Friday...Do or Die Day

Been a pretty busy week around the homestead, and I've been working too hard to do much of anything besides...well, work. There were a few bits of interesting, if occasionally self-centered, news this week:

• I recieved a great review for Lunch-Hour Comix on Mark Frauenfelder's excellent Boing Boing website. Thanks for everything, Mark! And thanks to Rusty for pointing it out!

• My favorite show these days is Justice League Unlimited...it's absolutely every DC fanboy's dream come true. They released a bit of news about the upcoming season at Comicon, and it sounds like it's gonna stay on the top of my "must-see TV" list.

• Hockey's Back! Ye gods, it's about time!

Jim Aparo 1932-2005

What a bummer. Jim Aparo was responsible for a pretty huge percentage of the comics I saw in my real early years of reading, with the Aquamans and The Brave and the Bolds that seemed to find their way into my hands, and was probably the first artist whose name I recognized. He had a great run on B&B, lasting almost 100 issues and in the process, giving Aparo the opportunity to draw nearly every character in the DC Universe at the time. And his Aquaman issues...stories by Steve Skeates, with art (and lettering!) by Aparo and covers by Nick Cardy...no wonder the Sea King was my favorite hero growing up!

I followed his run on Batman and The Outsiders too...he was doing good stuff even then, well into the 80s, until they saddled him with terrible inkers (Mike Decarlo, ughh...he could make Eisner look bad) and he seemed to drop off the map.

I wish I'd had a chance to meet the man...Rest in Peace, Jim!

"What Did You Do, Ray?"

At sketch group last night, the talented Eric Sturdevant was working on caricature of evil Republican mastermind Karl Rove. I let go with my standard barrage of insults and epithets, as few people in the world raise my ire quite like this douchebag. "He's a power-mad scumbag!", all that. Eric took it a step further, saying that he personally thought that Rove was the Antichrist. "He doesn't look like he would be, but he is." And that's when it occurred to me...Rove is the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man. He's the living embodiment of all that is evil disguised as a doughy bald guy in Wal-Mart glasses.

I think that, while horribly misguided and feeble-minded, Dubya actually thinks, as a result of his evangelical programming, that what he's doing is right. Rove, on the other hand, seems completely amoral, driven only by and willing to do anything to gain power. His disgusting character assassination of John McCain during the 2000 SC primary is evidence of that (Seriously, are there any reasonable (i.e., non-fundamentalist) right-leaners out there who think McCain wouldn't have done a better job as president than Bush? You have this walking sack of diarrhea to thank for making sure it wouldn't happen.). He's terrifying...and though I think the chances are slim, I'd love nothing more than to see his fat ass nailed to the wall.

I Need a Hero!

I went to Charlotte, North Carolina for the Heroes Con a few weeks back and it absolutely rocked the frickin' house. I'd been to the con before, both as spectator and exhibitor, and while I'd always had a good ol' geeky time, I was never exactly blown away by the indy/art comix presence at the show. The con organizers (most notably the amazing Dustin Harbin) took it upon themselves to address those concerns this year, creating a little oasis of altcomics in the middle of the convention floor (aptly named Indy Island), and it was an unfathomable success. I'd always considered Charlotte to be an artless metropolis full of bankers and wanna-be bankers, but did the Queen City ever prove me wrong! I had one of my best shows ever, and I'm definitely heading back in '06!

Anyway, I had planned to do a whole big con report, but at this point I've kinda run out of steam, so I'm gonna leave the reportage to my good pal J. Chris Campbell, whose Heroes Con report woulda left mine in the dust even if I had remembered to take pictures! Excelsior!