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Alvin Schwartz


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Wikipedia:

Schwartz contributed comic-book scripts for such superheroes as Aquaman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, the Newsboy Legion, Vigilante, Slam Bradley, and Tomahawk. He also wrote comic books such as A Date With Judy, Buzzy, and House of Mystery.

 

Alvin Schwartz (not to be confused with the guy who wrote these -- same name, different guy) is best known as the writer of Batman and Superman newspaper comics during the 40s and 50s. In fact, he's widely considered one of the best writers of those stories -- he invented Bizarro, and he wrote the first Batman/Superman crossover.

 

He also wrote two books near the end of his life: An Unlikely Prophet, and A Gathering of Selves. Both of these were written as if they were true accounts of Schwartz's encounters with Thongden -- the tulpa of a dead man, who tells him that Superman and Batman are Schwartz's tulpas, waiting to be imposed.

 

I read through the first book, but haven't finished the second yet. I'll just give you a few highlights:

 

  • Schwartz (in flashback from decades earlier) meets a Hawaiian kahuna who says that he called Superman to his wonderland to go back in time and stop a volcano that would have destroyed Hawaii thousands of years ago.
  • Thongden asserts that Alexander Hamilton was a tulpa, who came from nowhere, and faked his death when he felt it was time for him to return to nowhere.
  • Schwartz goes on a few dates with his wife's imaginary friend from decades before.

 

I believe parts of the book are true, like the whole flashback about the Hawaiian guy -- although I doubt Superman traveled in time and saved Hawaii in any real sense outside that guy's wonderland. The bit about Schwartz's comics being pulled from the paper by the government is also true. I think the bulk of the book is fiction though, although it's interesting and well written.

"'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.'"

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Thanks for the head's up. I need to do some research. It reminds me of the Priest that cam from nowhere calmed the accident victim and then vanished into thin air.

Enoch, Chancellor of Mars.

"Follow your bliss."-Joseph Campbell

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Well, you might have seen this stuff before, because it has appeared elsewhere on the forums, but I can give you a little of that.

 

Bob Hoskins, who acted in Who Framed Roger Rabbit experienced something like accidental tulpas after filming.

 

Mel Blanc, the voice actor who did thousands of distinct voices over the course of his carreer was in a coma. He wasn't responding to his wife and son sitting beside him, talking to him, trying to get any sign of life out of them. Then his doctor spoke to Bugs Bunny one day, and, in the voice of Bugs, comotose Mel responded. They tried several of his other famous voices, and he had no problem speaking as any of them. He made a full recovery and went back to work.

 

Although he lacked the marketing ability of Edison, and thus is virtually unknown today, Nikola Tesla far surpassed Edison in terms of inventions. Anything Edison did, Tesla did better. The reason he could do it so well was that he had the ability to instantly visualize complex machinery and see it working before he even made it. It's not a tulpa, but this community used to call such things holograms.

 

Then of course there's Joan of Arc who heard voices and had visions that inspired her lead the French Army to several important victories during the Hundred Years War, as a teenager.

"'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.'"

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