The GKA Times presents The Raymondl Interview

orginally posted January 10, 2006

GKA Times:Ladies and gentlemen I`d like to introduce to you a vital resource in the Henshin community, Raymondl.
A man with a vast knowledge of Tokusatsu and US Super Hero history, he is one of the most thorough of fans out there in any genre. It`s a true honor to take this time to interview him. Enjoy.


Raymondl:Thank you for the wonderful introduction! I don't think I deserve the praise you've heaped on me, since I think I'm just a fan who paid attention to the shows and was in the right place at the right time, so I'm more than pleased to be here at GKA! I guess you consider me some kind of authority on tokusatsu & superheroes, so I'll do my best not to disappoint you or your faithful readers!

On life

GKA Times:Over the years at TokuBBS I`ve gained a strong sense that family is important to you. In your own words how high a priority is family today.

RL:Family is incredibly important to me. It was my father that gave me my fair sense of values, because I don't try to judge anyone too harshly, I'm all for second chances, and I have no bias towards anything other than a strong moral dislike on things that are injust. It was my mother who introduced me to tokusatsu. I was not a well child, and I was constantly sick up until 4th grade, so I had a lot of time to spend at home in bed. She and her sister (my aunt) used to send me (let me rephrase that--"still" send me) the tokusatsu & manga magazines that had all of these heroes, which I was fascinated with.

I actually knew about KAMEN RIDER and ULTRAMAN before SUPERMAN & BATMAN, even though I am American by birth. It was the difference between getting a free tokusatsu book or use my allowance to buy American comics, so since I wasn't raking in big dollars, free it was! Without either one of them, I would not have been into tokusatsu and I would not have been into doing the site as fairly as possible to all, which is now at TOKUSATSU DENSETSU

I also lost a lot of family members because of cigarettes and the disease of Lupus, so I'm a big donator towards lung cancer and lupus research, as well as volunteering for any women's breast cancer fundraisers, as my mother is a cancer survivor. So, yeah--I guess family is important to me!


GKA:Where did you grow up

RL:I was born, bred, raised, and still live in New York City. My father is Chinese and my mother is Chinese-Japanese, so I drifted a lot between NYC and Yokohama, Japan during my early years, and I attended kindergarten in Japan. I also worked in the family restaurant from the ages of 13 - 19 every summer in Yokohama, so that's another family trait I owe something to--the concept of hard work and forced to learn a language in order to function properly


GKA:As a kid who or what inspired you?

RL:Hmm..who inspired me? That's a good question--obviously my parents, but I would probably also give a lot of credit to my general environment for giving me a love for cheap pop culture, and also living in NYC gives me a more "liberal" view in things and the chance to experience a lot of cultural facets in life.
To say one particular factor as being an inspiration is a bit tough to whittle down into one or two things--I just realized that trying to answer this question made me realize that I'm kind of complicated! Good question, though--something new to think about!


GKA:TokuBBS was one of the first places I stopped by when Chris Reeve died. I recall reading you had actually met him in person, could you please give the readers a look back at that meeting?

RL:Ah, Christopher Reeve--what a gentleman and a fantastic person. I was working at CNN in NYC, and there was a big political problem regarding housing for low-income persons and some actors decided to bring this problem to the public's attention at CNN for Larry King's show. Mr. Reeve arrived with Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, and the late Roger Zazlow to be interviewed for the show.

While the women in my office fawned over Alec Baldwin (who wasn't as fat as he was now, since this happened around 1995-1996!), I was of course overwhelmed that Superman himself was in front of me! The other actors had some support staff with them, which made it difficult for us workers to get to them to ask if they needed anything like drinks or ask them something prior to interview time (like what questions not to ask, or if they had any camera angle preferences), but only Mr. Reeve didn't have an entourage--he simply came by himself.

He was easily approachable, didn't turn away any fans, and was in generally good spirits and laughing a lot. I was a computer technician, but I decided to ask him if he needed anything and all he wanted was a glass of water.

Even though it wasn't my job, I quickly went to get him water and when I returned, he graciously took time out to speak with me about a broad range of topics--too bad I can't quite recall what they were, because I was just simply awed at being in front of the greatest Superman actor ever. We didn't talk too much, but he spoke clearly, looked directly at me, and always had on a smile.

I totally forgot to ask him for an autograph or to take a picture with him, but I remember shaking his hand and told him that he really made me believe that he was a real-life superhero, especially since he was here fighting for a good cause. We didn't speak anymore afterwards, but i came away with a deep admiration for him because of his genial nature, his obvious appreciation for a fan like myself, and was radiating a good vibe that made everyone around him happy.

Everyone in the office started calling me the Asian Jimmy Olsen because I guess it was too obvious that I was hanging onto Mr. Reeve's every word. A month or two later, Mr. Reeve suffered his crippling injury, and it was a shock to all of us in the office, as Mr. Reeve made a deep impact on other workers there, and we were all generally sad that it happened to such a kind and decent human being.

As you all know, he went on to fight a long and courageous fight for spinal paralysis research and inspired so many others. I wasn't surprised though, because for the few minutes I spent with him, he certainly was the Man of Steel on and off screen.


GKA:Whats your hobby?

RL:My hobbies are very varied: I collect tokusatsu & anime programs, tokusatsu & anime books, tokusatsu & anime toys, DC comics, I play middle infield for an over-30 softball league, I play on a bowling league, I read books at rapid speed, I draw comics covers, I build plastic GUNDAM models, I watch movies, I go eat out at fancy restaurants a lot, I hang out at jazz clubs, I sell tokusatsu toys on the side, I watch baseball & football, I buy CDs a lot, and I coach a women's volleyball team once in a while if they need help. Oh yeah, I also help run the Tokusatsu Densetsu site! That's just a Tuesday for me!....:)


On Comics

GKA:Now you have a black belt in comics I hear, tell us more about your love afair with superheroes.

RL:I'm pretty critical about American comic books. I grew up the only kid on the block liking DC Comics when everyone was into Marvel. I've only collected Marvel in the 1970s--mainly AVENGERS and G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO in the 1980s-1990s. Other than a sporadic run with the FANTASTIC FOUR in the 1970s, I've primarily read DC Comics all the way through.

Because I was there "pre-Crisis", I remember all of the various Earths, the myriad versions of kryptonite, the Legion of Super-Pets, how the Justice Society of America came to team up annually with the Justice League of America, all of the crazy WW2 heroes like the Haunted Tank and Viking Commando, the spacefarers like Space Cabbie and Ultra the Multi-Alien, and every other DC guy in between.

I was always fascinated with DC's heroes because I didn't want all that angst in Marvel books, which seemed to be a prerequisite for all of their heroes. I like my heroes a bit more pure because it is of course fantasy, and if I wanted "real life", I'd watch the news rather than read a comic book where a Martian can stand alongside an Element Man.

I'm pretty much a fountain of cheesy, useless knowledge on DC guys, especially the B-list guys who are still great to me, like the Martian Manhunter (who finally got some PR thanks to JLU), Metamorpho, Black Canary, Doctor Fate, Starfire, Power Girl, and Deadman. I think I'm one of the only bozos around who know off the top of his head that the original Green Lantern Alan Scott's middle name is "Wellington". I'm a sucker for classic DC guys, and I love what they are doing at DC now with INFINITE CRISIS and ONE YEAR LATER.


GKA:Every nation has it`s heroes, which has the best and the most heroic, Japan or the United States?

RL:I don't think either Japan or the U.S. has a foothold on each other when it comes down to superheroes. American superheroes are a different breed than Japanese ones.
Although a lot of folks compare SUPERMAN to ULTRAMAN, and BATMAN to KAMEN RIDER, I think its more about the similar archetypes of the "all-powerful" hero and the "loner on a crusade" motif rather than an actual direct coorelation.

Both countries have done admirably well with their heroes, and both sets of heroes probably wouldn't function well if their locations changed. SUPERMAN probably would have a more difficult time with the giant monsters, ULTRAMAN would probably not work well against the hidden crime in Metropolis.