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Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi (溝口 健二) was a Japanese filmmaker who directed roughly one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939), The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953), and Sansho the Bailiff (1954), with the latter three all being awarded at the Venice International Film Festival. A recurring theme of his films was the oppression of women in historical and contemporary Japan. Together with Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu, Mizoguchi is seen as a representative of the "golden age" of Japanese cinema.

Early years
Mizoguchi was born in Hongō, Tokyo, as the second of three children, to Zentaro Miguchi, a roofing carpenter, and his wife Masa. The family's background was relatively humble until the father's failed business venture of selling raincoats to the Japanese troops during the Russo-Japanese War. The family was forced to move to the downtown district of Asakusa and gave Mizoguchi's older sister Suzu up for adoption, which in effect meant selling her into the geisha profession.

In 1911, Mizoguchi's parents, too poor to continue paying for their son's primary school training, sent him to stay with an uncle in Morioka in northern Japan for a year, where he finished primary school. His return coincided with an onset of crippling rheumatoid arthritis, which left him with a walking gait for the rest of his life. In 1913, his sister Suzu secured him an apprenticeship as a designer for a yukata manufacturer, and in 1915, after the mother's death, she brought both her younger brothers into her own house. Mizoguchi enrolled for a course at the Aoibashi Yoga Kenkyuko art school in Tokyo, which taught Western painting techniques, and developed an interest in opera, particularly at the Royal Theatre at Akasaka where he helped the set decorators with set design and construction.

In 1917, his sister again helped him to find work, this time as an advertisement designer with the Yuishin Nippon newspaper in Kobe. The film critic Tadao Sato has pointed out a coincidence between Mizoguchi's life in his early years and the plots of shinpa dramas, which characteristically documented the sacrifices made by geisha on behalf of the young men they were involved with. Probably because of his familial circumstances, "the subject of women's suffering is fundamental in all his work; while sacrifice – in particular, the sacrifice a sister makes for a brother – makes a key showing in a number of his films, including some of the greatest ones (Sansho the Bailiff/Sansho Dayu [1954], for example)." After less than a year in Kobe, however, Mizoguchi returned "to the bohemian delights of Tokyo" (Mark Le Fanu). In 1920, Mizoguchi entered the film industry as an assistant director at the Nikkatsu studios in Mukojima, Tokyo. Three years later, he gave his directorial debut with Ai ni yomigaeru hi (The Resurrection of Love).

Film career
After the 1923 earthquake in Tokyo, Mizoguchi moved to Nikkatsu's studios in Kyoto. His early works included remakes of German Expressionist cinema and adaptations of Eugene O'Neill and Leo Tolstoy. While working in Kyoto, he studied kabuki and noh theatre, and traditional Japanese dance and music. He was also a frequent visitor of the tea houses, dance halls and brothels in Kyoto and Osaka, which at one time resulted in a widely covered incident of him being attacked by a jealous prostitute and then-lover with a razor. His 1926 Passion of a Woman Teacher (Kyōren no onna shishō) was one of a handful of Japanese films shown in France and Germany at the time and received considerate praise, but is nowadays lost like most of his 1920s and early 1930s films. By the end of the decade, Mizoguchi directed a series of left-leaning "tendency films", including Tokyo March and Metropolitan Symphony (Tokai kokyōkyoku).

In 1932, Mizoguchi left Nikkatsu and worked for a variety of studios and production companies. The Water Magician (1933) and Orizuru Osen (1935) were melodramas based on stories by Kyōka Izumi, depicting women who sacrifice themselves to secure a poor young man's education. Both have been cited as early examples of his recurring theme of female concerns and "one-scene-one-shot" camera technique, which would become his trademark. The 1936 diptych of Osaka Elegy and Sisters of the Gion, about modern young women (moga) rebelling against their surroundings, is considered to be his early masterpiece. Mizoguchi himself named these two films as the works with which he achieved artistic maturity. Osaka Elegy was also his first full sound film, and marked the beginning of his long collaboration with screenwriter Yoshikata Yoda.

1939, the year when Mizoguchi became president of the Directors Guild of Japan, saw the release of The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, which is regarded by many critics as his major pre-war, if not his best work. Here, a young woman supports her partner's struggle to achieve artistic maturity as a kabuki actor at the price of her health.

During World War II, Mizoguchi made a series of films whose patriotic nature seemed to support the war effort. The most famous of these is a retelling of the classic samurai tale The 47 Ronin (1941–42), an epic jidaigeki (historical drama). While some historians see these as works which he had been pressured into, others believe him to have acted voluntarily. Fellow screenwriter Matsutarō Kawaguchi went as far as, in an 1964 interview for Cahiers du Cinéma, calling Mizoguchi (whom he otherwise held in high regard) an "opportunist" in his art who followed the currents of the time, veering from the left to the right to finally become a democrat.

1941 also saw the permanent hospitalisation of his wife Chieko (m. 1927), whom he erroneously believed to have contracted venereal disease.

International recognition
During the early post-war years following the country's defeat, Mizoguchi directed a series of films concerned with the oppression of women and female emancipation both in historical (mostly the Meiji era) and contemporary settings. All of these were written or co-written by Yoda, and often starred Kinuyo Tanaka, who remained his regular leading actress until 1954, when both fell out with each other over Mizoguchi's attempt to prevent her from directing her first own film. Utamaro and His Five Women (1946) was a notable exception of an Edo era jidaigeki film made during the Occupation, as this genre was seen as being inherently nationalistic or militaristic by the Allied censors. Of his works of this period, Flame of My Love (1949) has repeatedly been pointed out for its unflinching presentation of its subject. Tanaka plays a young teacher who leaves her traditionalist milieu to strive for her goal of female liberation, only to find out that her allegedly progressive partner still nourishes the accustomed attitude of male preeminence.

Mizoguchi returned to feudal era settings with The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953) and Sansho the Bailiff (1954), which won him international recognition, in particular by the Cahiers du Cinéma critics such as Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, and were awarded at the Venice Film Festival. While The Life of Oharu follows the social decline of a woman banished from the Imperial court during the Edo era, Ugetsu and Sansho the Bailiff examine the brutal effects of war and reigns of violence on small communities and families. In between these three films, he directed A Geisha (1953) about the pressures put upon women working in Kyoto's post-war pleasure district. After two historical films shot in colour (Tales of the Taira Clan and Princess Yang Kwei Fei, both 1955), Mizoguchi once more explored a contemporary milieu (a brothel in the Yoshiwara district) in black-and-white format with his last film, the 1956 Street of Shame.

Mizoguchi died of leukemia at the age of 58 in the Kyoto Municipal Hospital. At the time of his death, Mizoguchi was working on the script of An Osaka Story, which was later realised by Kōzaburō Yoshimura.

Legacy
In 1975, Kaneto Shindō, a set designer, chief assistant director and scenarist for Mizoguchi in the late 1930s and 1940s, released a documentary about his former mentor, Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director, as well as publishing a book on him in 1976. Already with his autobiographical debut film Story of a Beloved Wife (1951), Shindō had paid reference to Mizoguchi in the shape of the character "Sakaguchi", a director who nurtures a young aspiring screenwriter.

Mizoguchi's films have regularly appeared in "best film" polls, such as Sight & Sound's "The 100 Greatest Films of All Time" (Ugetsu and Sansho the Bailiff) and Kinema Junpo's "Kinema Junpo Critics' Top 200" (The Life of Oharu, Ugetsu and The Crucified Lovers). A retrospective of his 30 extant films, presented by the Museum of the Moving Image and the Japan Foundation, toured several American cities in 2014. Among the directors who have admired Mizoguchi's work are Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, Andrei Tarkovsky, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Theo Angelopoulos and many others. Film historian David Thomson wrote, "The use of camera to convey emotional ideas or intelligent feelings is the definition of cinema derived from Mizoguchi's films. He is supreme in the realization of internal states in external views."

Filmography
Lost films (except where noted) Earliest extant film Extant films (except where noted)
 * 1923: The Resurrection of Love (Ai ni yomigaeru hi)
 * 1923: Hometown (Kokyō)
 * 1923: Dreams of Youth (Seishun no yumeji)
 * 1923: City of Desire (Joen no chimata)
 * 1923: Song of Failure (Haisan no uta wa kanashi)
 * 1923: 813: The Adventures of Arsène Lupin (813)
 * 1923: Foggy Harbour (Kiri no minato)
 * 1923: The Night (Yoru)
 * 1923: In the Ruins (Haikyo no naka)
 * 1923: Blood and Soul (Chi to rei)
 * 1923: Song of the Mountain Pass (Tōge no uta)
 * 1924: The Sad Idiot (Kanashiki hakuchi)
 * 1924: Death at Dawn (Aka tsuki no shi)
 * 1924: Queen of Modern Times (Gendai no joō)
 * 1924: Strong is the Female (Jose wa tsuyoshi)
 * 1924: This Dusty World (Jinkyō)
 * 1924: Turkeys in a Row (Shichimenchō no yukue)
 * 1924: The Death of a Police Officer (Itō junsa no shi) co-direction
 * 1924: Chronicle of the May Rain (Samidare zōshi)
 * 1924: Love-Breaking Axe (Koi o tatsu ono) co-direction
 * 1924: Kanraku no onna (A Woman of Pleasure)
 * 1924: Queen of the Circus (Kyokubadan no Jo)
 * 1925: Ah, Special Battleship Kanto (Ā tokumukan Kanto) co-direction
 * 1925: Uchien Puchan
 * 1925: Out of College (Gakusō o idete)
 * 1925: The Earth Smiles: Part 1 (Daichi wa hohoemu: Daiichibu)
 * 1925: The White Lily Laments (Shirayuki wa nageku)
 * 1925: Shining in the Red Sunset (Akai yūki ni terasarete)
 * 1925: The Song of Home (Furusato no uta)
 * 1925: Street Sketches (Shōhin eigashū: Machi no suketchi) co-direction
 * 1925: Human Being (Ningen)
 * 1925: General Nogi and Kuma-San (Nogi Taisho to Kuma-San)
 * 1926: The Copper Coin King (Dōkaō)
 * 1926: A Paper Doll's Whisper of Spring (Kaminingyō haru no sasayaki)
 * 1926: My Faultn New Version (Shinsetsu ono ga tsumi)
 * 1926: Passion of a Woman Teacher (Kyōren no onna shishō)
 * 1926: The Boy of the Sea (Kaikoku danji)
 * 1926: Money (Kane)
 * 1927: The Imperial Grace (Kōon)
 * 1927: The Cuckoo (Jihishinchō)
 * 1928: A Man's Life: Money is Everything in Life (Hito no isshō: Jinsei banji kane no maki)
 * 1928: A Man's Life: This Floating World is Hard (Hito no isshō: Ukiyo wa tsurai ne no maki)
 * 1928: A Man's Life: Bear and Tiger Meet Again (Hito no isshō: Kuma to tora saikai no maki)
 * 1928: My Lovely Daughter (Musume kawaiya)
 * 1929: Bridge of Japan (Nihonbashi)
 * 1929: The Morning Sun Shines (Asahi wa kagayaku) co-direction Few minutes preserved
 * 1929: Tokyo March (Tōkyō kōshinkyoku) Few minutes preserved
 * 1929: Metropolitan Symphony (Tokai kokyōkyoku)
 * 1930: Hometown (Fujiwara Yoshie no furusato) Extant film
 * 1930: Okichi, Mistress of a Foreigner (Tōjin Okichi) Few minutes preserved
 * 1931: And Yet They Go On (Shikamo karera wa yuku)
 * 1932: The Man of the Moment (Toki no ujigami)
 * 1932: The Dawn of Manchuria and Mongolia (Manmō kenkoku no reimei)
 * 1933: The Water Magician (Taki no shiraito) Extant film
 * 1933: Gion Festival (Gion matsuri)
 * 1934: The Jinpu Group (Jimpūren)
 * 1934: The Mountain Pass of Love and Hate (Aizō tōge)
 * 1935: The Downfall of Osen (Orizuru Osen)
 * 1935: Oyuki the Virgin (マリヤのお雪, Mariya no Oyuki)
 * 1935: The Poppy (Gubijinsō)
 * 1936: Osaka Elegy (Naniwa erejī)
 * 1936: Sisters of the Gion (Gion no kyōdai)
 * 1937: The Straits of Love and Hate (愛怨峡, Aien kyō)
 * 1938: Song of the Camp (Roei no uta)
 * 1939: The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (Zangiku monogatari)
 * 1940: A Woman of Osaka (Naniwa onna) Lost film
 * 1941: The Life of an Actor (Geidō Ichidai Otoko)
 * 1941–42: The 47 Ronin a.k.a. The Loyal 47 Ronin of the Genroku Era (Genroku chūshingura)
 * 1944: Three Generations of Danjuro (Danjurō sandai)
 * 1944: Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武蔵)
 * 1945: The Famous Sword (名刀美女丸 Meitō Bijomaru)
 * 1945: Victory Song (Hisshōka) co-direction with Masahiro Makino and Hiroshi Shimizu
 * 1946: Victory of Women (女性の勝利, Josei no shōri)
 * 1946: Utamaro and His Five Women (Utamaro o meguru gonin no onna)
 * 1947: The Love of Sumako the Actress (Joyū Sumako no koi)
 * 1948: Women of the Night (Yoru no onnatachi)
 * 1949: Flame of My Love (Waga koi wa moenu)
 * 1950: Portrait of Madame Yuki a.k.a. A Picture of Madame Yuki (Yuki fujin ezu)
 * 1951: Miss Oyu (Oyū-sama)
 * 1951: The Lady of Musashino (Musashino fujin)
 * 1952: The Life of Oharu (Saikaku ichidai onna)
 * 1953: Ugetsu (Ugetsu monogatari)
 * 1953: A Geisha a.k.a. Gion Festival Music (Gion bayashi)
 * 1954: Sansho the Bailiff (Sanshō dayū)
 * 1954: The Woman in the Rumor a.k.a. The Crucified Woman (Uwasa no onna)
 * 1954: The Crucified Lovers a.k.a. A Story from Chikamatsu (Chikamatsu monogatari)
 * 1955: Princess Yang Kwei Fei (Yōkihi)
 * 1955: Tales of the Taira Clan (Shin heike monogatari)
 * 1956: Street of Shame (Akasen chitai)

Home media releases (English subtitled)

 * Late Mizoguchi (Oyū-sama, Ugetsu monogatari, Gion bayashi, Sanshō dayū, Uwasa no onna, Chikamatsu monogatari, Yōkihi, Akasen chitai) – Eureka! Masters of Cinema (region B Blu-ray)
 * The Mizoguchi Collection (Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, Utamaro and His Five Women) – Artificial Eye (region B Blu-ray, region 2 PAL DVD)
 * Kenji Mizoguchi's Fallen Women (Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion, Women of the Night, Street of Shame) – The Criterion Collection (region 1 NTSC)
 * The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Zangiku monogatari, 1939) – Artificial Eye (region B Blu-ray), Shochiku Home Video (Region A Blu-ray), The Criterion Collection (region 1 NTSC DVD, region A Blu-ray)
 * The 47 Ronin (Genroku chūshingura, 1941) – Image Entertainment (region 0 NTSC DVD), UniOne Media (Region 0 NTSC DVD)
 * The Lady of Musashino (Musashino fujin, 1951) – Artificial Eye (region 2 PAL)
 * The Life of Oharu (Saikaku ichidai onna, 1952) – Artificial Eye (region 2 PAL DVD), The Criterion Collection (region 1 NTSC DVD, region A or B Blu-ray)
 * Ugetsu monogatari (1953) – Bo Ying (Region 0 PAL DVD), Eureka! Masters of Cinema (region 2 NTSC DVD, region B Blu-ray), The Criterion Collection (region 1 NTSC DVD, region A Blu-ray)
 * Chikamatsu monogatari (1954) - Eureka! Masters of Cinema (region 2 NTSC DVD), The Criterion Collection (region 1 NTSC DVD, region A Blu-ray)
 * Talking Silents 1 (The Water Magician, Tokyo March) – Digital MEME (region 2 NTSC DVD)
 * Talking Silents 2 (The Downfall of Osen, Okichi, Mistress of a Foreigner) – Digital MEME (region 2 NTSC DVD)

title: Kenji Mizoguchi


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American comic book

An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics, which included the debut of the superhero Superman. This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II. After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw a gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television and the impact of the Comics Code Authority. The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century.

Some fans collect comic books, helping drive up their value. Some have sold for more than US$1 million. Comic shops cater to fans, selling comic books, plastic sleeves ("bags") and cardboard backing ("boards") to protect the comic books.

An American comic book is also known as a floppy comic. It is typically thin and stapled, unlike traditional books.

American comic books are one of the three major comic book industries globally, along with Japanese manga and the Franco-Belgian comic books.

Format
The typical size and page count of comics have varied over the decades, generally tending toward smaller formats and fewer pages.

Historically, the size was derived from folding one sheet of Quarter Imperial paper (15 x), to print 4 pages which were each 7+1/2 x. This also meant that the page count had to be some multiple of 4.

In recent decades, standard comics have been trimmed at about 6.625 x 10.25 inches.

The format of the American comic book has been adapted periodically outside the United States, especially in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Creating comics
While comics can be the work of a single creator, the labor of creating them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be a separate writer and artist, or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds.

Particularly in superhero comic books, the art may be divided between:
 * a writer, who plots the story and writes the dialogue
 * a penciller (usually termed the artist), who, working exclusively in pencils, generally lays out the panel breakdown on the page, and draws the actual artwork in each panel (but layouts may be handled by a separate artist), and who, particularly at Marvel Comics, may also co-plot the storyline
 * an inker, working exclusively in ink, who finishes the artwork ready for the printing press.
 * a colorist, who adds the color to the pages (but this usually involves preparing four individual separations in cyan, magenta, yellow and black for the CMYK printing process, not a literal application of those colors to the inked pages)
 * a letterer, who adds the captions and speech balloons (from the script prepared by the writer).

The process begins with the writer (often in collaboration with one or more others, who may include the editor and/or the penciller) coming up with a story idea or concept, then working it up into a plot and storyline, finalizing it with a script. After the art is prepared, the dialogue and captions are lettered onto the page from the script, and an editor may have the final say (but, once ready for printing, it is difficult and expensive to make any major changes), before the comic is sent to the printer.

The creative team, the writer and artist(s), may work for a comic book publisher who handles the marketing, advertising, and other logistics. A wholesale distributor, such as Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest in the US, distributes the printed product to retailers.

Another aspect of the process involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers/fans and the creator(s). Fan art and letters to the editor were commonly printed in the back of the book, until, in the early 21st century, various Internet forums started to replace this tradition.

Independent and alternative comics
The growth of comic specialty stores helped permit several waves of independently-produced comics, beginning in the mid-1970s. Some early examples of these – generally referred to as "independent" or "alternative" comics – such as Big Apple Comix, continued somewhat in the tradition of the earlier underground comics, while others, such as Star Reach, resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artist.

This so-called "small press" scene (a term derived from the limited quantity of comics printed in each press-run) continued to grow and diversify, with a number of small publishers in the 1990s changing the format and distribution of their comic books to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The "minicomics" form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing, arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small presses.

Proto-comic books

The development of the modern American comic book happened in stages. Publishers had collected comic strips in hardcover book form as early as 1842, with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, a collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1837 book Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Töpffer.

The G. W. Dillingham Company published the first known proto-comic-book magazine in the US, The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats, in 1897. A hardcover book, it reprinted material—primarily the October 18, 1896, to January 10, 1897, sequence titled "McFadden's Row of Flats"—from cartoonist Richard F. Outcault's newspaper comic strip Hogan's Alley, starring the Yellow Kid. The 196-page, square-bound, black-and-white publication, which also includes introductory text by E. W. Townsend, measured 5 x and sold for 50 cents. The neologism "comic book" appears on the back cover. Despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward, the first monthly proto-comic book, Embee Distributing Company's Comic Monthly, did not appear until 1922. Produced in an 8+1/2 x format, it reprinted black-and-white newspaper comic strips and lasted a year.

The Funnies and Funnies on Parade
In 1929, Dell Publishing (founded by George T. Delacorte, Jr.) published The Funnies, described by the Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert" and not to be confused with Dell's 1936 comic-book series of the same name. Historian Ron Goulart describes the 16-page, four-color periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than a true comic book. But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands". The Funnies ran for 36 issues, published Saturdays through October 16, 1930.

In 1933, salesperson Maxwell Gaines, sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg, and owner George Janosik of the Waterbury, Connecticut, company Eastern Color Printing—which printed, among other things, Sunday-paper comic-strip sections – produced Funnies on Parade as a way to keep their presses running. Like The Funnies, but only eight pages, this appeared as a newsprint magazine. Rather than using original material, however, it reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the McNaught Syndicate, the Ledger Syndicate, and the Bell-McClure Syndicate. These included such popular strips as cartoonist Al Smith's Mutt and Jeff, Ham Fisher's Joe Palooka, and Percy Crosby's Skippy. Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands, but rather sent it out free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies. The promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks, Kinney Shoes, Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000.

Famous Funnies and New Fun
Also in 1933, Gaines and Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish the 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, which historians consider the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". Distribution took place through the Woolworth's department-store chain, though it remains unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to "sticking a ten-cent pricetag [sic] on the comic books".

When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page giant selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company, it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression, selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print, although putting Eastern Color more than $4,000 in the red. That quickly changed, with the book turning a $30,000 profit each issue starting with #12. Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium.

When the supply of available existing comic strips began to dwindle, early comic books began to include a small amount of new, original material in comic-strip format. Inevitably, a comic book of all-original material, with no comic-strip reprints, debuted. Fledgling publisher Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications, which would evolve into DC Comics, to release New Fun #1 (Feb. 1935). This came out as a tabloid-sized, 10 x, 36-page magazine with a card-stock, non-glossy cover. An anthology, it mixed humor features such as the funny animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger" with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the "yellow-peril" adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu-styled villain, Fang Gow. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought the comic-book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the future creators of Superman. The two began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval", doing the first two installments before turning it over to others and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", they created the supernatural-crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult.

Superheroes and the Golden Age
In 1938, after Wheeler-Nicholson's partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him, National Allied editor Vin Sullivan pulled a Siegel/Shuster creation from the slush pile and used it as the cover feature (but only as a backup story) in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The duo's alien hero, Superman, was dressed in a cape and colorful tights. The costume, influenced by Flash Gordon's attire from 1934, evoked circus aerial performers and circus strongmen, and Superman became the archetype of the "superheroes" that would follow.

In early 1939, the success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications (the future DC Comics) to request more superheroes for its titles. In response, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman, who debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The period from the late 1930s through roughly the end of the 1940s is referred to by comic book experts as the Golden Age of comic books. It featured extremely large print-runs, with Action Comics and Captain Marvel selling over half a million copies a month each; comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among soldiers, but with erratic quality in stories, art, and printing. In the early 1940s, over 90 percent of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books.

In 1941, H. G. Peter and William Moulton Marston, created the female superhero character Wonder Woman, who debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) and Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman in 1942.

MLJ's Pep Comics debuted as a superhero, science-fiction and adventure anthology, but after the title introduced the teen-humor feature "Archie" in 1942, the feature's popularity would soon eclipse all other MLJ properties, leading the publisher to rename itself Archie Comics.

Following the end of World War II, the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished, while the comic-book industry itself expanded. A few well-established characters such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell, but DC canceled series starring the Flash and Green Lantern and converted All-American Comics and All Star Comics to Western titles, and Star Spangled Comics to a war title. The publisher also launched such science-fiction titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space. Martin Goodman's Timely Comics, also known as Atlas, canceled its three formerly high-selling superhero titles starring Captain America (created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby), the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner, briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to cancel them again shortly thereafter to focus on horror, science fiction, teen humor, romance and Western genres. Romance comics became strongly established, with Prize Comics' Young Romance and with Young Love, the latter written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; those two titles' popularity led to an explosion of romance comics from many publishers.

Dell's comic books accounted for a third of all North American sales in the early 1950s. Its 90 titles averaged a circulation of 800,000 copies per title for every issue, with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories peaking at a circulation of three million a month in 1953. Eleven of the top 25 bestselling comic books at the time were Dell titles. Out of 40 publishers active in 1954, Dell, Atlas (i.e. Marvel), DC, and Archie were the major players in volume of sales. By this point, former big-time players Fawcett and Fiction House had ceased publishing.

Circulation peaked in 1952 when 3,161 issues of various comics were published with a total circulation of about one billion copies. After 1952, the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade, with the biggest falls occurring in 1955–56. The rapid decline followed the introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency, which, ignoring the social problems caused by the wars of 1939–45 and 1950–52, sought to blame those problems solely on comics. While there was only a 9% drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953, circulation plummeted by an estimated 30–40%. The cause of the decrease is not entirely clear. Television had begun to provide competition with comic books, but there was also a rise in conservative values with the election in 1952 of Dwight Eisenhower. The Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body founded to curb the juvenile delinquency alleged to be due to the crime and horror comics, has often been targeted as the culprit, but sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded. The major publishers were not seriously harmed by the drop in sales, but smaller publishers were killed off: EC (the prime target of the CCA) stopped publishing crime and horror titles, which was their entire business, and were forced out of the market altogether, turning to magazine publishing instead. By 1960, output had stabilized at about 1,500 releases per year (representing a greater than fifty percent decline since 1952).

The dominant comic book genres of the post-CCA 1950s were funny animals, humor, romance, television properties, and Westerns. Detective, fantasy, teen, and war comics were also popular, but adventure, superheroes, and comic strip reprints were in decline, with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955.

The Comics Code
In the late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true-crime comics flourished, many containing graphic violence and gore. Due to such content, moral crusaders became concerned with the impact of comics on the youth, and were blaming comic books for everything from poor grades to juvenile delinquency to drug abuse. This perceived indecency resulted in the collection and public burning of comic books in Spencer, West Virginia and Binghamton, New York in 1948, which received national attention and triggered other public burnings by schools and parent groups across the country. Some cities passed laws banning comic books entirely. In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent, where he discussed what he perceived as sadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and superhero comics respectively, and singled out EC Comics due to its success as a publisher of these genres. In response to growing public anxiety, the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on comic book indecency from April to June 1954.

In the wake of these troubles, a group of comics publishers, led by National and Archie, founded the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, intended as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media". A Comic Code Seal of Approval soon appeared on virtually every comic book carried on newsstands. EC, after experimenting with less controversial comic books, dropped its comics line to focus on the satirical Mad—a former comic book which was now converted to a magazine format in order to circumvent the Code.

Silver Age of Comic Books
DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of its former golden age top-seller The Flash in Showcase #4. Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of American comic books, although Marvel (at this point still known variously as both Timely and Atlas) had started reviving some of its old superheroes as early as 1954. The new Flash is taken symbolically as the beginning of a new era, although his success was not immediate. It took two years for the Flash to receive his own title, and Showcase itself was only a bimonthly book, though one which was to introduce a large number of enduring characters. By 1959, the slowly building superhero revival had become clear to DC's competitors. Archie jumped on board that year, and Charlton joined the bandwagon in 1960.

In 1961, at the demand of publisher Martin Goodman (who was reacting to a surge in sales of National's newest superhero title The Justice League of America), writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Atlas, which now re-named itself Marvel Comics. With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, Fantastic Four #1 initiated a naturalistic  style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons - heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of paying the rent. In contrast to the super-heroic do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and others, complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became very popular among teenagers and college students who could identify with the angsty and irreverent nature of characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men and Fantastic Four. This was a time of social upheaval, giving birth to a new generation of hip and more counter-cultural youngsters, who found a voice in these books. Because Marvel's books were distributed by its rival, National, from 1957 until 1968 Marvel were restricted to publishing only eight titles a month. This was a cloud with a silver lining, and proved the making of Marvel, allowing the company to concentrate its brightest and best talent on a small number of titles, at a time when its rivals were spreading their creative talents very thin across a huge number of monthly titles. The quality of Marvel's product soared in consequence, and sales soared with it.

While the creators of comics were given credit in the early days of comic books, this practice had all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s. Comic books were produced by comic book companies rather than by individual creators (EC being a notable exception, a company that not only credited its creative teams but also featured creators' biographies). Even comic books by revered and collectible artists like Carl Barks were not known by their creator's name—Disney comics by Barks were signed "Walt Disney". In the 1960s, DC, and then Marvel, began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published.

Other notable companies publishing comics during the Silver Age included the American Comics Group (ACG), Charlton, Dell, Gold Key, Harvey Comics, and Tower.

Underground comix
Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were featured, as the anti-authoritarian underground comix made waves in 1968, following the publication of Robert Crumb's irregularly published Zap Comix. Frank Stack had published The Adventures of Jesus as far back as 1962, and there had been a trickle of such publications until Crumb's success. What had started as a self-publishing scene soon grew into a minor industry, with Print Mint, Kitchen Sink, Last Gasp and Apex Novelties among the more well-known publishers. These comix were often extremely graphic, and largely distributed in head shops that flourished in the countercultural era.

Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972 peak. In 1974 the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws in the US led to the closing of most head shops, which throttled underground comix distribution. Its readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out in the mid-1970s.

Bronze Age of Comic Books
Wizard originally used the phrase "Bronze Age", in 1995, to denote the Modern Horror age. But historians and fans use "Bronze Age" to describe the period of American mainstream comics history that began with the period of concentrated changes to comic books in 1970. Unlike the Golden/Silver Age transition, the Silver/Bronze transition involves many continuing books, making the transition less sharp.

The Modern Age
The development of the "direct market" distribution system in the 1970s coincided with the appearance of comic-book specialty stores across North America. These specialty stores were a haven for more distinct voices and stories, but they also marginalized comics in the public eye. Serialized comic stories became longer and more complex, requiring readers to buy more issues to finish a story.

In the mid-to-late 1980s, two series published by DC Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, had a profound impact upon the American comic-book industry. Their popularity, along with mainstream media attention and critical acclaim, combined with changing social tastes, led to a considerably darker tone in comic books during the 1990s nicknamed by fans as the "grim-and-gritty" era.

The growing popularity of antiheroes such as Wolverine and the Punisher exemplified this change, as did the darker tone of some independent publishers such as First Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and (founded in the 1990s) Image Comics. This tendency towards darkness and nihilism was manifested in DC's production of heavily promoted comic book stories such as "A Death in the Family" in the Batman series (in which The Joker brutally murdered Batman's sidekick Robin), while at Marvel the continuing popularity of the various X-Men books led to storylines involving the genocide of superpowered "mutants" in allegorical stories about religious and ethnic persecution.

In addition, published formats like the graphic novel and the related trade paperback enabled the comic book to gain some respectability as literature. As a result, these formats are now common in book retail and the collections of US public libraries.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: American comic book


text:
XSL attack

In cryptography, the eXtended Sparse Linearization (XSL) attack is a method of cryptanalysis for block ciphers. The attack was first published in 2002 by researchers Nicolas Courtois and Josef Pieprzyk. It has caused some controversy as it was claimed to have the potential to break the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cipher, also known as Rijndael, faster than an exhaustive search. Since AES is already widely used in commerce and government for the transmission of secret information, finding a technique that can shorten the amount of time it takes to retrieve the secret message without having the key could have wide implications.

The method has a high work-factor, which unless lessened, means the technique does not reduce the effort to break AES in comparison to an exhaustive search. Therefore, it does not affect the real-world security of block ciphers in the near future. Nonetheless, the attack has caused some experts to express greater unease at the algebraic simplicity of the current AES.

In overview, the XSL attack relies on first analyzing the internals of a cipher and deriving a set of quadratic simultaneous equations. These systems of equations are typically very large, for example 8,000 equations with 1,600 variables for the 128-bit AES. Several methods for solving such systems are known. In the XSL attack, a specialized algorithm, termed eXtended Sparse Linearization, is then applied to solve these equations and recover the key.

The attack is notable for requiring only a handful of known plaintexts to perform; previous methods of cryptanalysis, such as linear and differential cryptanalysis, often require unrealistically large numbers of known or chosen plaintexts.

Solving multivariate quadratic equations
Solving multivariate quadratic equations (MQ) over a finite set of numbers is an NP-hard problem (in the general case) with several applications in cryptography. The XSL attack requires an efficient algorithm for tackling MQ. In 1999, Kipnis and Shamir showed that a particular public key algorithm, known as the Hidden Field Equations scheme (HFE), could be reduced to an overdetermined system of quadratic equations (more equations than unknowns). One technique for solving such systems is linearization, which involves replacing each quadratic term with an independent variable and solving the resultant linear system using an algorithm such as Gaussian elimination. To succeed, linearization requires enough linearly independent equations (approximately as many as the number of terms). However, for the cryptanalysis of HFE there were too few equations, so Kipnis and Shamir proposed re-linearization, a technique where extra non-linear equations are added after linearization, and the resultant system is solved by a second application of linearization. Re-linearization proved general enough to be applicable to other schemes.

In 2000, Courtois et al. proposed an improved algorithm for MQ known as XL (for eXtended Linearization), which increases the number of equations by multiplying them with all monomials of a certain degree. Complexity estimates showed that the XL attack would not work against the equations derived from block ciphers such as AES. However, the systems of equations produced had a special structure, and the XSL algorithm was developed as a refinement of XL which could take advantage of this structure. In XSL, the equations are multiplied only by carefully selected monomials, and several variants have been proposed.

Research into the efficiency of XL and its derivative algorithms remains ongoing (Yang and Chen, 2004).

Application to block ciphers
Courtois and Pieprzyk (2002) observed that AES (Rijndael) and partially also Serpent could be expressed as a system of quadratic equations. The variables represent not just the plaintext, ciphertext and key bits, but also various intermediate values within the algorithm. The S-box of AES appears to be especially vulnerable to this type of analysis, as it is based on the algebraically simple inverse function. Subsequently, other ciphers have been studied to see what systems of equations can be produced (Biryukov and De Cannière, 2003), including Camellia, KHAZAD, MISTY1 and KASUMI. Unlike other forms of cryptanalysis, such as differential and linear cryptanalysis, only one or two (in the case of a 128 bit block size and a 256 bit key size) known plaintexts are required.

The XSL algorithm is tailored to solve the type of equation systems that are produced. Courtois and Pieprzyk estimate that an "optimistic evaluation shows that the XSL attack might be able to break Rijndael [with] 256 bits and Serpent for key lengths [of] 192 and 256 bits." Their analysis, however, is not universally accepted. For example: "I believe that the Courtois–Pieprzyk work is flawed. They overcount the number of linearly independent equations. The result is that they do not in fact have enough linear equations to solve the system, and the method does not break Rijndael… The method has some merit, and is worth investigating, but it does not break Rijndael as it stands."

- Don Coppersmith

In AES 4 Conference, Bonn 2004, one of the inventors of Rijndael, Vincent Rijmen, commented, "The XSL attack is not an attack. It is a dream." Promptly Courtois answered, "XSL may be a dream. It may also be a very bad dream and turn into a nightmare." However neither any later paper or any actions by the NSA or NIST give any support to this remark by Courtois.

In 2003, Murphy and Robshaw discovered an alternative description of AES, embedding it in a larger cipher called "BES", which can be described using very simple operations over a single field, GF(28). An XSL attack mounted on this system yields a simpler set of equations which would break AES with complexity of around 2100, if the Courtois and Pieprzyk analysis is correct. In 2005 Cid and Leurent gave evidence that, in its proposed form, the XSL algorithm does not provide an efficient method for solving the AES system of equations; however Courtois disputed their findings. At FSE 2007, Chu-Wee Lim and Khoongming Khoo showed that it cannot possibly work as presented.

Even if XSL works against some modern algorithms, the attack currently poses little danger in terms of practical security. Like many modern cryptanalytic results, it would be a so-called "certificational weakness": while faster than a brute force attack, the resources required are still huge, and it is very unlikely that real-world systems could be compromised by using it. Future improvements could increase the practicality of an attack, however. Because this type of attack is new and unexpected, some cryptographers have expressed unease at the algebraic simplicity of ciphers like Rijndael. Bruce Schneier and Niels Ferguson write, "We have one criticism of AES: we don't quite trust the security… What concerns us the most about AES is its simple algebraic structure… No other block cipher we know of has such a simple algebraic representation. We have no idea whether this leads to an attack or not, but not knowing is reason enough to be skeptical about the use of AES." (Practical Cryptography, 2003, pp. 56–57)

title: XSL attack


text:
USS Rainbow

USS Rainbow (AS-7) was the only ship in the United States Navy by that name. The ship was originally converted to a distilling ship in 1898, and then converted again in 1917 to a submarine tender.

Rainbow was built in 1890 as the merchant ship Norse King by James Laing at Sunderland, England. She was purchased by the U.S. Navy on 29 June 1898, placed in reduced commission on 18 July, and transferred to the New York Navy Yard for fitting out for use as a distilling and station ship in the Philippines.

Asiatic Fleet, 1901–1908
Rainbow was commissioned in full on 2 December 1901, Comdr. S. A. Stanton in command, and was assigned to the Asiatic Fleet. En route to the Philippines, she sailed via Gibraltar for the Suez Canal, calling at Palermo, Sicily; Port Said, Egypt; Colombo, Ceylon; and Singapore before arriving at Cavite on 3 April 1902.

Rainbow, as flagship of the Philippine Squadron, remained in the Philippines, with only periodic runs to Hong Kong for repairs, until 1906. Her range was then expanded from an annual circuit among Philippine ports to include visits to various Japanese ports, and in November 1907, a call at Vladivostok with Secretary of War Taft embarked.

Pacific Fleet, 1908–1911
Becoming flagship of the 3rd Squadron, Pacific Fleet, in 1908, Rainbow cruised among the Philippine and Japanese islands and off the coast of China, and, on at least one occasion, December 1908-January 1909, conducted hydrologic surveys. Then, designated tender to the First Torpedo Flotilla, she alternated between the China coast and the Philippines until pressed into service as a transport in 1911.

Asiatic Fleet, 1911–1914
Rainbow departed Cavite on 26 October 1911, en route with an expeditionary force of Marines landed at Wusong (31 October-1 November) to help protect American nationals from imminent dangers of the revolutionary turmoil in China. She became the temporary flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet, 1 November 1911, cruising the China coast to observe conditions which might affect the safety of Americans at Shanghai, Wusong, Nanjing, Amoy, Shantou, Qingdao, and Taku.

USS Saratoga (ACR-2) relieved Rainbow as Asiatic Fleet flagship on 10 April 1912. Rainbow then proceeded to Huangpu where she became the flagship of the China Squadron on 13 April. She supported Marine expeditionary forces on the China coast until 30 August 1912, when she sailed from Yantai for repairs at Olongapo, Philippine Islands.

Rainbow shifted from Olongapo to Cavite on 8 October 1912 and served there as temporary flagship for the Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet (30 October-7 November). She departed Cavite on 7 November 1912, bound by way of Wusong, Shanghai, and the Yangtze River to Nanjing, China. She arrived at Nanjing on 20 November and sailed 10 days later to cruise with the American ambassador to the ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shantou, Amoy, and Wusong. She departed Wusong on 28 December 1912, investigating the landing facilities at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines before being repaired at Olongapo in January 1913.

Rainbow shifted from Olongapo to Cavite on 26 January 1913 and remained in the Philippines until 28 March when she again set course for the coast of China. She transferred stores and men to USS Piscataqua (AT-49) at Wusong, then served as a station ship at Shanghai until 4 November 1913. After calling at Olongapo, she proceeded to Manila, embarked the Commander-in-Chief for transport to Shanghai, and served there as flagship from 21 December 1913 to 19 January 1914.

Rainbow resumed station ship duty at Cavite on 22 January 1914. She again became temporary flagship of the Commander-in-Chief at Cavite on 1 March 1914, but terminated this duty on 23 March 1914 when she shifted to Olongapo for overhaul, completed on 8 July 1914. She departed Manila Bay on 16 July 1914, taking refuge from a storm in Lingayen Gulf the 18th, before proceeding to survey the French Frigate Shoals, Hawaii (7-10 August 1914). She arrived at Honolulu 12 August, basing there for further survey work off the French Frigate Shoals until 14 November 1914. She then set course for San Francisco, arriving 24 November 1914 and shifting to the Mare Island Navy Yard the following day to prepare for inactivation. She decommissioned in the Mare Island Navy Yard on 24 December 1914.

Conversion to submarine tender, 1916–1918
Rainbow was placed in commission, in reserve, at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 29 January 1916. She shifted to the U.S. Naval Training Station, Yerba Buena Island, 4 February 1916, serving as a receiving ship there until 14 December 1917. She then entered the Mare Island Navy Yard to fit out for service as a tender to the 6th Division, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet.

Submarine tender, 1918–1925
On 2 April 1918 Rainbow, Lieutenant Paul H. Rice commanding, departed Mare Island to tend submarines USS L-6 (SS-45) and USS L-7 (SS-46) at Yerba Buena Island, California City, and San Pedro, California. On 3 May 1918 she departed San Pedro for the eastern seaboard in company with L-6 and L-7. She arrived in Charleston with the L-boats on 9 June 1918 and proceeded independently on the 21st for the Philadelphia Navy Yard, arriving on 24 June 1918.

Rainbow overhauled in the Philadelphia Navy Yard until 20 October 1918, then tended the O-boats of Submarine Division 10 at Newport, Rhode Island; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Tompkinsville, New York. The tender sailed from Tompkinsville in company with Submarine Division 10, bound by way of Hampton Roads, Virginia, to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, arriving on 7 January 1919.

Rainbow served as tender for Submarine Division 10 at Guantanamo until 10 March 1919; then cruised to Charlotte Amalie Harbor, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, where the O-boats carried out daily practice on the target range until 16 April. After calling at San Juan, Puerto Rico, the tender and her submarines returned to New York on 1 May 1919.

Rainbow continued as a tender to Submarine Division 10 at Cold Spring Inlet, Cape May, New Jersey, from 14 May to 22 September 1919. She then sailed to Charleston, where she remained in commission, in reserve, until 13 February 1920. She entered the Boston Navy Yard on 18 February 1920 for overhaul and was placed in full commission there 1 July 1920 to serve as a tender to Submarine Division 12.

Reclassified AS-7 on 17 July 1920, Rainbow departed the Boston Navy Yard on 28 October 1920, made a brief call at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, then reached Newport, Rhode Island, 6 November 1921 to commence tending the S-boats of Submarine Division 12. The submarine division shifted base to New York on 19 November and sailed the 30th bound by way of Key West, Guantanamo Bay, the Panama Canal and ports of Mexico, to San Diego, arriving on 9 February 1921.

Rainbow tended Submarine Division 12 on the California coast until 6 April 1921, then set course from San Francisco with the S-boats of Division 12 for Honolulu, arriving 17 April 1921. Tending operations in Hawaiian waters continued until 12 November 1921 when she set course with the S-boats for Apra Harbor, Guam (27-30 November), thence to Cavite, Philippine Islands, arriving on 6 December 1921.

Upon arrival at Cavite, Philippine Islands, Rainbow became the flagship of Submarine Flotilla 3 (later designated Submarine Division), Asiatic Fleet. She also served as tender to Submarine Division 12 and sometimes assisted USS Finch (AM-9) in tending the "boats" of Submarine Division 18. Except for a visit to Hong Kong (11-31 October 1921), she remained in the Philippines until 23 April 1923. She then sailed with the Submarine Divisions of the Asiatic Fleet and tender Finch to serve along the China Coast at Shanghai, Yantai, Qinhuangdao, Wusong, and Amoy.

Rainbow returned to Olongapo, Philippine Islands, from the coast of China on 10 September 1923, serving there and at Cavite until 24 June 1924. She again sailed from Cavite on 24 June 1924 in company with tender Finch and the S-boats of Divisions 12 and 18 to serve at Qingdao, Yantai, and Amoy until 20 September. She returned to Olongapo on 23 September 1924 and sailed 28 October for return to the western seaboard of the United States. She called at Sorsogon Bay, Luzon (29 September-3 October); Apra Harbor, Guam (6-17 November); Pearl Harbor (7-19 December); and reached the Mare Island Navy Yard on 31 December 1924.

Rainbow departed San Diego on 2 February 1925 to land Marine reinforcements at Corinto, Nicaragua (11-12 February), then proceeded by way of the Panama Canal, Guantanamo Bay, and Hampton Roads to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, arriving on 10 March 1925.

Decommissioning and sale, 1925–1928
Rainbow was decommissioned in the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 11 July 1925. She remained inactive in the Philadelphia Navy Yard until her name was struck from the Navy list on 26 June 1928. She was sold for scrapping on 13 September 1928 to the Boston Iron Works, Baltimore, Maryland.

title: USS Rainbow


text:
Missouri Valley Conference

The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwest.

History
The MVC was established in 1907 (its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, and Washington University in St. Louis) as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association or MVIAA, 12 years after the Big Ten, the only Division I conference that is older. It is the fourth oldest college athletic conference in the United States, after the Big Ten Conference and the NCAA Division III Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC).

The MVIAA split in 1928, with most of the larger schools (the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University), Kansas State University, and University of Oklahoma) forming a conference that retained the MVIAA name; this conference evolved into the Big Eight Conference. The Big Eight merged with four Texas schools of the Southwest Conference to form the Big 12 Conference in 1996.

The smaller MVIAA schools (Drake, Grinnell and Washington University in St. Louis), plus Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, which joined the Big Eight in 1957), were joined by Creighton to form the MVC, which retained the old MVIAA's administrative staff.

To this day, it has never been definitively established which conference was the original and which was the spinoff, though the Big Eight would go on to become the more prestigious of the two. During the Big Eight's run, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date, and the same history through 1927.

MVC teams held a 74–27 non-conference record during the 2006–07 college basketball season, including a record of 44–1 at home. The Valley finished in the top six of the RPI and ahead of a BCS conference for the second consecutive year, while also garnering multiple NCAA bids for the ninth straight year and 12th of 14.

The MVC has not sponsored football since 1985, when it was a hybrid I-A/I-AA (now FBS and FCS, respectively) conference. However, five members have football programs in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) (known as the Gateway from 1985 to 2008) of Division I FCS, and two others compete in another FCS conference, the Pioneer Football League. The Missouri Valley Conference shares its name with the MVFC, and all three conferences operate from the same headquarters complex in St. Louis; however, the three are separate administratively.

After weeks of speculation, Wichita State announced on April 7, 2017, that it would leave the conference to join the American Athletic Conference starting with the 2017–18 season. The conference announced it extended an invitation to Valparaiso University on May 9, 2017; and on May 25, the MVC announced that Valparaiso would officially join the following July 1.

The most recent changes to the core MVC membership were announced during the 2021–22 school year. On September 28, 2021, the MVC and Belmont University jointly announced that the school would leave the Ohio Valley Conference for the MVC effective July 1, 2022. Then, on November 16, Loyola University Chicago announced it would leave the MVC at the same time, joining the Atlantic 10 Conference. On the same day Loyola announced its departure, CBS Sports reported that the MVC was actively pursuing further expansion, having entered into talks with the University of Missouri–Kansas City (known athletically as Kansas City), Murray State University, and the University of Texas at Arlington (UT Arlington). The report indicated that the latter two were considered the strongest candidates, but that all three were likely to receive invitations in the coming months. On January 7, 2022, the MVC announced that Murray State would officially join the conference on July 1 of that year. UT Arlington would soon remove itself from the list of candidates by announcing a 2022 move to the Western Athletic Conference.

Shortly before Murray State was officially announced as an incoming MVC member, Matt Brown of the Extra Points college sports blog reported that the MVC was also in membership discussions with the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), then a member of the Horizon League. On the same weekend that Murray State's arrival was officially announced, MVC officials made a site visit to UIC. Brown's sources indicated that an invitation to UIC was likely. Brown noted that with the MVC losing Loyola, league officials believed that maintaining a presence in the city was a top priority, stating (emphasis in original): "Throughout this process, multiple administrators at MVC institutions stressed the importance of getting access to new urban areas to recruit more students, not just athletes. With so many schools depending heavily on Chicago, and especially Chicago's suburbs, for enrollment, continuing to have a presence in the city was seen as a major priority."

On January 22, 2022, Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com reported that UIC's July entry to the MVC was "a done deal", with his sources indicating that the MVC wanted to announce the move before the Conference Commissioners Association held its annual meeting in Naples, Florida in early February. UIC's entry was officially announced on January 26.

On May 10, 2024, Missouri State announced they would leave the MVC to transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and join Conference USA, effective for the 2025-26 season.

Current full members

 * Notes

Affiliate members
Note: In the case of spring sports, the year of joining is the calendar year before the start of competition.

 * Notes

Former full members (25)

 * Notes:

Former affiliate members
This list does not include current full members Belmont and Valparaiso. As noted above, the Bruins played men's soccer in the MVC for the 2000 fall season (2000–01 school year), and the Beacons, then known as the Crusaders, played women's soccer in the MVC from the 1996 to 1998 fall seasons (1996–97 to 1998–99 school years).

 * Notes:

Membership timeline
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Commissioners

 * 1) C. E. McClung (1907–19??)
 * 2) Arthur (Artie) E. Eilers (1925–1957)
 * 3) Norvell Neve (1957–1969)
 * 4) DeWitt T. Weaver (1969–1972)
 * 5) Mickey Holmes (1972–1979)
 * 6) David Price (1979–1981)
 * 7) Richard D. Martin (1981–1985)
 * 8) James A. Haney (1985–1988)
 * 9) Doug Elgin (1988 – 2021)
 * 10) Jeff Jackson (2021 – Present)

Sports
The Missouri Valley Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Ball State (men), Little Rock (women), and Miami (OH) (men) are affiliates in swimming and diving, and Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan are affiliates in men's soccer.

The most recent change to the roster of sports came in the 2024–25 school year, when the MVC reinstated men's swimming & diving after a 22-year absence. The inaugural season of the relaunched league features 7 sponsoring members, with full members Evansville, UIC, Missouri State, Southern Illinois, and Valparaiso joined by new affiliates Ball State and Miami (OH)— previously, all these programs were housed in the Mid-American Conference.

Men's sponsored sports by school
Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Missouri Valley Conference which are played by Valley schools:

Women's sponsored sports by school
Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Missouri Valley Conference which are played by Valley schools:

Facilities

 * Note
 * 1) For the football venues of schools who participate in the sport, see Facilities of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and Facilities of the Pioneer Football League.

Basketball tournament champions by year
The Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament is often referred to as Arch Madness, in reference to the Gateway Arch at the tournament's present location of St. Louis, Missouri, and a play on "March Madness". The women's tournament is currently promoted as Hoops in the Heartland.

NB: Missouri State was known as Southwest Missouri State until August 2005.

Postseason History Multiple Bids
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 * style="vertical-align:top" |

National team titles by institution
School – Number – NCAA Championships
 * Belmont
 * Bradley – 2
 * Drake – 3
 * Evansville – 0+5*
 * Illinois State – 0+1*
 * Indiana State – 1
 * Missouri State – 0 +2*
 * UNI – 1+2*
 * Southern Illinois – 5+3*
 * Valparaiso – 0

NCAA Championships as of March 2013

(*-Titles won by schools in Division II/College Division prior to their moving to Division I in the late 1960s or early 1970s.)

Football poll, Helms and AIAW titles are not included in the NCAA Championship count.

Men's basketball attendance
Sources:

The Valley is well known for having some of the most dedicated fanbases in all of college basketball, with several members regularly selling out their large arenas on a nightly basis throughout the year. Former member (Creighton) had the sixth highest attendance for Division I in 2012–13 while Bradley, Illinois State, Missouri State, and Indiana State were all among the NCAA's top 100 teams in home attendance.

In 2010–11, 2011–12, and 2012–13, the Valley maintained its position as the eighth ranked conference in average attendance.

The Valley made history in March 2007 with record attendance for four days at St. Louis' Scottrade Center as 85,074 fans turned out to watch the five sessions of the tournament. The two sellout crowds of 22,612 for the semifinals and final of the 2007 State Farm Tournament set an all-time attendance record for basketball at the arena and also gave The Valley the distinction of having the largest championship crowd for any of the 30 NCAA conference tournaments in 2007.

Football champions by year

 * All MVC schools that currently play football are part of the Missouri Valley Football Conference except for Drake and Valparaiso, which play in the Pioneer Football League.

MVC Network
Since at least 1993, the MVC has produced an in-house package of sports as part of the MVC Network. Since 1996, these telecasts have been produced, in part, by Bally Sports Midwest (formerly Fox Sports Midwest). These games are distributed to regional sports networks including Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Indiana and NBC Sports Chicago. Until the 2020-21 season, these telecasts also aired on Fox College Sports. Outside of regional networks these telecasts were also available on ESPN3 until the 2018-19 season. These telecasts are now available on ESPN+. The MVC Network is home to the first two rounds of Arch Madness, the nickname for the MVC men's basketball tournament.

title: Missouri Valley Conference


text:
User talk:Pamidimarri

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 * If you ever think a page or image should be deleted, please list it at the votes for deletion page. There is also a votes for undeletion page if you want to retrieve something that you think should not have been deleted.

Again, welcome! - UtherSRG 15:19, 17 May 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Pamidimarri


text:
Wah (city)

Wah (Urdu/) is a city in Rawalpindi District, Punjab, in Pakistan. It is famous for the Wah Cantonment, a military camp located in the north of the city. Wah includes a university known as the University of Wah and is close to its sister town of Taxila, located in the same tehsil.

Wah Cantonment
The majority of the city includes the Wah Cantonment, a military camp in Punjab province located in the north of Punjab. The military camp is near Taxila Cantonment.

History
A village without a name located in present-day Wah, was called "Wah" when Mughal emperor Jehangir came back from Kashmir and after he arrived in the village he said "Wah". Wah is also adjacent to Taxila, and shares much of its early history with the Gandhara Civilization. It is connected by road with Peshawar, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi and is a growing industrial centre. On August 21, 2008, Wah was attacked in a suicide bombing.

Demographics
According to a census taken in 2019, the population of Wah, including the cantonment, is around 410,000. The population of the cantonment is a little above 300,000. Wah is the 24th largest city of Pakistan. The majority of the people speak Punjabi, while the main ethnic groups are Pashtun, Arain, Gujjar, and Awan.

University
The University of Wah is a private university located outside the military camp. It is one of the best universities in Punjab.

Education
Wah literacy rate is approximately 100% and highest literacy rate in Pakistan known as city of education. This small city has two chartered universities, one medical college, one engineering college and many other technical schools and colleges. Students from Wah Cantt can be found studying at many of the top institutes of Pakistan and abroad. Historically, many surrounding places show links of the area to its past as the neighboring ancient town of Taxila had been a seat of learning for thousands of years. The Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said "Wah Cantt possessed ideal education and health facilities and I am impressed with the 100% literary rate in the city". It was also titled as the "The Island of excellence" 120 educational institutes serve over 170,000 students.

title: Wah (city)


text:
User talk:Trainspotter~enwiki/old

Messages I've read
Hi Trainspotter ~ I've seen your nic quite a bit recently, so I gather you know your way around, but welcome anyway. jimfbleak 15:10 6 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the greeting. This wiki's kind of addictive.  Better do some work... Trainspotter 15:17 6 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Thanks for the warning re the climate change "minor" edit. Looks like a trainspotter can be useful :-) (William M. Connolley 12:41 13 Jun 2003 (UTC))

Will look at Ozone... though BTW EP has been sane in the GW etc pages... sorry to hear you're not a real trainspotter :-) (William M. Connolley 19:16 25 Jun 2003 (UTC))

Removed the "Billionaires" talk redirect. Cecropia 14:44, 6 May 2004 (UTC)

Brunt-Vaisala frequency
Are you sure that this Vaisala is the same person as the astronomer? Some online sources say Vilho Vaisala, with a different year of birth and death (see bio at http://www.vaisala.com/ )

User_talk:Trainspotter/old/Esperantomobilo

A practice period
Thanks for the explanation over on the Village Pump. Kind of disappointing -- I was half-hoping it would turn out to be something exotic, like Bermudan or Kenyan English. Cheers, –Hajor 19:48, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Re: Thanks
You're welcome :). Just remember to avoid double-redirects for the future.  Happy editing! -Frazzydee 22:27, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Peter Fechter
Hello, I just read your message on de:Diskussion:Peter_Fechter and was quite surprised that there is an article about this very German topic on the English Wikipedia.

The German discussion is mainly about "neutral point of view". The problem is, that the GDR did not report the complete truth, but altered the facts to better fit the communistic ideology. Most probably, also the western reporting was biased. So, different people repeatedly changed the article to fit the facts accordingly to what they were told, and a discussion started about what is true and what isn't.

Recently I added some facts to the acticle that I read in a book about the Berlin wall. To my perception the German article is quite neutral now, maybe you want to take over the additions to the English article.

There are some facts in your English article that I did not know before. I searched the web for references, to no avail. I need some proof to add something to the German article. So I would be interested in the source of:

"The plan was to hide in a carpenter's workshop near the wall and, after observing the border guards from there, to jump out of a window" (I found something on that, but it is about an "empty abandoned house" and not a "carpenter's workshop")

"Fechter was shot in the pelvis" (my book says that he was hit in the back and the belly)

"according to a report in Time Magazine, a US second-lieutenant on the scene received specific orders from the US Commandant in West Berlin to stand firm and do nothing" (This is indeed an interesting addition to the comment of the GDR commander. Is there an online version of this article?)

"In March 1997 two former East German guards Rolf Friedrich and Erich Schreiber faced manslaughter charges for Fechter's death, at which they admitted to his shooting. They were both convicted, and sentenced to one year's imprisonment on probation." (amazingly, but there seems to be no information on this on the web. I googled for the names, but there only appear 4 english webpages. Could it be that some name is misspelled?)

"It also emerged during the trial that any aid attempt from the West had indeed been made impossible, but according to a report from forensic pathologist Otto Prokop, "Fechter had no chance of survival. The shot in the right hip had caused the severest internal injuries."" (That one is very interesting)

Facts that I doubt:

"shots were fired, ..., in plain view of hundreds of witnesses" (It seems more logical that the shots were seen only by some people that happened to be there. Later, when Fechter began to cry, hundreds of people gathered.)

"western bystanders were apparently prevented at gunpoint from assisting him" (About this, there is a big difference among the eastern and western reports. Some reports say that the eastern soldiers used teargas (not guns) to prevent western people from climbing the wall. Others say that the eastern soldiers were prevented at gunpoint by the western police... In my opinion, there should be reliable evidence, to have this claim in the article)

You can answer in English on my German discussion page de:Benutzer_Diskussion:MKI

Greetings, ~michael

Counties policy
Hello Trainspotter. Last month I added an explanation note to the counties naming policy at Naming conventions (places). I have done this to make it clearer because certain people have insisted upon mis-interpreting it (see Shipston-on-Stour and Talk:Gloucestershire). I dont think it has changed the policy just explained it better.

The reason I'm contacting you is because you voted on the original policy. It has already been OK'd by all of the other people (who are still here) who voted for the original policy at my talk page is it OK with you?, sorry I forgot to contact you earlier.

PS. I've noticed that User:Owain's compliance with the policy at the Welsh counties seems to be a bit iffy. G-Man 20:19, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Blocked user who pretended to be you
Three apparently related accounts were used for US election-related templated vandalism via proxy servers. The set are User:Train spotter, User:Driesh and User:Mnx User:200.35.96.37. User:200.35.81.51 was used for one harmless edit by an anon (space removal, perhaps to test whether it was blocked) then by User:Train spotter and User:Driesh. I blocked the IPs concerned for 3 months, assuming that we'll have proxy identification to help the RC patrol by then. Please let me know if you'd like control of the User:Train spotter account - there are precedents for handing over such accounts to the impersonated party, to prevent further use in that way. Jamesday 05:16, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Trainspotter~enwiki/old


text:
USS Fletcher

Two destroyers in the United States Navy have been named USS Fletcher:

 * USS Fletcher (DD-445), named for Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher, was the lead Fletcher-class destroyer and served during World War II.
 * USS Fletcher (DD-992), named for Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, was a Spruance-class destroyer ASW destroyer.

title: USS Fletcher