InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "OMG! a flying worm with wings!"

dr_hermes (dr_hermes) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-06-22 22:37:00

Entry tags:

era: golden age

Death by Panda!
From March 1946...

My philosophy is that animals in general are more dangerous than commonly thought. We've glamorized and idealized them way beyond their true natures are. Pandas look ever so adorable and are generally docile in captivity. But you never know. As their habitat shrinks and they turn more toward eating meat occasionally, I would not be surprised to hear of a panda attack now and then. They're not exactly small and helpless little guinea pigs, either.

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	kamino_neko 2009-06-22 09:46 pm UTC (link)
	That is, and always will be, the worst drawn panda ever. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-06-22 09:54 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, I don't know. Bad art can always get worse. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	kamino_neko 2009-06-22 09:59 pm UTC (link)
	I stand corrected. At least the one on the cover looks like it was drawn by someone who had a panda described to them, at one point... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tavella 2009-06-22 10:42 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, I think whoever did the inside art had a panda described to them. Very briefly. "It's a cat-bear thing with rings around its eyes." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-06-22 11:01 pm UTC (link)
	1946, no Google image search. Most comic artists kept a file of pictures clipped from magazines. If this guy didn't have a picture of a giant panda and didn't have a few hours to go to the library, he just winged it. Golden Age art is funny, sometimes you can see where different artists were working from the same photo. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lady_mondegreen 2009-06-23 12:17 am UTC (link)
	Like in the case of this dolphin? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-06-23 03:54 am UTC (link)
	That looks like Wayne Boring art. He might well have never seen a dolphin back then (or just a photo of one in NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC). Before Google and 24-hour cable networks like the Discovery Channel, people just didn't have the exposure to animals and other countries we take for granted. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kamino_neko 2009-06-22 11:53 pm UTC (link)
	You know, that description might actually explain the one on the cover...it does kind of look like an oversized Bearcat... (Reply to this) (Parent)

	merseybeatler 2009-06-22 10:19 pm UTC (link)
	...Oh good GOD. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	neuhallidae 2009-06-22 10:40 pm UTC (link)
	Bwahahahahaha! Oh, God. Talk about "You Fail Zoology Forever". (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-06-22 10:49 pm UTC (link)
	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tofIAnExhQ4 Also, if a panda wants your jacket, he's going to get it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	neuhallidae 2009-06-22 10:53 pm UTC (link)
	I've seen that one on TV. My favorite part was at the end of the clip, where the panda's got it draped over its head like "Mine now, neener, neener, neener!" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-06-22 10:58 pm UTC (link)
	I would love it if that panda started getting a collection of coats, hats, scarves... he's bored, he needs a hobby. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	sir_razorback 2009-06-22 09:56 pm UTC (link)
	There's something very amusing about that picture popping up while my kids are watching Kung Fu Panda. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-06-22 09:58 pm UTC (link)
	Synchronicity? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	cmdr_zoom 2009-06-22 10:53 pm UTC (link)
	"There is no extra charge for awesomeness." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lieut_kettch 2009-06-23 09:54 am UTC (link)
	"Or attractiveness." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	volksjager 2009-06-22 10:02 pm UTC (link)
	I was on an outward bound trip in grizzly country. At night we had to hoist the food and anything that smelled between two trees . I thought it was an over reaction then I saw some of the trees ripped up by bears that got bags not hoisted high enough. (Reply to this) (Thread)

dr_hermes
2009-06-22 10:06 pm UTC (link)

I've never seen a grizzly in "person," but there are plenty of black bears where I live. They sure get your attention when they're in your yard. I had a bird feeder that wasn't exactly smashed, it had been pulled apart.

It would be strange if the bamboo forests decline and we get a species of lean, tough aggressive pandas instead of the chubby charmers they now seem to be.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	volksjager 2009-06-22 10:02 pm UTC (link)
	I was on an outward bound trip in grizzly country. At night we had to hoist the food and anything that smelled between two trees . I thought it was an over reaction then I saw some of the trees ripped up by bears that got bags not hoisted high enough. (Reply to this)

	lieut_kettch 2009-06-22 10:20 pm UTC (link)
	RUN! IT KNOWS THE WUXI FINGER HOLD! (Reply to this)

parsimonia
2009-06-22 10:22 pm UTC (link)

My philosophy is that animals in general are more dangerous than commonly thought. We've glamorized and idealized them way beyond their true natures are.

Have to say I agree. Interestingly, as our consciousness about the plight of animals and endangered species in particular has risen, society has increased its tendency of anthropomorphizing and by extension, humanizing animals. It's always easier to sympathize with something that's "just like us" or that's friendly and cuddly.

The reality is that if Paul McCartney wants to pet a baby seal, it probably has to be sedated first, lest it claw him.

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	dr_hermes 2009-06-22 10:28 pm UTC (link)
	I think the pendulum has swung too far, from the days when animals were seen as put on Earth for us to use as we saw fit and big game hunting for trophy heads was considered entirely fine. I like animals as such, I agree that species should be protected and beasts should not be subjected to unnecessary harm... but they're just animals, not "angels in fur." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	icon_uk 2009-06-23 01:42 am UTC (link)
	See also koalas. They may look cute, but they're vicious little bastards. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	kamino_neko 2009-06-23 06:57 am UTC (link)
	'Specially when they drop on you from the trees. Or flying fortresses. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	janegray 2009-06-23 07:07 am UTC (link)
	To be fair, plenty of humans aren't exactly friendly and cuddly either. There is a reason the Humans Are Bastards trope is so universal and older than dirt. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dr_hermes 2009-06-23 05:08 pm UTC (link)
	Sure. But while no one is arguing in defense of humans, we do get a lot of today's neo-animal worship in the media. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	xdoop 2009-06-24 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	Probably because humans don't need defense. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	xdoop 2009-06-22 10:58 pm UTC (link)
	Hey Stephen Colbert, I love your show. (Reply to this)

	dejadrew 2009-06-22 11:12 pm UTC (link)
	Does LingLing have to maul a bitch? Yes he DOES. Maybe that panda is the one who saw his parents shot by poachers in front of him when he was but a cub, and swore that no one else would go through what he did. He trained mercilessly to be able to defend the innocents of his bamboo grove from evil. By day, zoo-dwelling playbear LingLing. By night.... ....BATPANDA. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	dejadrew 2009-06-22 11:17 pm UTC (link)
	And he could do big crossover event team-up books with this guy. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dejadrew 2009-06-22 11:19 pm UTC (link)
	Ahem. THIS guy. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	sandoz_iscariot 2009-06-22 11:48 pm UTC (link)
	They're not exactly small and helpless little guinea pigs, either. Just ask Ben Stiller. (Reply to this)

	queenanthai 2009-06-23 12:42 am UTC (link)
	(Reply to this)

	tahngarth 2009-06-23 04:30 am UTC (link)
	I'm just waiting for a "Killer RED panda" story... (Reply to this)

	iluvpurplegoats 2009-06-23 05:32 am UTC (link)
	The cover makes it pretty clear that their in some part of north America (I'm guessing), so how did the panda get there from china? My guess? Either the panda has been following him or that's really black bear wearing a mask, a paper plate with the eyes cut out of it. (Reply to this)

	espanolbot 2009-06-23 07:26 am UTC (link)
	A student who broke into a panda cage in an attempt to hug said bear was bitten at one point. Probably caught the panda on a bad day, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/23/panda-attack-china On the other hand, Awwww! ^^ (Reply to this) (Thread)

	kagome654 2009-06-23 08:07 am UTC (link)
	Gah. I want one, I'll risk the mauling! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	xdoop 2009-06-23 08:41 am UTC (link)
	(Reply to this) (Thread)

	jlroberson 2009-06-23 11:47 am UTC (link)
	Awww (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kamino_neko 2009-06-23 06:24 pm UTC (link)
	That first one is at once awesome and terrifying... (Reply to this) (Parent)

icon_uk
2009-06-24 05:42 am UTC (link)

I like that in the second one it looks all cuddly, and then you notice the claws the panda has.

I recall seeing polar bears at a zoo for the first time, and thinking they looked magnificent. Then seeing a plastercast of what the claws on just one paw looked like (Think "handful of open pen-knives on serious steroids"), and mentally appending that to "Magnificent and absolutely lethal")

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	werehawk 2009-06-23 07:53 pm UTC (link)
	Tropic Thunder (Reply to this)