know when the next Ozzy Osbourne comes along, and we’ll have our answer. If that ever happens. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
