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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Vulcan Was Inspired by the Roman Emperor Nero

There are a lot of people in the world who look down their noses at comic books and/or comic book movies. In our experience, this kind of "high culture"/"low culture" gatekeeping does not reflect well on the gatekeepers. Keep in mind, to take one example, that Shakespeare—now the epitome of "high culture"—was once a working-class entertainment, and one considered slight enough that the first formal publication of the plays did not happen until 7 years after the Bard was dead.

Similarly, a lot of modern "low culture" is actually very erudite. Not all of it, of course, but there are plenty of cartoons, and sitcoms, and mass-market movies that are actually full of references to history, literature, theater, poetry, etc. And so it is with comic books, which often draw on classical mythology, ancient history, epic poetry, timeless literature, and the like. For example, and as per the headline, the character of Vulcan, who has hundreds of appearances at this point, is an amalgam of the Emperor Nero and the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.

Oh, and as a sidebar, but a fairly closely related sidebar, (Z) is sometimes asked what movies are most likely to be known 500 years from now. His answer is: Westerns. Not all of them, of course, or even most of them. But Western films have an almost operatic dynamic to them, and they definitely have a universal quality that substantively transcends space and time. This is why Hollywood still makes plenty of Westerns; they're just not set in the Wild West anymore. No, now they are set in space (e.g., Star Trek, Star Wars), or in urban environments (e.g., Die Hard, Urban Cowboy, Taxi Driver).

For last week's theme, we gave two clues. The first was: "ABCDFGHIJKLOPQRSTUVWYZ." And the second was: "there was supposed to be one more item yesterday, but we ran short on time and space. If it had run, the headline would have been 'The Cabinet: Storm Clouds on the Horizon.'"

And here is the solution, courtesy of reader R.B. in Amherst, MA:

Names of various X-Men:

New Jersey: No, the Longshot Did Not Win

Fundraising News: ActBlue Is a Beast

Legal News: In Court, Trump Has Lost His Mystique... if He Ever Had It

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: Gerald Ford Was a Michigan Wolverine

This Week in Schadenfreude: Not-Exactly-Instant Karma

This Week in Freudenfreude: The California Gambit?

And of course, the four letters of "X-MEN" were the letters missing from the alphabet clue.

The alphabet clue was inspired by an old riddle about the Christmas greeting hidden in this series: ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ. No "L." Get it? And Vulcan, from this headline, is also an X-Men member. As is Storm, from the headline that never ran.

Here are the first 60 readers to get it right:

N.H. in London, England, UK
R.S. in Milan, OH
N.S. in Fayetteville, NY
G.M.K. in Mishawaka, IN
K.G.W. in Lafayette IN
P.Q. in Metuchen, NJ
B.J.M. in Steep Falls, ME
J.S. in Huntington Station, NY
S.K. in Ardmore, PA
E.W. in Skaneateles, NY
M.W. in Altea, Spain
T.K. in Half Moon Bay, St. Kitts
J.S. in Huntington Station, NY
J.C. in Nerviano, Italy
C.B. in Lakeville, MN
H.M. in Paris, France
S.M. in Morganton, GA
P.P. in Columbus, OH
S.S. in Lucerne, Switzerland
S.D.S in Las Vegas, NV
K.F. in Berea, KY
P.L. in Skövde, Sweden
R.D. in Cheshire, CT
B.A. in Edmond, OK
J.H. in Pittsburgh, PA
K.S. in San Diego, CA
A.J. in Moorhead, MN
F.X. in North Salem, NY
M.Z. in Sharon, MA
D.B. in Tokyo, Japan

G.M. in Chevy Chase, MD
R.E.D. in Baltimore, MD
P.G. in Denver, CO
D.K. in Marseille, France
M.S. in Canton, NY
R.S. in Landing, NJ
N.S. in Los Angeles, CA
J.L.G. in Boston, MA
E.B. in Hannover, Germany
C.S. in Tampa, FL
D.L. in Uslar, Germany
B.S. in Ottawa, ON, Canada
N.C. in Columbus, MS
M.B. in Albany, NY
T.B.S.S. in Silver Spring, MD
J.N. in Zionsville, IN
J.C. in Johns Creek, GA
M.L. in Lakewood, CO
A.A. in Branchport, NY
J.H. in Westcliff-on-Sea, England, UK
P.R. in Havertown, PA
M.K. in Long Branch, NJ
M.G. in Stow, MA
M.H. in Ottawa, ON, Canada
S.L. in St. Louis, MO
J.W. in Victoria, BC, Canada
R.P.E.H. in London, England, UK
P.H. in Buffalo Grove, IL
G.W. in Avon, CT
B.E. in Brooklyn, NY

The 60th correct response was received at 5:09 a.m. PT on Friday. This was a very popular theme.

For this week's theme, it relies on one word in some headlines, multiple words in others, and it's in the category Language. For a hint, we'll say that we think Pope Leo XIV would approve.

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject line April 24 Headlines. (Z)

This item appeared on www.electoral-vote.com. Read it Monday through Friday for political and election news, Saturday for answers to reader's questions, and Sunday for letters from readers.

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