titleless

okay...

suzanne sent these over the other day...just seconds before her hubby, matt sent them over too!
ha! dude--she beat ya to it! i guess working for the same company and getting the same emails makes it hard sometimes...

squeeze loves the doom! one best. i dig batman!




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

for those of you who didn't see, jason copland posted a comment to the other day's post and included a link to his own blog to show off his celebratory big sketch--celebrating what you might ask...? why the announcement that perhapanauts no.6 is on its way and that he'll be getting his a week early at heroescon in charlotte!! woo hoo!
so go check out jason's sketch--and the rests of his blog--over at;

http://www.jasoncopland.com/

thanks, jason!

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for those of you who don't know who wally wood was, well...he's one of the legends in comic book and comic strip art. known mostly for his work on the old ec comics horror line--tales from the crypt, from the vault, weird science, etc.--and for being one of the original mad artists under harvey kurtzman, wally wood was also around during the silver age at marvel comics and did a bunch of work at dc as well. for me, his work on the spirit in outer space with will eisner stands out in that it was one of the first times i really noticed how an artists style could actually define an entire story.
wally wood was the consummate comics artist and, apparently, had a reputation for getting things done.
as legend has it, sometime in the late 70's or early 80's, wally, outlining an exercise for his young assistant, larry hama (who went on to become a writer and editor at marvel for years. hey, larry!), wally drew up this now classic and much sought after card featuring...



it is, without a doubt, something that every earnest and aspiring comic book artist should have on his/her wall.

(i had seen this years before, but came by it again the other day while reading through modern masters: kyle baker as kyle and eric nolen-weathington talked about it in their interview/conversation--which, by the way, eric did an amazing job on and you should go pick it up!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and now, some
trivial trivia...
"five for friday!"

villains!
here are their real names--
by what name are they infamous...?

1. anakin skywalker

2. norton g. fester

3. johann shmidt

4. arnold wexler

5. dennis rader

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

jetsam

okay...

well, i hope everyone had a happy and safe memorial day and that you were surrounded, as we were, by family and friends. also, jake had a wonderful birthday--thanks so much to all of you for the well-wishes--and for the squirrels, kc and roger!! jake's grampa rodeo gave him some nice bar-b-qued ribs and london broil, so he was happier than a boy could be...

today's post is a bit of a jumble, but i hope you'll get a kick out of any and all bits.

but for those of you who have yet to see this, here's the cover to the elusive perhapanauts no.6--which, we have now been told, will be out in stores june 24. and for those of you in the charlotte, north carolina area, we WILL have them at heroescon that previous weekend! so if you're a real die-hard perhapa-fan and need that book asap--well, just come and see us in charlotte, eh?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

our pal, rich woodall, sent over this wacky article featuring "hi-tech," "futuristic" gadgets from the past. i dug this first one the most...!

The 1920s satnav ... and other weird and wonderful gadgets that never quite took off


It was the invention of the future - a tiny machine complete with its own map that would tell motorists which way to go.
But this was no satnav - after all, the communications satellites that help modern cars locate themselves were still decades away.
Instead, the route-finder for the well-equipped 1920s driver was a wristwatch-style device equipped with minuscule maps.



Miniature scrolls bearing the directions were loaded onto the watch and revolved as the wearer continued his journey.
The 1920s TomTom never took off - perhaps because there were too few motorists to buy them.
It is one of the labour and face-saving devices to go on display from a private collection of weird and wonderful gadgets from the past.
Maurice Collins, a retired businessman from Muswell Hill, London, has cherry-picked 50 must-have items from his collection of 1,400 historic gadgets to show off at the British Library Business and Intellectual Property Centre.
Mr Morris said his collection was a celebration of 'ingenious products that attempted to solve human difficulty'.

if you want to see more of the article--and more of the gadgets--check out the link at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1045114/The-1920s-satnav---weird-wonderful-gadgets-quite-took-off.html?printingPage=true

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and dani, sent over this touching piece--

The Pigeon and the Bunnies

These little bunnies, about 6 days old, were attacked by a dog and orphaned. Two out of the litter of five did not survive, and these three were not doing very well.

Noah is a non-releasable, one-legged homing pigeon that we have here in rehab. Noah kept going over to the bunny cage and looking in...even sleeping in front of the door to the cage.

Then, 2 days ago, I only counted 2 bunnies in the cage, so I hurriedly picked Noah
up from the front of the cage so I could look inside. And to my surprise...there was the tiny bunny...under Noah's wing...sound asleep! The bunny had crawled through thecage....preferring a featherbed, no doubt.

Now, they are all together, and the bunnies are doing GREAT. When the bunnies scoot underneath Noah's feathers, he extends his wings out to surround them...and they snuggle. When one of them moves and they start sticking out here and there, he gently pushes them back under him with his beak!!!!! This is amazing!!!






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

have lots to do and the morning's already racing by!
smell ya later!
todd

happy memorial day!! plus+

okay...


well, first off--HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY, EVERYBODY!!
hope you're enjoying the day with friends and family and taking a little time out to pay tribute to those who have served and sacrificed for our country. i'm not always the most patriotic cat on the ball and am more times than not frustrated by the insane, unconscionable politics of government, but i do know that we live in the greatest country on the planet and i know that it took a lot of brave and intelligent people to make it so.

it's been a busy weekend for us already; late friday night, sharon became an aunt for the first time as her brother and sister-in-law debuted their brand new baby, madison. congratulations, rob and liz!
then we got together on saturday with my old roommate and partner-in-crime from the 80's, dennis, and his lovely wife deanne. dennis and i went to school together, but it wasn't 'til we got out of school that we soon became the best of friends. and then were pretty much inseparable. we lived together for about 8 years, worked together for 4, ate together, drank together, got into fights together, and saw more horror movies together than i think they made. dennis and deanne live in mississippi now, but they are usually in town on memorial day to visit with dennis' family and see old friends. it was a great night of fun and reminiscing and we hope to see them again before they have to go back.
we also got to hang with dennis'--and my--extended family as he has five brothers. (i was always honored that dennis' mom called me "the sixth mcelroy boy") great to see everybody and especially to sit and tell stories on mark--who we call the grandabe--and george, dennis' younger brother and my other long time roommate from back then.
sharon and i are also having ourselves a battlestar galactica marathon this weekend/week. after craig raving to me about it all these years, jim starlin finally handed us the first season last week at volleyball, and told us to watch it. and really, when jim tells you to do something like that, you usually want to do it. we're only on disc two so far, so don't tell me how it ends...
and also, today is jake's birthday!
16 today and as uncle matt said on our last post "hay! jake's old enough to drive now!" well, yes he is! (although in the dezago family, we usually learn to drive when we're 12 or 13...)



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sorry i was late with the post this morning--i was reading this comic book...



that's my idea of a holiday--getting a chance to visit 1972.
ahhhh!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

digging through some old files and papers, i found an envelope containing a lot of the early perhapanauts development stuff; craig's initial sketches, the bios of reach of the characters as well as the secret "notes" for each outlining their backstory and where they go from here. there were four or five pages of a art from a story that craig and i never finished--the follow-up or companion piece to "the first pie story" from the not-gigantic-color-special. lots of stuff that made me realize that craig and i have been working on the perhapanauts for about 7 years now. amazing. it seems like yesterday...
anyway, i also found this head sketch of choopie that i did once craig had nailed the little guy's design. his quills are a little bit off-center, but then--so is choopie.
hope ya dig it!




and here are the
answers to the
"five for friday!"
same last names

(i will admit that the last one is a bit of a cheat...sue me.)

1. betty, gary, anderson

cooper

2. ted, lana, tina

turner

3. kate, steve, terry

austin

4. george, bret, lorne

michaels

5. lorne, tom, garth

green

(sorry for the cheat on this one...garth green was my best friend when we were 12 years old...hey, garth!)


happy memorial day!
happy birthday, jake!
smell ya later!
todd

mike's guest blog and molly's circus

okay...

as promised, our pal, mike estelle came through and provided me with not just a segment for the blog, but the entire thing! here, he has accepted my challenge of several weeks back for folks to write in with their own takes on craig's classic pin-up, "zombie circus." and below that, mike also sent in a topic for both contemplation and discussion.
thanks for givin' me a day off mike!
and here he is...


…and she felt bad for refusing the offer.
While still being new to the recently deceased way of life Molly couldn’t make heads nor tails of how they could possibly be a good influence for her. The way the Ringleader pushed his case and tried to persuade her into becoming one of them made her ectoplasmic form crawl. Creepy!! And the looks she received from those surrounding her after she had politely said no, she was better off.

But now they’re moving on and she knows she can’t let them continue their bizarre form of entertainment. What could she do though, she was just a ghost. She’ll have to try to find someone, or something, to help her…..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey Todd--Ok and now my guest post. I was going to try to do something cryptid related but I came up blank. Then I was going to do something funny, and well it ended up not being very funny at all. So I decided to try something else out. You’ve been wanting discussions-so I thought a good idea would be getting people’s opinions on comics in printed form vs. comics on the web and what they’re likes and dislikes were. I know there’s been topics on forums all over on this, but I don’t think you’ve ever had something related to this on the blog, and if you did feel free to smack me upside the head and say ‘I already did that you ass!’

Ok so webcomics aren’t new and neither is the way of things for comics in printed form. And they’re also crossing over-webcomics get collections and some people decide to post their comics online, for various reasons, whether financial or just to get the word out to people. I’ve noticed more people heading to the web these days though. While I love comics in ANY form, I’m hoping weekly’s and even trades continue, and I mean for those people who aren’t doing work for the big 2 and Image. I understand the hurdles involved to get books out there these days, but I love going to the store and getting books.

On the other hand I like a lot of webcomics as well, but I don’t get to be on the internet that much, or for long sessions at a time, so I get behind on a lot of them. Thankfully some have become popular enough, or the creators get the money and chance, that they get collected and are available somehow for purchase. I personally would rather have the books as it’s easier to cart them around and read than for me to lug my entire workstation around with me. Yeah, I could buy a laptop and get, or *ahem* ‘borrow’, some wi-fi, but no matter what I will always prefer the printed form.

So what are people’s thoughts on this? And if you read any webcomics what ones? I’m always looking for good ones to read so let me know of any good ones!

Heywood Mike



and here's a quick
"five for friday!"
from me
same last names


1. betty, gary, anderson

2. ted, lana, tina

3. kate, steve, terry

4. george, bret, lorne

5. lorne, tom, garth


have a great memorial day or jake's birthday weekend!
~~ however you celebrate...
thanks again, mike!
smell ya later!
todd

a haps pin-up from matt belskis!

okay...

so, as i posted here a few weeks ago, i was flattered to be asked to hang out at john belskis' excellent adventures comics up in ballston spa for free comic book day this year. it was a great day, hanging with matt(hew dow) smith, john, and his brother, matt, and telling stories about life and comics and all sorts of other stuff. i found out on this trip that matt was an artist--and maybe a little bit shy about it--but i encouraged him to check out the perhapanauts and maybe do up a pin-up for us to post here on the blog.
well, he did.



as i've said before, time and again, there is nothing cooler for craig and i than to see our "kids" being drawn by other talented artists, and this one is no exception. i love the basic layout and the action "caught in snapshot" feel to it. i especially love the color, giving it that old marvel pop art look--almost mike allred-ian!
nice job, matt!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my champion researcher, wendy, sent over even more montauk monster material in the form of this link

http://www.montauk-monster.com/

where i was finally able to swipe this picture




of what they're referring to as the montauk monster 2.0--which i think is clever. not clever, though, is the fact that here we have yet another picture with nothing recognizable nearby to give us a sense of size. c'mon, people! let's get a little professional here! (a football or a frisbee or something...although, personally, i myself would be really tempted to throw down a couple of those miniature airline scoth and gin bottles to make that thing look HUGE!!)

i'd like to support the site--if they are, in fact, gonna get this thing to a real scientist so that someone can tell us what it is (a true cryptozoological curiosity would be my first choice, but that plum island escapee story could be the start of something truly frightening...!) i might get that t-shirt--although one featuring the original creature might be cooler!

thanks, wen~!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

you might have next monday marked off on your calendar as memorial day--a day to remember and thank those who have served and sacrificed themselves for our country--and be headed out for a parade or a picnic or a family bar-b-que--or all three! for me, that last monday in may is known around here as--JAKE'S BIRTHDAY! you may all know jake from my christmas cards or from his occasional appearance here on the blog, but this coming monday, my little boy will be turning 16 years old!



happy birthday, puppet!

that's it for me!
have a great day!
smell ya later!
todd

choopie tattoo

okay...

i said that i was gonna have a fresh start here and i meant it!
though i am still reeling a bit from the season finale's of both lost and grey's anatomy--! wow!
i also dug the season finale's of the office and 30 rock--the "you don't know if you're crying over a chicken or a baby?" joke killed me!
another show that had a great season finale was life. and, yeah, i know that it was a month or so ago, but that was a really great punch. i mention it now because craig just recently told me that he heard that nbc won't be picking it up for another season. sad. i think we're gonna lose a lot more shows now that the 10-11 slot will be all jay, all the time. networks are no longer catering to the viewers, they're catering to their advertisers. good. maybe we'll all go out and play more volleyball. i know i will.
still, i didn't see that coming on greys...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my friend, joanne, who just recently picked up her family and moved from scenic new jersey to lovely seattle, sent me this picture of a tattoo parlor that she was sure would strike home here on the blog. wendy said she thought it looked a bit more like the loch ness monster and i'm hedging toward the jersey devil--but either way, it's cool!



thanks, joanne!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

though it came out, like, two months ago, i finally got a chance to sit down and really enjoy the modern masters: mike ploog volume this past weekend. what a wonderful artist, a wonderful look at some of his most beautiful work, and a wonderful interview by our pal, roger ash! roger (and mike) make the conversations seem to flow by and roger does a magnificent job of giving us a look at this splendid artists life and career!
do yourself a favor and pick this one up!
it was great!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

if i lived in a cartoon world, this would be my house...
well, okay, maybe my town house.
my house in the counbtry would look way wonkier...!



they all got gotten in the comments section
but here are the official answers to the
"five for friday"
we've done this before...
take the following numbers and letters and figure out the phrase or statement that it refers to
example; 52 w in a y = 52 weeks in a year


1. 50 w t l y l

50 ways to leave your lover

2. 10 h d in a p/8 h d r in a p

10 hot dogs in a package/ 8 hot dog rolls in a pack

3. 44 u.s. p to d

44 u.s. presidents to date

4. 99 l b

99 luft balloons

5. 4 s in a d of c

4 suits in a deck of cards

6. 9 p in our s s

9 planets in our solar system

7. 66 b in the b (k j v)

66 books in the bible (king james version)

8. 99 b of b o t w

99 bottles of beer on the wall

9. 1440 m in a d

1440 minutes in a day

10. 3 l t g t t t r c o a t p
(this one is tough--but sweet...)

3 licks to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop

gotta go!
smell ya later!
todd

WTF!?!

okay...

so i took a couple days off.
(thanks, matt, brian, and mike for checking up on me.)
thing is, recently i've felt that i've been a bit off my game with the blog. i dunno whether it started back in february when i went to the tuesday/thursday schedule so that i could focus more on the play or maybe even earlier than that, but i felt that the blog was getting a bit stale. i was trying to post about things that i'd hoped would spark some interest, curiosity, and maybe even a little conversation, but i just wasn't hitting it. i was wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do.
and i was also wondering if maybe it was time to retire the "five for friday" trivia as either i'd been making them TOO trivial or people had just lost interest.

then craig said, "maybe you just need to take a break--step back--take a breath."

so i did, and hopefully, i'm coming back fresh. today's blog is actually more of the same and not really anything new, but we'll hit this from a different angle come monday.

sorry for the delay and thanks for your patience.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

we watched the season finales of both lost and grey's anatomy last night and i will admit that i got teary eyed once during each show--and was actually floored once during grey's. i won't spoil it, but...man.

haven't gotten to see star trek yet and am dying to.
just saw the preview for half-blood prince last night and can't wait!
up! looks wonderful and roger sent me the trailer for disney's upcoming the princess and the frog which looks like good ol' disney fantastic!!
and taking a very hard right turn; wasn't too interested about drag me to hell--but that preview does look creepy...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sometime last fall i think it was, matt sent me a batch of those wacky, sarcastic, sardonic faux motivational posters and this one has long been one of my favorites, appealing to me for both the bizarre and potentially cryptid aspects and for the blatant proclamation of "WTF?!?"



my friend, dani, sent me another batch of photos designated "WTF!?!"--this time much more bizarre and without the clever motivational borders--and here are a few that just took us by surprise...










i laughed out loud at that first one--the look on that little kid's face--it's wrong in so many ways...

the second one; dani had to tell me that that's a horse down there. but why? wtf???

the others are just...
ewww.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"five for friday"
we've done this before...
take the following numbers and letters and figure out the phrase or statement that it refers to
example; 52 w in a y = 52 weeks in a year


1. 50 w t l y l

2. 10 h d in a p/8 h d r in a p

3. 44 u.s. p to d

4. 99 l b

5. 4 s in a d of c

6. 9 p in our s s

7. 66 b in the b (k j v)

8. 99 b of b o t w

9. 1440 m in a d

10. 3 l t g t t t r c o a t p
(this one is tough--but sweet...)

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

storytelling w/chris sprouse and michael golden

okay...

of the many projects i'm working on these days--and, by the way, perhapanauts no. 6 is done and to the printer and will be out in a few short weeks--one of the things that i'm really having fun with is my MODERN MASTERS interview with the ever-awesome, CHRIS SPROUSE!
chris and i have been friends for awhile now and when the opportunity arose for me to be involved in his modern masters book, i was all over it! having the chance to take a guided tour of chris' life and comics career has been enlightening to say the least! listening to him talk about his work on the legion, supreme, star wars:splinter of the mind's eye, and ocean--not to mention the creation of and his time on TOM STRONG...! it's been a treat!

when i'm at shows, i'm always telling young artists who show me their portfolios that illustrating comics is a lot more than just drawing pretty pictures. telling the story is the most important thing and doing it in a way that makes it clear and easy for the reader to be able to follow the action is a skill that must be honed. you must learn to lead the reader's eye from panel to panel and choose your poses and camera angles wisely. you have to make the story is accessible for the reader and not jerk him/her out of it with drastic shifts in perspective. this is called storytelling and if you don't learn it--and respect it--you won't get work.
chris, in my opinion, is one of the masters of storytelling working in the industry right now and when i asked him about it in our interview, i was thrilled with what he had to say about one of the masters that he learned from. our editor on the book, eric nolen-weathington, was kind enough to give me the greenlight to include this short preview.

here's what chris had to say about michael golden.

"Anyway, what really made Golden a long-lasting influence and inspiration for me was meeting him when I was 14 or 15. It was at the first comic convention I ever attended, and Golden and Chris Claremont were in town promoting the first issue of Marvel Fanfare. I brought along a complete story I’d drawn, a twelve-page sci-fi thing, hoping I could get some advice on my drawing and info about how to get into the business. I waited in line to talk to Golden, admiring the stacks of art all over his table, and listening to him joke with fans. I’d watch people getting comics signed, and if I saw something that I didn’t already own, I’d run into the dealers room and hunt for it!
"Finally it was my turn, and I got my Marvel Fanfare signed, then nervously asked him to look at my pitiful little story, voice cracking and armpits dripping. Golden looked at a few pages, then actually said some nice things about the artwork! He asked me to come back behind the table so he could point out some storytelling things I could stand to learn. He showed me how I could have made the action clearer, how I could have purposefully arranged the visual elements for specific effects and to lead the reader’s eye over the page and through a story... it really opened my eyes and made me realize that drawing comics was so much more than just sequentially depicting events in a story. He gave me a really good thoughtful critique and made me see what I was doing and what I could do in an entirely different light, and he was really cool about it—very helpful and encouraging and willing to pass on his own knowledge. I left that show feeling like a million bucks, ready to draw myself silly! Very inspiring! I was a fan for life! I remember that convention experience every time I’m reviewing someone’s portfolio at a con now—I want to be that encouraging and inspire people to go out and draw good comics."
--Chris Sprouse, from MODERN MASTERS: CHRIS SPROUSE



out from TWO MORROWS later this year.

thanks, eric!
thanks, chris!

have a great weekend!
smell ya later!
todd

mom and the killers

okay...

so, if you don't live near your mother and you intend to send a gift or card, today's the day to do it.
just fyi.

as i've said here in the blog a couple times now, we lost my mom a few years ago and i miss her everyday. i feel her around me quite often and, at times, quite close. sure, when we're watching ER or grey's anatomy and there's a "dying mom" story or a "cancer" story, i cry like a little kid, but that's not what i mean. she's there, usually for the fun things, the funny things, the times when i'm with my dad or my brother or my niece and nephew and something funny happens or is said. we can usually hear her laughing, feel her with us.
now here's the crazy line--are you ready...?

recently, i've been fascinated by accounts of serial killers.

while flipping through the channels the other day, i paused a bit too long on the E network (i don't really care for E--just seems like a slimy, paparazzi-fueled, spite-channel to me...) where their "true hollywood story" just happened to be featuring a report on the BTK killer, the serial killer from kansas who was caught and later confessed every minute detail of his horrific murders. this was followed by episodes on other serial killers--jeffrey dahmer, john wayne gacy, etc.--i didn't watch; i had work to do. and then coast to coast a.m. rebroadcast a show that focused on the zodiac killer who terrorized the san francisco area in the early 70s.

and i thought of mom.
my mom loved to read and loved to read true crime books, not that she was in any way a morbid or ghoulish person. as a matter of fact, most people who knew her were shocked that she would find this shocking material so fascinating. but she did. she would bust on me for reading such gruesome fare as stephen king and clive barker and i'd counter, "wait a minute! that stuff YOU read is true!!" "but, "she would say, "i'm interested in the forensics of it. the ways they solve the case and the psychology of the perpetrator." she had me there. for years, long before csi and ncsi and all of the currently popular crime scene investigation shows, we would watch tv as a family and my mom would explain to us what the cops would do or should do to scientifically track their killer down. we knew about luminol long before it became a household word, knew about dna evidence and the handling of it years before william peterson was tossing that stuff around. even my dad would look at her in surprise sometimes when she would inform us of some new test or technique--and he had been a detective on the nypd!!

mom was an incredible forensic investigator and, though i know she is around me, around us, often, we are all also certain that she is off solving some very difficult murder cases up in heaven. she was just fascinated by the subject and i don't think that something as trivial as death would stop her from checking out all the most interesting cases.
(okay, so we don't think that there are murder cases up in heaven...but we're pretty sure that mom is hovering around and involved in the investigation of some of the crazier stuff that's going on here.)

and lately, my mom has been urging me to lean towards the true crime stuff that she couldn't get enough of. i downloaded an audiobook on the BTK killer from itunes the other day. i listen to it in the car and feel that mom is there listening right along. and last night i rented the movie zodiac.
she said they left a couple things out...

happy mother's day, mom!
love you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

what is your mom fascinated with?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my uncle sent this to me the other day...

i don't usually put much stock in these paranoid internet warnings, but...


Beware: Home Depot Scam

A ‘heads up’ for those men who may be regular Home Depot customers. Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while shopping. Don’t be naive enough think it couldn’t happen to you or your friends.
Here’s how the scam works: Two seriously good-looking 20-21 year-old girls come over to your car as you are loading your purchases. They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windex, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look. When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say ‘No’ and instead ask you for a ride to another store. You agree and they get in the backseat. On the way, they start undressing each other and making out. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet. I had my wallet stolen February 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, & 24th 29th. Also March 1st, 4th, twice on the 8th, 11th, 12th, three times last Saturday, probably tomorrow, and very likely again this upcoming weekend. So tell your friends to be VERY careful.

P.S. Wal-Mart has wallets on sale for 2.99 each

gotta get to work!
craig and trish and johnny and cat are coming and i've gotta kid-proof the house.
smell ya later!
todd

would you like the links...or patties?

okay...

somewhere, a little ways down this page...


http://Newsarama.com/


you'll find the latest what's perhappenin'? from our pal, russ burlingame!
russ had a lot of questions after he went through the entire perhapanauts: triangle trade and hit me with a bunch of them while we sat out on the champs elysee sipping paul newman iced teas...

(you'll notice he really got nothing out of me...)

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i hope that you all had a happy FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!
i had an excellent time at EXCELLENT ADVENTURE up in ballston spa with john and matt belskis! what a great store and what a great turn-out!

though we didn't get a chance to chat all day long--he had quite a few fans and admirers lined up to talk and get autographs--i was seated next to awesome artist, matt smith! (well, i call him matt smith--he needs to be matthew dow smith now 'cause there's just too many just matt smith's out there and, apparently, they were getting his paychecks) you know matt's work from books like stormwatch, the keep, the nightcrawler mini-series and the upcoming mirror's edge from idw. anyway, it was great to see matt and catch up a bit--we've known each other for years--and you can see a lot more of his stuff over at

http://www.matthewdowsmith.com/home.htm



it was nice to get a chance to talk to so many comic book readers from the area, but i was especially touched that two of my really good friends came out to hang for a bit; thanks for taking the time out of your day, veroncia--it was wonderful to see you and devon! and my comic book soul-mate, bill (who we call walt...), i miss you , man! great to see ya!

an aside from the great day in the store, it was just as nice getting a chance to have dinner and hang out with john. though the pub we went to was a little loud on account of the kentucky derby, both the food and the conversation was great! thanks for the great stories, john!

loved the store! loved the people and the conversations! loved the town of ballston spa!
it truly was an EXCELLENT ADVENTURE!
thanks, john and matt!

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an avid fan of the late night radio show coast to coast a.m. with george noory, i'm usually fascinated--in one way or another--by george's exciting and diverse line-up of guests throughout the week. one recurring guest is paranormal investigator joshua p. warren, a researcher who sounds--to me, anyway--to be both sincere and well-grounded in his presentations.
he's been on coast to coast recently with reports of a story out of mexico of a creature discovered--and ultimately killed--by a rancher back in the spring of 2007. i won't go into any more of the story as i really want you to check it out for yourselves over at

http://shadowboxent.brinkster.net/LEMUR/MexicoCreatureReport.html


there's a picture there, along with the story, that leaves me not knowing what to think...
what do you think...?

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answers to the
"five for friday"
i'll name some names,
you tell me the group...
(these are hard...)

1. linus, danny, rusty, basher

ocean's 11

2. tarra, gleep, igoo, zok

herculoids

3. gargoyle, valkyrie, angel

the defenders

4. cowmumble, grumble, gargle, boss moss

the freakies

(check out this crazy drug-trip of a commercial)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP8mbxZBl3k

5. mike, vyv, rick, neil

the young ones

happy monday!
smell ya later!
todd

hard time posting

okay...
been trying to post this all morning--let's see if it posts now.


okay...

i've got a lot of writing to do today and have some stuff to get together for tomorrow's FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, so i'm falling back on my occasional cheat of posting one of the more chilling and memorable stories i read earlier this month over on YOUR TRUE TALES at about.com

this one os from lindsay g. and i found it stuck with me the few days after i'd read it. always a good sign of a good story. the only things i want to know is the when and the where...

HUGE CREATURE AT THE WINDOW
by Lindsay G.

The following incident has terrified me to the point where I have never told anyone of it before now. Even as I write this, I'm shaking.

I was asked by a friend to come house-sit for her and take care of her little shih tzu, Cody, while she went away on vacation for two weeks. Happy to make some easy money, I eagerly obliged and went to stay at her house with Cody, who I got along excellently with.

A few nights into the first week, I was watching TV in the dark in the main living area. Cody was lying on the floor next to me, resting. There was an enormous bay window overlooking the backyard to the right of the couch I was lying on. I thought about closing the blinds, but since the house was located in a remote part of the woods, I figured nobody would be peeking through the windows. Especially at that particular hour. (It was around midnight.)

Very much involved in the drama on the TV, I wasn't aware of my surroundings, but Cody certainly was. He piped up all of a sudden and began growling at the large bay window. His growls soon turned into snappy barks and I glanced up abruptly, but couldn't see anything out the window in the dark. Cody suddenly lunged at the window and began gnashing his teeth. I jumped up and ran to the window and looked out.

It was very dark, but I could just make out a large figure standing in the yard looking at me. It must have been about 7 or 8 feet tall, and the outline seemed really jagged, as if it was covered in really thick fur. I grabbed Cody by the collar to try to shush him, and I realized every time Cody let out a bark, the creature outside seemed to respond in its own noise. It seemed to me like a rough, guttural, grunting sound.

My heart was pounding and I began to back away from the window. As I did so, the creature began to walk toward the window! I stood frozen to the spot for a few moments, and the creature outside stared right back at me, seemingly more intrigued with me than the yappy little dog at my feet. Then without warning, it turned and strode off into the night, taking very long and wide strides.

I immediately called my dad and he came over with my brother. They searched the surrounding area with flashlights. When they came back in, my dad's eyes were big, and he said there were enormous footprints in the dew grass all through the backyard. I barely slept the remaining days there at the house. I was always on my guard, and Cody also seemed rather anxious at all times. But no further incidences happened and I was very glad when my friend came home and I could leave!



"five for friday"
i'll name some names,
you tell me the group...
(these are hard...)

1. linus, danny, rusty, basher

2. tarra, gleep, igoo, zok

3. gargoyle, valkyrie, angel

4. cowmumble, grumble, gargle, boss moss

5. mike, vyv, rick, neil

have a great FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!
smell ya later!
todd