WFT Fridays: A Day Later But A Day Wiser!

Mish-mashes and opinions of the last week:



The government is gonna GIVE a bail-out to the banks and “deserving” mortgage companies BILLIONS for shucking the small poor guy into buying a house that in the long run they can’t afford and have repo’d? All so these corporate execs can keep their possessions and year-end bonuses for making bad, BAD business deals?? WTF?!? Then, when everyone’s house IS repo’d, who gets to keep the property? Not the poor schmuck whose credit is ruined and now has to rent (if they’re lucky). Oh, if this goes through (which it looks like it will) then it’s truly a travesty and an open call to those of us middle class idiots who are actually driving the economy around here. Just yet another example of how the rich look after themselves and to hell with everyone else.

What kind of economic stimulus does the middle class and lower get? Granted they SHOULD have known better, but how much of their public education was devoted to ignoring the advertising and continual material lusting encouragement out there? It’s alright to fight for and pursue happiness, but when the average Joe is seduced into buying too much too fast (with A.R.M. mortgages and 0% financing, and lines of credit whose interest floats on the prime rate), and gets his ass jammed and his credit rate shattered, how does the government work to fix the problem? Why by paying off the greedy heartless bastards and their companies that shook down the average Joe! What kind of country are we living in? Not one I’m particularly proud of right now- I assure you.

If you apply the same principle to a smaller “caste” of business owner- their practices would be called into question- any and all possible charges of fraud and illegal business would be levied, HUGE fines paid, and perhaps even a little jail time handed out. With this the banks get to have a bail-out for their bad business dealings, AND they get to keep the foreclosed property they’ll be evicting their “pigeons” or “marks” out of, PLUS they’ll get their year end bonuses, AND not even be called into question to either refine their way of doing business, or better inform the uneducated as to how their wonderful accounting works, thus fooling the stupid for many, many years to come.

Frankly, I would have had MUCH more appreciation for the government if they froze everyone’s interest rate, allow “bail-outs” to cover the recently and/or about to be foreclosed, and force the banks and mortgage companies to take a smaller profit and take responsibility for their shysterness. PLUS jack up the taxes on ALL year end bonuses and golden parachutes taking them out of favor and force the corps to reward only GOOD behavior and performance. Not only would it save the government BILLION of our tax dollars, but it would force the execs to be responsible as well. Sure they’d figure out a way to get around the profit taxes, but at least it might make them a little more creative and think twice before shell gaming the under classes.


And to further back up my claims about how fickle the average American is, look at those poll numbers for McCain. This guy has openly stated that they’ll be keeping the same policies that are in place now and there’s such a huge amount of the American Sheeple SO willing to step in right behind him. Especially now that he’s “promised” change, are we as a country THAT STUPID??? >Sigh< Apparently so.

Just so you know, I’m NOT losing my house. My credit rating is pretty solid, and I’ve been EXTREMELY lucky as far as this current economy goes. I AM over my ass in debt and fighting hard to get out of a financial hole, but I’m MUCH luckier than a lot of friends that I know. I realized we were heading into an economic shit-storm a few years ago and started saving and paying off as many bills as I could early. I used my “economic stimulus package” to wipe out 2 minor credit cards. Now I’ve still got bills, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, again unlike most of my friends.

I try to make it a point to pay the corporations as little as possible. I watch my electricity and water use, I have an accountant to keep me on track with taxes, I get by on as little as possible, I’ve even cut back drastically on gas (though I’m still spending almost twice as much on gas as last year) and fast food eating, and am working as hard as ever to cover bills and climb out of the hole.

Remember: ALL politicians LIE, and we’re well overdue for some HONEST “change” around here, even if it makes things a bit more “socialistic”, which I doubt it will, all I’m saying is that I’m voting for the candidate that seems to be less corporate than the other. I could be snowed, and have been in the past, but I’m looking at the long term and frankly my country, my state, my county, my neighborhood won’t survive another 4-8 years like the last 4-8 years. I wish folks had taken Ron Paul more seriously, and I’m grateful that the race is NOT McCain vs. Hillary because that’s really no choice at all.

Enough political shit- enough economic shit, at least for now, I’m depressed enough!

-Blog notes-

Thanks to all the nice comments on the Crisis On Infinite Mistakes rant(s), MUCH appreciated, and I promise there’s more “Comics My Way” on the way as soon as I get a little more free time, which SHOULD be next week. Life MIGHT be calming down now that a few personal hurdles have been jumped, as well as a few work hurdles, so I’ll be trying to get a lot more shit up here. Again, I truly appreciate your comments, but I also invite you to share your opinions here as much as you can, AND to tell as many as you can about the stuff here, no matter how bat-shit crazy you think I may be. I DO understand your thinking though, and I tend to never comment on most forums that I read, especially comic book oriented because there are SO many there who have their heads up their ass-especially the Sheeple who parrot the opinions of nuts who make videos- and not just Kirkman’s either- there seems to be a heaping shitload of attention whore “talent” out there making their own video lately. I sincerely doubt that you’ll see me making a video of my comic book opinions any time soon- if I do it’ll be a CARTOON- lol – and a HELL of a lot more entertaining!


I am currently about ten drawings ahead in my “Heroes I Miss” renditions of my monkey-self being the character I miss, so you may see those more often as soon as I get the chance to sit and write them. I draw them whenever I’m sitting in front of the boob tube and not eating or reading.

-Random Notes-

Speaking of TV, favorite shows currently running new episodes right now have got to be Primeval on BBC America, Sons Of Anarchy of FX, Shield of FX, Mad Men on AMC, and probably Burn Notice on USA- interesting that they’re all cable stations. Fringe is “on the bubble” with me. It’s interesting, but it REALLY reminds me too much of X-files and the blonde is SO dull and unattractive to me. The first ep was better than the pilot though, and it still has plenty of “suck” room.

In the meantime, if you haven’t been to my MySpace page and looked through my inspirational poster gallery yet I invite you to do so. It’s not any shit that I’ve done personally, but I enjoy the humor in most of them as well as the fact that they parody a sickening workplace trend that I as a thinking, feeling person can honestly live without, I just think that if folks are gonna spend the time to spit these little gems out there should be a gallery collecting them someplace, so go look. It’s in the pics section of the Spank MySpace page (if you’ve got a page and you’re reading this and not a friend yet, I invite you to do so as well). That link is towards the top right of this page I believe.

Still exhausted from yesterday from the wedding and the drama, drama, drama that went with it. All I want to say about that is I was in a suit in the first time in almost 30 years, my firm belief in “karma” (you get back the love you give and you get back the hate you give usually multiplied) was held up and reaffirmed (telling you about that is a whole other blog post, maybe someday), and that I’m hoping that the adage of “bad wedding-good marriage” hold true. Happiness and Love to everyone who deserves it, Happiness and Love.

Till next time…

WAKE UP!

COMICS MY WAY: CRISIS ON INFINITE MISTAKES Pt2

So in part one I laid out the problems: The DC Universe is one continuity mess after the next, a constant dragging of plotting feet “fixing” a problem that they editors probably figure is “no big deal” while their confused fanbase shrinks in frustration and a shrinking wallet as they can’t afford buying weekly series that really don’t change much, and “tie-ins” that really aren’t “tie-ins” at all.

The fix here is an easy one really, and totally profitable to DC and could restructure their books to not only give readers a reason to keep buying their products, but to generate new readers, new capital, and new excitement to a universe and comic company that could take them way over the top.

First off, I think it’s obvious the way they are going now is a constant string of “short term” flashes, a kind of carrot strung before the horse, promising change, and yet keeping it just out of reach. DC will NOT be able to keep this up (heck, Marvel is no better, only I firmly believe that the hole they’ve dug for themselves continuity wise is totally beyond repair!). This will require one more year’s worth of supposed “carrots”, but all of which is designed to generate capital in the long term, and one more weekly, or bi-weekly “event” series, fans will groan and moan at first, I’m sure they do now anyways, but they’ll love it when they realize it’s all permanent..

Part One: Clearing the way

First off, Vertigo, and the cartoon adaptions, the already marked “adult” and “kids” comics that is are totally exempt- this effects only the mainline DCU books. Ample time before the start of the event all the editors and writers are called together for a conference. I know this has been done in smaller cases before, but this time it’s all the DCU books editors and writers pulled together, I realize this is probably a logistical nightmare, but it HAS to be done. Section by section the editors and writers are told what’s up and that TOTAL organization is KEY to what they have planned. I would go so far as to appoint one editor high up (I would recommend someone with a firm fan background who is TOTALLY aware of all the characters in the DCU who can try to keep everything straight- a kind of “Monitor” who knows shits about to hit the fan HARD.

Part Two: Foundation

A year before the event, weird things start happening in everyone’s books, continuity as every fan thinks of it is totally out the window. Dead characters reappear, old villains, supporting characters, and teams of villains wreck havoc, and things soon become totally out of control. This will allow all the current talent teams to let their imaginations SOAR. The crazier the better, just as long as the Monitor knows what you’re up to, and agrees to each writer and editor’s “madness”. The “Crisis” characters Harbinger, Pariah, and Monitor keep reappearing, and it seems that a number of the supernatural based characters (Like Spectre, Phantom Stranger, Deadman, and Dr Fate) are going insane.
That last bit alone can be totally fun, but it’s obvious at this point that the DCU is literally coming apart in the continuity seams. Fans are ENCOURAGED to make total sense of it all as DC becomes the talk of the forums about how insane and out of control they have become. Personally, towards the end of the year, I’d start cleaning house and killing characters off, all except for our key players listed above. Plus it would be a GREAT time to start fast-forwarding everyone’s private life (Lois Lane pregnant?!?). The supernatural characters REALLY start kicking it into high gear, Now would be a great time for a 6 issue Deadman mini that starts off with a small incident and ends up with him realizing that reality is really not worth fighting to save, and that perhaps his only peace can be found in the end of reality altogether (in other words, he goes totally NUTS). All the while the “event” logo starts popping up in the upper left corner of everyone’s books. EVERYONE is on edge, there is SO much doom and gloom rolling that fan’s heads are spinning, and the Editor/Monitor is having a rough time keeping it all straight. Both Pariah and Harbinger become crazy powerful, and the Monitor makes a realization that it’s all coming to a drastic head. Coolness right?

Part 3: The Event

Not sure what to call it (something cool and deadly though perhaps TOTAL CRISIS), but “The Event” series can be at least 12 issues long, but the basis of the plot is that the Monitor has realized that all the supernatural based characters are off their rockers, that “reality” is shredding because of it, and there HAS to be a solution to the problem. It’s admitted that Crisis On Infinite Earths was only a temporary fix and reality has been slowly shredding itself up and it’s come to a head as no one, and no group of people can keep it in line anymore. At this point all the current “alternate earths” merge back into the main one. The Monitor becomes convinced that most of the supernatural based characters are dedicated to ending reality altogether, and after collecting a totally odd group of powerful characters, both heroes and villains, they try to terminate a number of these characters. It’s possible at this time that The Specter starts chasing after the same characters and absorbs them into his being (this could also involve the Anti-Life equation from New Gods- if they still exist)- at any rate Specter, becoming incredibly powerful, gets a small glimmer of sanity, says he knows what he has to do, and how to fix things- at the climax of the series (like the end of issue 11) Specter literally explodes and all goes black.

Part 4 The Aftermath

The Monitor, Harbinger, and Pariah remain in a neutral realm the separates all the newly restored Multiverse (and if I was DC I’d see if I could copyright the name) and dedicate themselves to the preservation of order. This allows the Monitor to “monitor”, Pariah to spot for (really be pulled to) “crisis flaws” in any of the world’s realities, and Harbinger to do what’s necessary to get the people on those earths to fix the problem (including transporting other heroes onto worlds that need to be fixed- leaving the possibilities endless for crossovers and such or even pulling together a multiversal team of “Fixers” (like all the characters at the end of Infinity Crisis).

Which characters are dead, which are refashioned, which are totally ignored, will all be up to the individual creative teams. Plus this opens the door for another series of “Multiversal History Books” or perhaps The Monitor’s logs of the more important worlds. Slight variations in worlds are kept in check, and only the drastic changes make another world in the multiverse- with Monitor, Pariah, and Harbinger to oversee and guide each new world as they form- their work is more than cut out for them.

To keep all the confusion to a minimum, all the DCU books carry a second logo on their masthead (upper right probably), each one denoting which earth this book in the consumer’s hands takes place on, plus at least for awhile I would suggest taking half of the inside front cover to explain the earth the book is on, as well as catch up new readers on important characters and plot points. The point here is to AVOID confusion, and flat out be entertaining and challenging to the reader’s imagination and NOT their frustration. Multiple versions of characters, as well as teams (there could EASILY be a Legion team in every world’s Superman’s future), are wide open, plus any character the gets killed in the even would be open for revamping, Plus the title of “Multiverse Monitor” should remain

Part 5; The Results:

This allows a VERY straightforward refashioning of every book. No more sloppy continuity flow, or reader frustration. Each world is not only broken down by books and characters: but also by editors and art teams, which allow chief editors, as well as regular editors serving underneath them to literally control their own corner of the multiverse. Not only that but it also creates a kind of caste system within the company. Here’s how I see it breaking down:

VERTIGO: Stays the same.

ALL-STAR Earth: for all the current “All-Star” books- each of which can be restarted with new talent teams and storylines as the editor sees fit. On this earth all the characters can cross into harder “adult” territory at the same levels that the All-Star books run in now only I would add a few more titles (at least Wonder Woman and Green Arrow) with TOP NOTCH talent working the books.

EARTH 1 (MAIN-LINE): JLA, primary current age DC icons and titles DRASTICALLY cut down now after the “event” This is pretty much the “Mainstream” DC titles- and again these books can be refashioned or restarted however the editors see fit. Major league talent here

EARTH 2 (AAA): JSA, INFINITY INC. the golden and near silver age characters live and age here. I would suggest retiring the original JSA and bringing the newer characters to the front.
Consider this world the AAA team, slightly lower than the mainstream, and paid at a slightly lower scale than the Earth 1 books. Things are MUCH lighter and lighthearted than Earth 1, with stories lasting 1-3 issues primarily- NO huge events (except a once a year cross between earth’s 1 and 2) Options for profit sharing and other pay benefits here.

EARTH 3: Crime Syndicate world- which would perhaps make for a great title but that could just be me.

EARTH X(CHAOS LINE): Would be an earth where the Nazis have won, just like in JLA 107-108. Quality characters FREEDOM FIGHTERS, UNCLE SAM, as well as other WW2 characters can dwell here. I think a series on this earth could be INCREDIBLE with the right team working them.

EARTH B (DEADLINE): Where all the stupid stories have gone- bye-bye and we’ll never go there.

EARTH S(MORE FUN): Fawcett characters, perhaps some Charlton and Quality golden age characters as well. Primary book(s) are Billy Batson, Plastic Man and other super lighthearted books.
This world is literally aimed at younger readers (but NOT written down to them) with fantasy and the fantastic the primary focus. Perhaps same pay scale as Earth 2, with the incentives and profit sharing it could inspire some pretty cool work, free from any restrictions or “reality”.

JOHNNY DC: Stays the same.

Placement for Milestone characters would be up in the air, and I would imagine The Spirit and other outside licenses would remain separate.

This would allow DC plenty of room for a wider variety of books, a pay rate scale allowing better rewards, as well as a chance for creativity to flourish better than ever. I can only see this set-up as a win-win all around. What do you think? Stupid? Crazy? Let me know- and thanks for reading this much- I hope it opens your mind a little as to how much fun comics could be again if only the groundwork were a little more open. Of course, this is only a suggestion, thoughts put intentionally into the ether for discussion, actually the way I’d do it if I could do COMICS MY WAY.

COMICS MY WAY: Crisis On Infinite Mistakes Pt. 1

I grew up with comic books, they were a life line for me and my primary source of entertainment. I had done as much research as I could into the many different eras of comics, their genres, and most of all their superheroes when I was younger. I always gravitated towards the superhero teams: Avengers, New Gods, Defenders, and JLA were some of my very favorite titles. The more heroes the better, the more interaction the better as well, the geekiest times for me as a kid was when these super teams crossed paths with each other. Some of my fondest memories were around the Avengers versus The Defenders war, and the once yearly crossover of the Justice League and the Justice Society.

I knew who the Justice Society were before I ever read one of their adventures, and growing up through my teens I always enjoyed the annual multiple earth stories of Earth 1’s Justice League and Earth 2’s Justice Society. These stories never confused or “threw me” in fact, just the opposite, they enticed me to wrap my head around their version of Stephen Hawking’s string theory rather easily and (and here’s the REALLY important point) THEY WERE COOL AND FUN TO READ. One of my favorite stories of all time was JLA 107-108 when the transporter between worlds malfunctions, thanks to an over eager Red Tornado, and characters from both teams are sent to the Nazified Eath X to meet the Quality Comics line of characters (later known as The Freedom Fighters). When Uncle Sam mentions in the story that both Plastic Man and the Blackhawks were dead that never phased me as a kid, even though I was really into both characters, this was a different earth, and they were gone, and the story continued- like I said above, it was SO cool and fun that you couldn’t help but go along and be entertained.

A few years later DC reintroduced another of my favorites titles to the newsstands ALL-STAR COMICS which featured stories of a modern Justice Society, aged to the point that Robin was mature, and Batman and Catwoman’s kid was now a full fledged member known as The Huntress.
Easy to follow explanations, great entertainment, and a chance to read about characters that you could only read in reprint collections, or the by then defunct 100 Page Super Spectaculars (which is an item that warrants perhaps another posting for a later time). I never had a problem keeping the Earths separated, never had a rough time understanding the multiple Supermen and Batmen, and the fact that these characters all lived on separate earths, perhaps even worlds where time moved differently that other earths, or characters died but the same character on another earth still existed, like I said it was like a primer introduction to string theory physics, and as a kid it was a joy to read and figure out. In my travels and geekfest discussions at cons and comic shops, I have yet to ever meet or know of anyone who could not grasp the multi-earth concept, the idea of multiple versions of icon superheroes on multiple earths, and who didn’t find the discussion of individual earth’s continuity a favorite subject right behind the “what if” fight scenario- you know- the “What If (insert favorite comic character here) got into a fight with (another comic book character)?”

In fact the alternate reality cliché’ was/is/and always will be a comic book plot staple. There is no escaping it, like the “evil twin” and the hiding of one’s secret identity. Even Star Trek has its’ “Mirror, Mirror” universe. Alternate, Multiple, earths is an entertaining cliché’ that will always keep giving for as long as writers keep an imagination.

Then in the mid 80’s someone (some one who honestly does NOT deserve a job in the imaginative world of comics) decided that too many kids were getting wayt too confused about all these multiple earths in the DC stable, so Dc decided to collapse all of these earths into one and have a 12 issue “maxi-series” entitled CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. They brought out their best to perform it (Wolfman and Wein writing it I believe and Perez riding shotgun over the art) and over a courser of little over a year managed to collapse everything down to one earth, with one continuity flow, one handy umbrella for all their creative “talents” to use when writing any character in the main DCU (DC Universe as it came to be known).

Then, as the old cliché’ goes it all went straight to shit. The writiers spent much more time trying to explain their inane timeline (even coming out with a definitive “History Of The DC Universe” a 2 issue prestige format booklength explaination of just how the entire time line was supposed to go. Frankly it was another excuse to get the great George Perez to draw every last character in the DCU, but that’s as far as the touchstone that that title ever saw. From the time that Crisis ended (technically even BEFORE it ended, DC has been on what can only be described as a clusterfuck parade of turning their one world logic into a holey slice of swiss cheese, literally confusing more older readers that the multiverse system EVER did, and is largely responsible, at least by my reckoning, to a large portion of their audience giving up on reading DC comics altogether.

Looking over the history of the art form, Crisis On Infinite IS the touchstone mark in the industry. Inside the series they introduced a number of new characters, but two of them really drive this point home, Pariah and Harbinger. This series was literally the Pariah of the DCU (which like the character upon his appearance things started going staright to hell) and has been the Harbinger (who appeared to warn everyone that things were going straight to hell) of the decay of the entire industry in general.

From the late 80’s the numbers have declined, the readers have declined, the talent working on comics in general has declined, and the attention to the media has steadily eroded. Case in point; if not all then an enormous portion of the comic book movie adaptions from both Marvel and DC are largely from material created BEFORE 1985- OVER TWENTY YEARS AGO!! Dark Knight, every movie from Marvel, even a large portion of the Superman movie are all based on material from BEFORE Crisis. Anyone OUTSIDE of comics all recall the BEST stuff being from BEFORE Crisis took place. Since the late eighties comics have become progressively darker, more “realistic”, the story telling more “decompressed”, and MUCH more confusing than ever before.



The series should become known as Crisis On Infinite Mistakes, because comics as a money generating “mainstream” art form all went downhill from there, with one confusing mistake in storytelling and continuity after the next. Over the last few years DC has played with returning the multiverse system and have always fallen just short of doing so, adding even more confusion and holes as they go along, with no end in the confusion in sight. It is true that more and more money IS being generated by DC in the comic book direct market, but it is income generated from a smaller and smaller number of readers all more and more willing to spend more of their spare money (which in today’s economy is getting less and less) on comics that continually promise huge changes in continuity, but rarely if ever, delivering little more than a messy lead-in to their next “ground breaking continuity altering” series. More and more fans are dropping off and a breaking point is well within sight.

I totally blame Crisis and the DC execs for squashing the fun out of their products and consistently not caring enough to cure it. It IS a simple fix, after all, and one of those fixes that fans would welcome with totally open arms, no matter who was confused. DC underestimates the intelligence of their readers- their readers and ANY age mind you- and are way too chicken shit to correct their mistake. I mean seriously, look at how long it took them to make Hal Jordan a Green Lantern again, not to mention alter everything they tried to accomplish with Crisis. Like I mentioned before, one clusterfuck on top of another.

Finally, adding sheer insult to injury, DC already has a number of separate earths running via their outside media. The Dark Knight movie has NOTHING to do with the current DCU Batman, the first Batman animated series has nothing to do with the current Batman animated series. Most would argue that the JLA animated series has nothing to do with any other animated series (as does the Teen Titans and the Legion cartoons), and in comics The Super Friends comic book has nothing to do with the other DCU comics OR anything currently animated. They ALREADY have multiple versions of their own characters STILL running within their company, STILL making some profit (albeit here and there depending upon the product), and yet they seem to be afraid to devise a solid, explainable reason for all of those earths to co-exist. Honestly, what are they afraid of? Making MORE money by allowing their talent and readers to have even more fun with more multiple versions of their characters?

I have to admit at this point that I stopped reading all the DCU books awhile back, but I’ve basically kept in touch with what both “mainstream” companies have been doing with most of their respective titles. NOT a rough thing to do anymore since most of their 6 part “epic” book collections can usually be summarized in a sentence or two.


Secondly, I also have to admit that the above OPINIONS are my own, but I KNOW they are shared by a HUGE number of readers inside as well as outside of comics. Also, I recognize that these opinions and suggestions I place here are in a PUBLIC forum and can be mimicked, stolen, borrowed, and used by anyone at any time. Really I am openly making suggestions and marking the time on which I publicly do so. I invite anyone to take from these ideas what they will- believe me if they would only put some of them into practice it can only make comics BETTER from an entertaining standpoint. Let us continue next time when I give you my version of the way to fix this CRISIS ON INFINITE MISTAKES.

Wake Up.

WTF Friday: The Circus Of Life

So what can I tell you about the past week? The oddities, the lessons, the work, the cluster fucks, the…well, “life” in general, have all lead to the title above. I’d give you the blurry details but instead I think I’ll bombard you with some random gibberish. I awoke for the day just a few minutes ago with a set of thoughts swirling through my head and letting them loose here really seems like the thing to do.

Over the last few years there have been times in my life where I have kissed the fucking ground over the life that I have and some of the choices I have made to get here. For example, most every time I walk into a comic shop anymore and see the latest batch of dark, sad, crap that the “mainstream” calls “comics” anymore makes me totally grateful that I never took that apprenticeship at Marvel, that that Vertigo series didn’t pan out and that there are VERY few editors at those companies that I have any respect for, let alone enough respect to want to work for them. These guys are corporations after all, blindly stumbling through the dark (and mostly darkness that they themselves have created) to try to wean as many bucks out of the comic reader’s hands as possible, and it’s interesting to sit here on the shore as they paddle their boats in circles trying to get someplace creative, imaginative, and remotely entertaining. You get the occasional glimpses (Madame Xanadu for example) of entertainment but for everyone of those you get this solid waste shit (most every “event” or tie-in, The war The Time Forgot, the latest version of Warlord) that is little more than embarrassing, boredom, and cluster fuck.

Oh sure, I’ve had my screw-ups, don’t think for a minute that there haven’t been screw-ups: bad business decisions, failed companies, misunderstandings and the like. Looking back at it I think it gives me a bit of a perspective that few folks have, and that’s part of the reason that I have this blog, outside of sharing the other little lessons in life that I think won’t completely bore the shit out of you.

Besides “comics” I’ve had a number of realizations about where I sit in “life” in general, more than I would chalk off as being “coincidental”. Little life choices that seem weird or nutty at times, that work out not only for the better, but also for the BEST. Personal, professional, financial, emotional, you name it, it’s been a weird Helluva Week that has had me grateful about where I am more times that you probably remotely want me to tell you about.

I have a SMALL (dinky really, “barely getting’ the stuff paid most times) graphic arts business that I run out of my house, doing art, t-shirts, signs and stuff. It allows me to more freedom than I ever imagined, no time clock, no partners to get screwed by, no store front to worry about, lots of plusses. At the same time, if I don’t have work I don’t get a steady paycheck, there’s the whole avenue of taxes to deal with (thank GOD for accountants), and there’s the simple fact that leaving work means leaving the house, and sometimes relaxing and taking a break can be totally impossible. It has its plusses and minuses, but lately I’m SO glad for the plusses. It’s allowed me more freedom than most and in a position to help out those that I love. I really don’t mind being “Daddy Taxi”, most of the time that is, 6am is trying and tiring, but most others are fine.


My only bitch is that I haven’t been able to channel enough energy into more creative endeavors. I WANT to do more comics; it’s just that when I can it always seems to get interrupted by other jobs that pay more and faster. If this keeps up though in another year or two, when all the bills are chased off, the situation may change, but lately ANY situation is temporary at best. Plus, I’m doing this blog to try to get some of that creativity out and into the ether for all to see. Hopefully, there are folks out there of the same mindset as me- or at least sees the shit I display here as somewhat entertaining so maybe all this will be creative in some way after all.

I know some of you are STILL waiting for that comics column that I HAVE worked on off and on over the last week Believe me, you’ll see it as soon as it’s done. So far it’s four Word pages and I’m about a third of the way through it, so I’ll be editing it a bit more before I present it her, or at least splitting it up some (yeehah!).

2 last bits of WTF before I go:

1) Congratulations to Amanda and Daniel who got married on 9/11 so that they can run to New Mexico so the groom can visit his dying mother, this time with wife in hand, to assure her of his happiness (that anyone seeing them together can’t help but see). I took them to the airport early this morning (3 am early, and “Daddy Taxi” AIN’T complaining). The ceremony is still on for 9/18, with reception to follow, and hopefully a LOT of the mental anguish of the last week or so relieved.

2) If Christ was a ”Community Organizer” and Pontius Pilot was a “Governor”, does that make George W. “Nero”? Cuz if that’s the case, it would certainly explain a lot of fiddling…


WAKE UP!

Things Are A Brewin'

Sorry that I've not kept up here the last few days- things, life and work, have again crept up and snagged me, plus I keep drafting my next "Comics My Way" posting and adding, and adding, and...well, it's coming slowly but surely- kind of washing through the system like a large Mexican food dinner (with plenty of beans I might add...) Soon as it's ready I'll be poopin' it out here.

In the meantime I give you a small addition to my last post with another YouTube goodie, this time of Vaughn's son Mark, talking about his work, his dad, his dad's work, and the effect his dad's work has had on our popular culture, with this excerpt from THE RUN UP interview by Shaun Roberts, produced by UPPER PLAYGROUND. Enjoy and WAKE UP!

MY HERO: Vaughn Bode' -Comix Artist Master

I discovered Vaughn Bode’ (pronounced Bo-Dee) in my late teens from the pages of National Lampoon, Heavy Metal, and the occasional “underground” comic I found in head shops and alternative bookstores (back when we HAD alternative bookstores that carried odd, “alternative” things- like stuff you can only find online or E-bay today). His work had a profound effect upon my life and work. I still have almost everything he has done in print (some in multiple copies), though I still uncover the occasional gem here and there, and HIGHLY recommend his work to any new rising comic artist out there, just to show that there are INCREDIBLE artists and thinkers in comics that never went the Marvel and DC route.

To describe his art as “psychodelic” really does not do it justice. “Groundbreaking” and “totally unique” come closer, but with its timelessness, charm, imagination, and style his work still remains completely recognizable, just as whimsical and enjoyable, and still a potent influence on modern art.
I like to point out to folks that most spray painted graffiti would look completely different today if he hadn’t lettered most of his work in that cartoony run-together balloon style of his. It remains a mystery to me why he’s not more recognized, though it doesn’t mystify me as to why there aren’t more people copying his art and aping his style.


Vaughn was truly a one of a kind, or almost at least, his son Mark comes close in style and wit, but anyone who has studied their collective style can still tell them apart, and both are unbelievable in their own way.


His most famous creation is a little lizard in a hat called Cheech Wizard, though that may change soon as Zach Snyder (of 300 and Watchman movie fame) is said to have another of his and his son Mark’s creations, Cobalt 60 on his slate to adapt into film. You MAY have seen a ripped-off (“homaged” some say) version of Cobalt 60 as the red dressed assassin from Ralph Bakshi’s WIZARDS movie (that’s him on the movie poster).
Once again, the Bode’ design style stands out as totally unique, and always fresh. Bode' is also known for his well rounded, well busted, well shaped, cute women (known as Bode' Babes), which admittedly probably also had quite the effect on me as a youth as most of his drawing of women mirror my tastes with incredible accuracy.

Most, if not all, of Vaughn and Mark Bode’s printed works are still in print from Fantagraphics. I personally recommend any of the Deadbones, Cheech Wizards, or the Cheech Wizard in Oz book(s). If you’ve never read Bode’, then please do so ASAP. If you click on the headline above, it'll take you to everything Amazon has to offer of Bode's. You'll thank me for it later.

Upon surfing the web I found an old film clip of an interview of Vaughn Bode’ from 1974. The interview was at a comic or art convention, it is definitely not of the best quality as it has numerous glitches and sound problems, but it’s definitely worth a look. It amazes me of how much of his philosophy mirrors my own, especially when it comes to working and owning the work that you do (not so much about the drug use, but hey, the film was shot in 1974, so those times were a bit different than now in regards to drug use). These three clips fit together one right after another into about 25 minutes total. If Vaughn Bode' is not fascinating to you you may find it somewhat dull and dry, but to me finding these clips were more like finding a small time capsule to a guy whose work has always kept my interest and it was great to listen to him speak, and speak candidly about his art, his work ethics, and his life.

Vaughn Bode' died in 1975 according to Wikipedia due to a failed experiment in auto erotic asphyxiation, but other sources list other causes. Quite frankly it doesn't matter how he died, what mattered is that he lived and left behind an incredibly long lasting volume of work.

One of the things I find most fascinating about Vaughn’s personal work life is that he did work anywhere he could and got printed in numerous places, numerous times. Bode’s work is nothing short of genius, and that makes him one of my heroes…








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WTF Friday: Special Day Late Edition

I wanted to run through all this yesterday, but for some reason Friday slipped by (again) and I didn't post (again), so here it is Saturday (again) and I'm catching up (again) with a brief rundown of what nots and thoughts for no coherent reason:

* We still have 59 days and counting down to listen as the media drolls on and on about everything about the campaign except for anything important. I find it ironic that Palin is now a celebrity when less than 2 weeks ago McCain (or as Rush "I'm a puppet for the RNC" Limbaugh actually calls him: "McBrilliant") was running attack ads accusing Obama for being a celeb- but then that ties into the last funny post below.


I also think it's ironic that Palin released her statement about her pregnant daughter the same day (THE SAME DAY!) she lawyered up on her "Troopergate" affair (I won't call it a scandal because the more I read about Palin it's more like "business as usual"), KNOWING the media piranhas would feast on her daughter because her story was more juicy when all this trooper stuff seems a LOT more relevant. She may be wagging the dog (perhaps literally) to distract attention, and THEN her republican mouthpieces are all crying to the media about how "off limits" candidate's families should be. Yep, pretty ironic alright.

*Hopefully there won't be a political scandal anytime soon. I'm sick and tired of politics- so you know what's up for tomorrow? Politics and MORE bitching about politics! Just kidding.

*On a TOTALLY different topic, this one a little more personal, Karma IS a bitch, and she knows who she is and just who she's currently pissing on- That's all I'm saying about that!

*I've been brewing my next "Comics My Way" installment ever since I posted the first one a few days ago. I'm thinking of calling it "Crisis On Infinite Mistakes". I have been asked to re(re)update my "All My Heroes Are Dead" rant from the Arrow site and post it here as well, so that might be there right after the "Crisis" installment.


*I have a growing list of "Heroes That I Miss" as well, and I'm seriously thinking of putting out a set of Spank: "Heroes That I Miss" trading cards when I have enough drawings together that I like- what do you think? Anyone think that would be a cool item to sell? let me know.

*Speaking Of "Letting Me Know", I still totally appreciate everyone reading this blog, and I'm still amazed of my high hit count, but what's amazing me more is the lack of comments here about what I'm posting here. So far almost all of my feed back has come in from the MySpace page, my personal email, or verbally from folks who've commented it about stuff here directly to my face. I DO appreciate that feedback, but c'mon, let's open the floor here on the blog for some real discussion. If there's something here you feel strong enough about, pro or con, then I invite you to comment. Don't make me beg- I know you're out there I can hear you snickering! And a special thanks to jason for being the first (besides myself) to leave a comment here.

*I'm aching to get back into doing some comic book work again, so I'm looking over old notes and projects to see if there's anything there I want to work or re-work, plus I'm laying out a "site tree" for my graphics business. Perhaps there'll be something of a site up shortly - or perhaps not.

*In closing I leave for you all to ponder today a small clip from YouTube of that wonderful Bob Kane creation- no, not BatMan, Cool McCool! Danger is his business!



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RETHINKING: Political Spin

Because some things speak for themselves, and because everytime I make a political commentary here I swear I HATE politics, here's a clip from last night's Daily Show that easily speaks volumes:



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RETHINKING SCIENCE: GeoThermal Energy

It's long past time for us to begin thinking outside the box as far as energy goes. In what little research I've done (and remember the old cliche' that "a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing"), and presented to you is that our very belief in what we've been taught of science needs to at least be questioned if not proven outright WRONG. Our petroleum dependence seems to be driven more by economy and profit than practicality and science.

Previously I showed you the abiotic theory of petroleum, how oil is theorised to be a totally renewable resource, and the imposed "scarcity" of it to be driven by profit mongers. Now I have ran across a renewable, safer than most, energy source that our current science is aware of, but the government refuses to properly fund to totally develop as a primary source of electricity into our homes. I bring you, via YouTube and CalEnergy (that actually has a couple of these plants up and operating, and have for about 20 years now, GEO-THERMAL ENERGY:



Like I said, there are a couple of plants of this type already running in California, and Governor Arnold has recently stepped up the care and upkeep of these plants realizing their potential. The federal government has steadily decreased all funding and research into this field for the simple reason that it is cheap, available to us at our current technology level, safe, renewable, and UNPROFITABLE compared to petroleum use. They already expect us to swallow the old science that oil is a fossil fuel and will eventually run out, now we see that, like GM and their electric car, they have developed technology for cheap (MUCH cheaper than our current) energy use and have stifled it in order for a few fat cats, countries, and corporations to rape some jing out of our pockets.

I know what you're thinking "Oh, you're just some crazy monkey- what the hell do you know?"- only what I see with an open mind folks. Now, here's the REAL rub, there is ANOTHER form of geo-thermal energy that the US developed (in Los Alamos no less) TWENTY YEARS AGO, that has been available to us, at an eventually cheaper rate that our current energy availability, started under the Carter administration, that has had its funding castrated ever since the Reagan administration, that they all knew about BACK THEN would give us ample cheap energy, on a renewable basis, environmentally safe, already developed and proven. Here's a film clip documentary on the DRY ROCK GEO-THERMAL SYSTEM, easily explained, easily exploited, if only we had a government that cared enough to fund it. I apologize in advance for the dry presentation of this documentary- it was obviously done some time ago, apparently back during the Clinton administration, but it IS worth your while to watch it:



Water is still mostly free folks, this system would only recycle itself over and over, and I have yet to find ANY reason (other than corporate greed) that would keep us from popping up plants like this all over the country. I JUST heard Sarah Palin mention Geo-Thermal energy in her acceptance speech last night- that's the first mention I've heard of it during this whole campaign, but like I said before- I've been trying to avoid all the rhetoric, and my mentioning this is NOT any kind of endorsement for Palin- I'm still mulling about doing yet another political post tomorrow that would focus on Palin, but I'm really trying not to.

in the meantime, THINK about Geo-Thermal- do your own snooping and let me know if I'm off base here (okay, you can tell me if I'm full of shit- I'm a big monkey and I can take it!)and most importantly:

WAKE UP!

COMICS MY WAY: MY HISTORY

When I was a small little monkey, raised in a small cage in a small town, I needed the escape of comics just to try to stay sane. My parents, afraid of the violence and probably juvenile delinquent influences found in these silly books, refused to allow me to have any comics with superheroes in them. So I was left with Saturday Morning (see my post about Space Ghost below), the small box of mostly superhero comics my grandparents kept stashed at their house, and the Adam West Batman show. After taking a spanking for smuggling in a Batman 80 pager (and, I HAVE to wonder what kind of beating would I have gotten if I had brought home a CURRENT version of Batman I shudder), I eventually started getting every other kind of comic into the house to read and escape with as well as learn to draw my own as much as possible.


I came to love comics as an art form and saw it’s potential very early on, though probably on some subconscious level, I understood most of the language of comics, the storytelling, the flow, the very ART of it all. Like I said above I was restricted from any kind of superheroes in the house, so in my hard core quest to soak up comics in any form I literally absorbed ANYTHING on comics I could find at the local library, the collections of any of my friends, as well as anything I could get away reading at my local drugstore. Frankly, by the time my parents rescinded their no superhero policy I knew as much about each and every one of the costumed vigilantes before even owning a single issue of their adventures.


During this time I did convince my parent to allow me to buy Strange Adventures featuring Adam Strange, able to pass him off as an ordinary Joe in a space suit that kinda looked like a superhero outfit, as well as most everything that Gold Key printed. In fact the deciding factor that superheroes weren’t all that bad for me came as a result of a Twilight Zone comics digest that had a few morality plays featuring folks selling their souls to the devil. My mom decided that she’s rather have me reading morality plays about guys wearing brightly colored spandex as opposed to morality plays that featured demons. Luckily she never read an issue of Ghost Rider or Son of Satan that I bought. Eerie and Creepy, along with Conan and the Marvel Magazines would come in a little later.


A few years after being allowed to have superheroes I bargained a deal with my local drugstore to stop by after school and straighten out all of their comics shelves in return for a dollar’s worth of comics. A deal that went awry when I tried to barter for the first issue of Planet Of The Apes magazine, which was a buck twenty five. When the comic collection got to be too big I would bargain away issues for others, or give away grocery bags full to allow folks to sell at rummage sales.

In High School there came the above-mentioned magazines, which lead to my discovering underground comics. Then, when I was allowed a car and able to drive back and forth from work, I discovered a local bookstore that was in early on the direct distribution system. They got comics 3 weeks ahead of the newsstand, which was awesome to me and just encouraged me to read even more. Then, with them getting comics from Big Rapids distributors (which I believe eventually became Glenwood Distributors) they also started carrying more esoteric comics like Cerebus (where I was in on the ground floor with that title) as well as First Kingdom and the Tandra books.


The first Graphic Novels weren’t too far behind as Eclipse’s Sabre as well as others emerged. I started taking a liking to oddball formats, looking to read comics that came from anywhere, any country, as long as I could read them, and most any size shape of form (like the pocketbook collections, or anything bound into a book, or even some of the lighter sci-fi and pulp works like Doc Savage and Weird Heroes).

After high school, I was lucky enough to take the backroom of the arcade I was working in and, again with the help of Big Rapids Distributors, start my own little comic shop, the first one ever in my county. There I sold the first Fantasy Quarterly ElfQuest, as well as more issues of Cerebus, I took in collections and sold some and got ripped off on others. I remember fondly the Byrne Claremont X-men during this period. The shop was pretty successful to start with, but after a short time it became aggravating and frustrating to me as I was reading and selling product that I KNEW I could do better. Eventually, after the owner of the arcade messing with our books and (realizing that we were turning in a good profit) trying to enforce a high rent on us, we shut the store down, but not until after planting the bug in a number of other comic collectors to follow suit and start their own shops.


Then I got married the first time and life got into the way. I started working for a living at the very bookstore that I had made my primary stopping point only a few years before, and started something of a family, still with the bug to draw and see some of my own comic stories in print. After attending a few conventions and drawing up a few ideas, I traveled halfway across the state to visit a comic convention in the mall where there would be a professional guest to show my work to. The guest never showed, but there was another dealer there that was printing a little localized comic, so I showed my stuff to him. He asked me point blank why I hadn’t been printed yet, and to send him a story and her would print it.

That little 8 page story took four months for me to do and re-do and when I finally saw it out in print, well that was it as far as I was concerned, that’s what I wanted to do from then on, much to the chagrin of my then wife. I was divorced not long after that.


My need for work spun me into commercial art and being the art department for one of the bigger screen printers in the county, but I was still getting as much as possible printed, or self printed whenever or wherever I could. I produced comics during both the black and white boom and bust, I’ve knocked on the door at one time or another of most all of the major (and some of the minor) comic companies over the last 2 and a half decades. I’ve gotten SO close to a decent amount of respect and a good deal from the big two and missed out by a hair’s breath on more than one occasion. I’ve bluntly pissed off quite a few editors, almost twice as many as have gotten my admiration and respect, and burned enough bridges to keep anyone from driving across town. I’ve started and stopped no less than four self-publishing companies, and I’ve seen comics from almost EVERY possible angle and researched them through almost every possible era.


If you doubt my ability to understand comics then I welcome you to buy my 3 part miniseries, entitled oddly enough, Spank The Monkey On The Comic Market, where I’ve pointed out my views on comics’ past, present, and future. I have to tell you I know a LOT about comics, mostly because I LOVE comics!

My reasons for spewing all this to you is that through this blog I plan on staking my claim as a comic book art form critique. I’ve shown you a little bit of my REAL credentials here, just in case you stumble across a future posting here of “Comics My Way” and you think I’m full of shit, I wholeheartedly submit to you that I am not. So I hope when future installments of Comics My Way headers pop up here that you not only read them, but you let me know what you think about them and contribute to whatever discussion(s) you can about this art form. Feel free to send anyone here to my blog that you can. Feel free to use me as reference, as I will use references whenever I can, but most of these "Comics My Way" posts will be about how I would change things in comics and why.

When it comes to comics, there’s a lot to talk about, there’s a LOT of things horribly, horribly wrong and I plan on not just bitchin’ and moaning about the screwed up shit, but offer solutions on what I would do to fix it, and what HAS to be done to fix it, and how I would do comics MY WAY. Plus I might even tell you when comics are going right- but don't hold your breath waiting for it.

Stay Tuned, and WAKE UP!