the flatwoods cover--part 3

okay...

since we've had such a great response and so many nice comments about craig's cover, i thought we start right out with the next image in a series we're calling, "building the cover". when craig and i were discussing the color on this one (i just kibbitz with him about this--i have no say--craig has the final word on all the artistic stuff...) (unless i'm right.) i was worried that any color would muddy up his awesome inking job, the crosshatching and feathering.
here's the first pass.



more next week as we get this thing together for

The BALTIMORE COMICCON!!
oh, yeah! that's next weekend!
you gonna be there?!
craig and i are going!
and we're bringin' our chicks!
brian and bill will be there!
who else?

jumping over to our random photo(s) of the week,
here's one i got from a friend, entitled
"why you shouldn't run in the house".

warning: if you're a little squeamish about such things,
don't go any farther. skip down to the trivia questions.
it's okay. i understand.

the beauty of this one is that they show you the (happy) (proud?)
"after" picture first. i like that. it makes the "before" picture that
much easier to take...

after



before


poor little guy...

okay, before we bid adeiu for the weekend, i promised a few more trivia questions.
i am, as i said, going to set comments on "approval" so that there can be no spoilers for anybody.
i'll post your answers in the comments section on monday morning.

so, here's "five for friday"...

1. what academy award winning actress is married to coldplay frontman, chris martin?

2. at the end of the movie, seven, what was in the box?

3. the beatles had "yellow submarine", what was the name of the monkee's trippy big screen, pyscho-surreal movie?

4. what academy award winning actor co-wrote it?

5. in pulp fiction, what was in the briefcase?

enjoy those!
smell ya later!
todd

ambush

okay...

this is for our new poster, brianprubin.

brian, i need to apologize if it seemed like i jumped on you in our comments section the other day. i want desperately for EVERYONE who visits this website, visits this blog, to feel welcome and free to comment and reply in any way they like. this is a "no judge" zone and i urge ANY and ALL of you--those who post and those who don't--to leave your comments and questions and never feel pressured or uncomfortable in any way.

brian, you had no idea that the way we play our trivia is to try and do it without the help of google or imdb or any of the various search engines that abound all over this crazy world wide web! and i had no idea--'til my pal, rich case, pointed it out to me--that if i just learned to work this blog better, i could postpone people's comments (when we're playing trivia) until they can be approved--thereby making it hard for people to get spoilers before they've even had a chance to log their answers!

i will do this from now on.

brianprubin--i can't apologize enough and hope that you'll continue to come by and read and be a part of this wonky little club we have going here.

as for the answers, well, i've copied them right from brian's answers 'cause they were, of course, all right.

here they are.

1) James Brolin

2) Marcus Welby, M.D.

3) Robert Young

4) Father Knows Best

5) Father Knows Best

okay. now that THAT'S out of the way...

a lot of people were intrigued by the announcement of the perhapanauts' "The Lost Covers" portfolio and i gotta tell ya, craig is doing some SWEEEEEEEET work on this job!! i was afraid that, after several months away from the 'haps that he might be a little rusty with the gang. (it happens...) but as i look at these amazing covers that he continues to send over to me, i realize that, if anything, he's kept that momentum going and blown everything else we were doing out of the park!! i'm so in love with ALL of them that i can't decide which one i should use for my desktop.

here, as we continue to show you the evolution of just ONE of these great plates, is craig's inked version of this ominous cover featuring the 'haps historic confrontation with the flatwoods creature!
(don'tcha love it?)



i'll be posting further progress over the next week or so, so make sure to check back here tomorrow for more!

in other news, my uncle sends me all kindsa crazy e-mails, many of which are jokes that only senior citizens get, but in a series of breathtaking shots taken by the crew of the space shuttle, this one just got me.


(make it big to get the full effect!)

tomorrow i have a picture of why you shouldn't run in the house...

and some more trivia questions.

'til then
smell ya later!
todd

getting back to it

okay...

i would like to--and will--continue to post memories and nice things about mike here from time to time--he was and continues to be such a huge part of mine and craig's life, that i know i will hear his voice, and especially his laugh, for the rest of mine. and our friendship lives on in our friendship with his brother, matt, and sister-in-law, suzanne, and i will keep you all posted right here on further developments and the future of tellos.

but, as i posted a few weeks ago here on the blog, i've wanted definitely and desperately to swing this blog back toward it's original intentions (as stated in the cool new masthead up there. cryptids, ufos paranormal, comics, movies, trivia...and life. (and i'll be damned if i can't figure out how to post pictures up there with it...i'm an idiot!!)

my hero, stephen king, recently wrote a piece on "finding joy" in his column in entertainment weekly. he was talking about the things that light us up, that get us going, that bring a smile to our faces. it's different for everybody and it's definitely time to find it, to recognize them, and revel in them. king points out a video on youtube of a guy breaking into dance at best buy. looks staged to me, but i'm not gonna begrudge anybody who gets a kick out of it. certainly not stephen king. and certainly not the dancing guy. if it makes you happy...DO IT!

so we're looking for joy. what is it that lights you up, makes you happy, makes you smile?

for me it's all those things listed above. i LOVE the smell of an old comics. i bury my nose in the newsprint and inhale it like a blowhound with a bag of fine columbian. i LOVE the intrigue and curiosity of strange and bizarre--and unexplainable--happenings. they thrill me! i love movies and stories and people!

i love the perhapanauts and i love what craig's been doing lately, working on our baltimore comiccon exclusive, "the Lost Covers" portfolio. craig came up with (i think you came up with it...right?) the idea of doing covers to the "imaginary" issues that i had written about in the letters columns of the first two series. craig picked five to illustrate and here's a exclusive sneak peek at the early stages of one featuring the team and the eerie flatwoods creature! don't tell him i showed you...



from what we can tell, the portfolio will be five plates (covers) and include the letters columns from which they're derived. the print run will be limited to 50 portfolios and will debut atthe baltimore show in two weeks. craig has done some awesome work on these and we're hoping they'll be a big, big hit!

i'll post more from the portfolio as time draws closer.

another thing that makes me happy, as regular readers already know, is trivia. and so here, to get back in the swing of things, are an early "five on monday".
this run of questions are exponential, meaning that you've gotta know the first one to get the second one, and so on...
good luck and
smell ya later!
todd

"five on monday"

1. in pee wee's big adventure who plays pee wee in the movie version of "pee wee's big adventure"?

2. what was the name of the 70's tv medical drama he starred in?

3. who played the title character?

4. what was the name of the tv family sitcom that he starred in in the 50's?

5. what was it called when it was on the radio?

rich case

one of the most incongruous things to me about someone passing is that it inadvertantly becomes a sad sort of reunion. you are thrilled to see old friends, but certainly not under these circumstances.

i have seen--and been in touch with--lots of old friends in the past two weeks. i have hugged them and cried with them and told them, as we are reminded to do in times like these, how much they mean to me. i have vowed to keep in better touch with cully and scott kurtz.

if it could be, my bond with craig has grown even closer.

in being at mike's house, and going through his stuff with matt and suzanne, we quickly realized that even though we had each other to keep our spirits up (well, as 'up' as they could be...), it wasn't difficult to come across something or other of mike's that would catch your breath or bring on the tears. it was great that randy green stopped by one day to break things up. randy still has no idea how much his arrival just gave us that chance to come up out of the sadness and reset our attitudes.

the next day, rich case came by and did the same thing. seeing that we'd really needed that, rich suggested that we join him, and his lovely wife colleen, for dinner the following night in hillsborough, the town where mike and rich used to have their artamus studio with other great artists like jeff parker, scott hampton, chuck wojekewicz and chris kempel. (d'oh! rich just told me it's "Wojtkiewicz"--but i was close!) dinner was great--we went to tupelo's, the mexican restaurant that we always went to when i'd come down and visit the studio, and the evening was filled with memories of those days for rich, matt, and me.

best though was to be able to see rich, catch up with him, and miss mike together a little.

i always talk about how mike and i first met when we were haphazardly thrown together on an issue of sensational spider-man, a pairing that would last another 25 issues or so. what it really was though was a "teaming" as mike brought with him his pal and studio mate, rich case, as inker on the book. how cool to be working in the same studio--i wanted so badly to move in there and be a part of that energy!

rich and i became friends then too. (i was able to gush over his wonderfully quirky pencils on the doom patrol!) we even worked together on a two-issue story for sensational (while mike was taking a month off) that rich had come up with and was kind enough to give me co-plotting credits for.





it must have been january or february of 2000, tellos had just debuted the previous summer, and mike, rich, and i were scheduled to be guests at a small show in chicago that motor city con organizer, gary bishop. i got there okay.

mike, rich, and chuck were stuck on a frozen runway in either philidelphia or pittsburgh. i think rich thinks it was indianapolis. i think he's wrong. anyway, they were waiting out there on the plane for about five hours, the uncomfortable seats messing up mike's already messed up back.

though tired and frustrated, mike put on a smile when i met them in the hotel lobby and rich showed me this sketch mike had done in his sketchbook while on the plane, worrying about how bored i probably was at the show without them.



rich found it again for me the other day and reminded me of the whole fiasco.

of course, that's how I remember it.
you can check out rich's version over at his way cool blog, rhomblog, at:

http://rhomblog.blogspot.com/

thanks, rich--for everything!
i love ya, man!
todd

my brother's brother

at first, i tried to keep up with it, all of the wonderful e-mails and posts filled with everyone's kind words and sympathies, comfort and condolensces. after awhile though, i became overwhelmed and was so numb i wasn't really sure what i had been writing anyway. for those of you--ALL of you--who sent me e-mails, posts, myspace messages whatever with your touching words about mike and your thoughts and prayers for mike's family and myself, THANK YOU SO MUCH! from the bottom of my heart. seeing that so many people loved mike's artwork and cherished him as a friend made it so much easier for all of us; matt, suzanne, mike's mom and dad, craig, and me.



many people got up to speak at mike's service and there were certainly some tearful moments. but there were also many laughs--as mike would have wanted it. scott kurtz cannot say three words without two and a half of them being hilarious. mark waid's touching words gave us all permission to cry. memories from rich case, jeff parker, chris kempel, scott hampton about mike's early days in the artamus studio. mike's best friend, paul rogers, told of mike's love for comics and his starry-eyed dreams of breaking in. shelton talked of his love for mike and the family of artists who call heroescon their home. many more.

of them all however, i don't think that anyone summed up mike and who he was as well as the first speaker, mike's brother, matt.



i've known matt--and his lovely wife, suzanne--for about four or five years now. dinner with them on the first friday night of heroescon has become a tradition and we always look forward to seeing them and getting a chance to spend some time.
matt was my brother's brother.

now he is my brother.

he is an amazing man and, in the past week, has shown me a strength that i just don't think i have.

here is his eulogy for mike.
no one said it better.



matt wieringo/eulogy

In the week since Mike died, I’ve had the chance to read a lot of
what people thought of him. Mike had a lot of friends. Great friends. More
than I think he realized. A lucky few considered him their best
friend. I’m one of them.

Mike had been around for 5 years when I came along so he had a little
time for some peace and quiet. But when I was born, he became my big
brother and I never let him forget it. I think the worst day of his life
was the day I learned to walk because from then on, he couldn’t get
away. I followed him around, sticking my nose into everything he did and
generally making a nuisance of myself.

But that was okay because he was my big brother and that was his job.

He was always looking out for me. Our mother tells the story of when
Mike and I were riding a sled down a hill like Calvin and Hobbes and Mike
realized we were about to crash badly. Mike pushed me off the sled and
took the spill by himself. He got pretty banged up and I didn’t get
a scratch. A few years later, when our school bus was struck by a
jack-knifing semi and rolled into the median, killing three young girls,
Mike and I became separated. He frantically searched through the carnage
inside the bus until he found me. I had lost a shoe in the rollover and
wouldn’t leave without it. So he calmly looked around for it and,
when he found it wedged under a seat, he ripped the seat from the floor
above us and retreived my shoe.

It was around this time that I noticed Mike reading these things my dad
was leaving around the house. The floppy things with all the pictures.
Comic books. But Mike didn’t just read them, he studied them. He
absorbed them. He devoured them. Of couse, if something was that
interesting to my big brother, I had to get in on the action. When Mike sprawled
out on the living room floor with his Joe Kubert TARZANs and Jim
Starlin CAPTAIN MARVELs and Nick Cardy TEEN TITANS, I’d move right on in
with my RICHIE RICHes and MARVEL TEAM-UPs. He’d sigh and roll his
eyes at me and tell me, “You’re just reading comics because I am.”
And he was right.

But he was my big brother and he was doing his job.

Mike dabbled in things like baseball or track and field or karate...but
it was always comics he came back to. He got something from them he
couldn’t find anywhere else and it wasn’t long before he was drawing
his own, still sprawled out on the living room floor. Ever the
innovator, he created his own characters. There was the Uncanny Owl. The
Cardinal and the Blue Jay. The Cosmic Avenger. He drew complete full-color
issues on sheets of blue-lined notebook paper, using both sides of the
paper, just like the “real comics,” displaying a confidence in his
own abilities he seemed to lack later on. And of course, I was there, the
little parasite, drawing beside him on the floor, imitating him as he
was busy imitating John Byrne and Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum. And he’d
sigh and tell me, “You’re just drawing because I am.” And he was
right.

And it was okay. He was my big brother and he took his job seriously.


When Mike was in high school, he drove a sweet ride. A ‘66 Mustang.
He loved that car. It was so cool. So, naturally, I had to have one.
This presented a bit of a problem because I was 11. But somehow, by the
time I was driving, Dad made it happen. Mike laughed and said, “You
only wanted a Mustang because I had one. And he was right.

One day, Mike brought home a kid named Carlton Hill, whom I’d never
met. He had a suitcase full of homemade comics he’d drawn. An entire
universe of comic characters all his own. Best of all, he had other kids
drawing them from his scripts. This was the coolest kid we’d ever
seen. He soon had Mike drawing them for him. Mike had hit the big time,
drawing issues of MUTANTS, THE PROTECTORS and MEGATON MAN. I, of course,
wanted in. When Mike finally decided it was time to pursue his dream
for real, he asked Carlton to let me take over for him. He even
convinced him to let me draw the flagship title, THE AMAZING PIGGY. I waited
for him to say it, knowing it was coming. After all, I only really wanted
to work with Carlton because he had. But he never said it.

He was my big brother. And he was good at his job.

When we were in college, Mike started hitting the conventions with his
friend Paul, showing his portfolio around. He’d started drawing
four-page sequences on this strange, exotic oversized paper I’d never
heard of called Bristol Board. I immediately went out and bought a pad. He
got a big, nifty portfolio to put his art in. Looked a lot like the one
I bought soon after. But something distressing was happening. I was
coming to a frightening realization. For years, our Mom was telling us
how wonderful our drawings were. She’d never let us throw anything
away. But around this time I started realize that Mom’s always think
that. Except Mike WAS good. Really good. And I knew he was about to go
somewhere I couldn’t follow.

When Mike broke in to the business and got assigned to THE FLASH, I was
so proud and excited and happy. But I was also scared. Because our
lives started following separate paths. He was meeting all these wonderful
people whose work we’d admired for years and they were calling him
friend. He moved away to North Carolina and built a studio with these
fascinating, talented people named Rich and Jeff and Craig and Chuck and
Nathan and Scott. They’d just sit in this great place all day and
draw comics and laugh and joke and get paid for it. He slipped into the
life so easily, it was like he’d finally found home. I envied him. But,
whenever I’d visit him, at first alone and. later, with my wife,
he’d always make me feel at home, showing me what everyone was working
on, buying me lunch, giving me advice.

He was my big brother and he was looking out for me.

The studio didn’t last and Mike started working from home. It seemed
the deadline pressures were getting worse with each assignment. Or at
least he was worrying about them more. He was working long hours and so
was I. I visited and called him less and less because I didn’t want
to interrupt his work and cause him more stress. Instead, we
communicated mostly by email and an occasional phone call when he was having
trouble with his computer. We eventually saw each other only twice a year.
At Thanksgiving and at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte. At first, I
didn’t want bother him during the convention. He was working and
greeting his fans and making deals. But as soon as he saw my wife and me
walk in, his face would light up and he’d run around the table and give
us one of those great big bear hugs he’d always give us and yell out
“Ter-Mafus!” or “Brozowski!” and “Squeeze-On!”or one of a
hundred other nicknames he’d come up with on the spot. We’d get a
precious minute or two with h
im before someone would come up to say, “Hi.” He never got mad. He
made sure to introduce me to everyone. He introduced me to Alex Ross
and Mark Waid and Joe Quesada, not because he thought they cared but
because he knew it would mean the world to me. He always made sure to have
dinner with us at least once during the conventions. He’d invite us
along with him and Todd and Craig, sometimes secretly ditching someone
important so we could be together. He took an almost scampish pleasure
in doing that. We had so much fun together. Mike always included us on
every inside joke...and there was always a joke with those three. I
sometimes envied the comradery they had. But the envy was always forgotten
when Mike would walk me up to someone I admired, like Tony Harris or
Art Adams, and happily announce, “I’d really like you to meet my
brother, Matt.”

He was my big brother and I am so proud of that.

My big brother is gone now. And I don’t know what I’m going to do
now that he’s not around to look out for me. I feel lost and alone and
scared. Mike and I weren’t very religious. But I can’t believe
that a soul as sweet and gentle and caring and generous as Mike’s just
goes away. Today, I’m a believer. I believe my big brother is out
there and he’s waiting for me. I believe he’s with Jack Kirby and Alex
Toth and Will Eisner and they’re telling him how much they loved his
work. And when my time comes, he’ll hug me and take me over to
introduce me to his new friends. And then he’ll smile and say, “You just
wanted to come up here because I’m here.”

And he’ll be right.

mike

at mike's-----and tributes

hi, everyone.

i'm at mike's right now, sitting and sorting and laughing and crying with his family. we are sad and doing our best to go through mike's things and distract each other from that sadness.
it is very hard.

first i should tell you all that charlie (mike's cat, for those who follow his blog...) is fine and will be going to live with mike's brother and sister-in-law, matt and suzanne and their cat, toonces (who can, apparently drive a car). he will be incredibly well cared for and incredibly loved.

onto matt and suzanne themselves,; in light of losing my mom a year or so ago, i know what it's like to have to step up and soldier on in the face of a loss like this, to have to do it in the face of such a sudden...tragedy is simply heroic. they have been so strong, so supportive, and so conscious of mike's friends and fans that i'm sitting here watching them and just don't know how they're doing it.

as for ALL the fans and friends who have 'e'd me, matt, and suzanne, made comments on mike's blog or this one, who have responded to the stories on newsarama (thanks, matt brady--you're the best) we would like, as a family, to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. your comforting words of love for mike and your prayers are so uplifting to all of us.

and to everyone who have so warmly and generously asked/offered/begun putting together the many tribute books and portfolios, we are moved beyond words.

truthfully, the number of people wanting to do tribute books has become a bit overwhelming and, at the moment, we're all still pretty numb about what has happened. we would love to be involved in any tribute that is being done for mike, but right now matt, suzanne, and i just can't think in those directions.
once some of this crazy sadness is over we'll be glad to talk more about this.
just too sad right now.

thanks again.
todd

by thy side

my best friend, mike wieringo, died yesterday.

he was a vegetarian.
he worked out everyday.
sometimes these things just happen.

he loved comics.
he loved drawing comics.
he felt very, very fortunate to have been working in comics.
he was very good at it.

his comics, like him, were full of life.
full of energy. full of fun and hope.

he was my best friend.

we worked together on spider-man, the x-men, tellos, and several other projects that will now never come to pass.
we grew up together with comics, though we were hundreds of miles away. we enjoyed all the same things about comics; the action, the adventure, the fun. he was a joy to work with. we laughed all the time. all the time.

comics were his life and he worked very hard on them.
sometimes 16 or 18 hours a day.
he loved comics and loved the people who read them.
he loved you.

he was my best friend.
he was my brother.
i will miss him more than i can say.

todd

mon. aug. 13 2007

Death Cat

Cats are cute. Lovable. Finicky. Annoying. Charming. Coy. Cuddly. Playful. Mean, Friendly. And Harbingers of Death?? In one Rhode Island nursing home that's the case.

It is common practice for nursing homes to have pets around. Aside from being therapeutic, they bring warmth and life to an otherwise sterile environment. The Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre in Providence has six cats, some parakeets and a rabbit. One of the cats, Oscar, has been living there for two years, and has an interesting quirk. He sits with patients who are mere hours away from death. In his time there, he has attended more than 25 deaths. These patients are in the final stages of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and various other terminal conditions. As they near death, Oscar comes into their room, and sits with them until they expire.



According to the staff, Oscar is extremely accurate. So much so, that when he starts a new vigil, the staff contacts the family to tell them that the end is near. While some families are spooked by him. Others find his presence comforting. Particularly if their loved one was a pet lover.

I happened to mention this story when I was home last week to my sister. She is an aquatic therapist at a retirement center in North Carolina. She said that they have a cat there that does the same thing. His name is Smokey. And he is just as accurate as Oscar. Although, she said there was one time, he threw them for a loop. Smokey had made his permanent home in one of the patients' rooms. That patient was not terminal, Smokey just liked it there. Then, one day he moved rooms. The staff thought that meant that the resident in that new room was soon going to go. Well, a few days passed and nothing happened. It tuned out that Smokey was just relocating his own home. Although, I imagine the sudden presence of death cat at this patients door did not do much for his health.

So, the question is, how does Oscar know? Did he go to Cat Medical School? That would be a very adorable university, but the answer may be simpler. The best theory revolves around the animal's sense of smell. As a patient nears death, there may be a change in his or her metabolism that the cat can detect.

A friend of mine is an EMT in New York. He once told me that he could sometimes diagnose a patient's condition by their smell. If they smelled like chlorine, or a swimming pool, that usually meant diabetes. While smelling drunk, but not being drunk, could mean heart disease.

So, considering that cats have a sense of smell equal to dogs, it's fair to say that Oscar smells a change in these patients and that's how he knows. But, that doesn't answer the question "Why?" It seems that animal instinct would tell them to stay away from death. And yet, there goes Oscar and Smokey, right to their side.

My personal theory is that it is out of love and compassion. Any cat owner will tell you that cats don't really stay with us for food or shelter. Sure, that's a nice perk. But, cats are natural hunters, and left to their own devices, they would do just fine. It's companionship they want. A lap to curl up in. Someone to play with. A friendly hand to rub their bellies. Or just another presence in the room to watch them sleep. On some level Oscar and Smokey are letting these people know that they are not alone. That they are loved. And reminding the rest of us why we have these wonderful creatures in our lives.

Have a good weekend,

SCOTT

The Legend of the Messy Closet

So, Todd is in North Carolina for the next week or so, and asked me to fill in a blog or two in his absence. So, let's all feel sorry for him enjoying the beauty of the Outer Banks, while the rest of us sweat while we stare at a fan.

This past weekend I went back home with my girlfriend to Norfolk, Virginia (not far from the Outer Banks) to visit my parents... and my old comic book collection. New York apartments aren't very conducive to lots of extra boxes, so they get to live in my old bedroom closet. In high school, I kept my collection nice and organized. Everything was bagged and boarded, filed under the correct title, and in proper order. That was high school. Then, came college. And less money and less time for bags and boards, and organization. Every summer, I returned home, and dumped that semesters comics into the closet with no regard for where they should be filed. Six years of college later and there are just stacks and stack in my closet.

I imagine many of you are cringing at the thought of those slippery, disheveled piles. But, you are forgetting what fun that randomness can bring. Because, now when I come home, I have the joy of reaching into a pile and pulling out God-knows-what. So, here's a few of the treasures I stumbled upon this last time:


- DC annuals from 1994 that were all Elseworlds stories. I could only find a cover for the Jungle Book Superman Elseworlds, where Superman is raised by wolves. The first half of the comic is filled with clever attempts to show Superman flying completely naked without actually showing his super-Johnson. Although the one I liked best was the Man of Steel annual where Kryptonians conquered Earth, and Kal-El grew up on Earth raised by his natural parents and humans were enslaved. In this world, Batman leads the resistance, and as usual kicks lots of ass.


- Spider-Man : The Lost Years, which chronicled Ben Reilly's time after he left New York and before he returned for the Clone Saga. It was a great mini-series written by JM DeMatteis and drawn by John Romita, Jr.


- Speaking of John Romita, Jr., I also found Daredevil : The Man Without Fear. This was Frank Miller's Year One treatment of the character, with Romita doing art. Alright, maybe this one isn't that obscure. But, it was still a nice find.



- Maybe my favorite uncovering was Untold Tales of Spider-Man. This series, written by Kurt Busiek and penciled by Pat Olliffe, chronicled Peter Parker's adventures between issues during his early Stan Lee/Steve Ditko years. The creators did a fantastic job of capturing the feel of those original stories, but updating them enough to be relevant to the modern (i.e. 1996) audience. Olliffe's pencil's are stunning. If you find any of these at a convention, pick one up.

That's all for now. Check in next time for:
Death Cat... (whooo whooo!!!)

Later,

SCOTT

obx

okay...

packing up for vacation so not much to say--which is good 'cause i wouldn't have a lotta time to say it!



i love the ocean and realized the other day that i haven't seen it in about five years. i'm really excited to go, to get in the water, to smell the salt sea air, to spend time with my brother and his kids, my aunt and uncle and the rest of our extended family, cousins i haven't seen for years...

but it's bittersweet.

the only downside, which cuts my happiness in half, is that sharon isn't able to come. her job keeps her tied down during the summer months and though i've promised her a very nice vacation this winter, it's sad going away without her.
(just a week, shay--it'll be over before ya know it...)

also, i'll miss jake and kayla.



i have lined up a guest blogger or two for next week, so don't think that ya don't hafta check back here just 'cause i'm gone. i'll see ya all in a week! have a good one!
smell ya later!
todd

here is one of my all-time favorite calvin and hobbes;



here are the answers to your "five on wednesday".

1. what was the (tricky) name of the mirror that showed you your greatest desire in "harry potter and the sorcerer's stone"?

the mirror of erised (desire spelled backward)

2. what is bart afraid that the girls will see when homer dares him to skateboard across town naked?

his doodle
(run, don't walk, to your nearest cineplex and see the simpsons movie. preferably from the front row!)

3. what two famous actors played the role of the masochistic dental patient in both versions of "little shop of horrors"?

jack nicholson played wilber force and bill murray played arthur denton, but it was the same masochistic patient who begged for a long, slow root canal. check 'em both out--they're hilarious to watch back to back. (candy bar!)

4. in the book version of "the wizard of oz", what was it that the lion wanted from the wizard?

courage

5. i'll give the real name, you give the superhero

rex mason--metamorpho
kevin plunder--ka-zar
cliff secord--the rocketeer
hobie brown--the prowler
hank pym--ant-man, giant man,
goliath, yellow jacket
(nice goin' on these, mike!)

no post

okay...

as the nature of the comics industry has become so much like the movie business, with everything shrouded in shadows of secrecy, i sadly, STILL can't tell you about the various projects i've been spending my time on these past few...months...? has it been months...?!? also, in two cases, things have stopped, stalled, started several times so that i'm not really sure that we're comin' or goin'.
say la vee...

and as summer races along--man, it's goin' too fast!--i'm desperately trying to have some fun and hang on to as much of it as i can. unfortunately, my back isn't quite 100% yet--thanks to everyone for the well wishes--but it's more that i'm taking it easy so as not to mess it up again. i'll be on vacation next week with my family--goin' down to the outer banks--and am trying to line up a guest blogger (or bloggers) so as to keep things going here.
more on that on friday.

as for today, i really haven't much to tell. or report. or comment on. lots of crazy comic book news out of san diego, but nothing that has me crazy myself. anyone? bueller?

(no segue available)

back in the 60's when i was but a wee lad, the transogram company, makers of fine toys and games the world over, put out a series of spooky, scary games to tap into the then popular monster craze.





a sucker for ebay, i'm proud to say that i own one of each of these. neither one is a very good "game', though i must admit, for just getting some friends together to sit in the dark and try to scare each other they're awesome!! : )

also from transogram (a few years earlier, i think) was this tv-show, batmania inspired batman flyer! rubber band propelled it was the coolest glider i ever had!


it soared straight up into the christmas morning sky, climbing higher and higher--so high that we lost sight of it for a moment--and then spotted it again as it crashed right into the top branches of the tallest pine tree in the neighborhood.
it had been it's second flight.
it never came down.

since i won't be here next week to follow up on any trivia questions,
here are "five for wednesday"...

1. what was the (tricky) name of the mirror that showed you your greatest desire in "harry potter and the sorcerer's stone"?

2. what is bart afraid that the girls will see when homer dares him to skateboard across town naked?

3. what two famous actors played the role of the masochistic dental patient in both versions of "little shop of horrors"?

4. in the book version of "the wizard of oz", what was it that the lion wanted from the wizard?

5. i'll give the real name, you give the superhero

rex mason
kevin plunder
cliff secord
hobie brown
hank pym


so summer fun and old toys is what i've been up to.
enjoy your summer!
see ya friday!
todd