May 09, 2007
Endings and Beginnings

   First off, I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but I'm actually relieved that there's only four more episodes of The Sopranos left, as I don't know if I could take much more edge-of-your-seat intensity and nastiness! You just know things are going to blow up big in the end, but along the way, this particular viewer still gets rattled at all the suspenseful moments that could easily escalate into violence but don't or, seemingly couldn't, but do! Quite the accomplishment that this show can still surprise. At least I'll still have Entourage when the final curtain draws on The Sopranos.

   Fair Warning: This month's blog is a batch of random musings, cobbled from various post-it notes I've surrounded myself with, in hopes of stretching any one of these subjects into their own blogs. Time to clean up the clutter of notes.

   I've mentioned in the past that when I first got my driver's license, and experienced the freedom of the open road, I fantasized about being a truck driver. I figured, you get to drive all day and night, keep in shape by lifting stuff, and listen to tunes nonstop from Saginaw to Sarasota! (Speaking of tunes, I can't say enough about how much I enjoy Sirius Satellite Radio. There's an adapter that I can use in my car for long road trips which makes them far more enjoyable than constantly spinning the dial in a desperate attempt to avoid the same predictable playlist). I've officially become a music snob, I admit it, but for twelve bucks a month, it's worth it for the shut-in nature of my job. You'd be surprised how much money you save by not eating out for lunch so much. Rather save my money for Sirius and comics and whatever's cool on Amazon.com.

   This week, I'm in the homestretch of a Gen13 deadline, and having Sirius' variety in music helps pass the time. I'm really disappointed in regular commercial radio because the playlists seem to have become more limited. For example, The Rolling Stones, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd (you get the idea) have an amazing library of songs, but you generally hear the same handful of their highest chart-topping hits. On Sirius, I get to hear songs I'd never heard before, such as (again using the Stones as an example) "2,000 Light Years From Home",great late 60's psychedelia with a beat, or songs I haven't heard in many years, like "Slave" from Tattoo You. Also, I get to keep up on new bands that don't fit any particular FM format.

   Well, one of my other fantasy jobs was to be a professional Hollywood stuntman! Y'see, the Burt Reynolds movie Hooper, where Reynolds portrays exactly that, left an impression on me as a kid. I figured when I wasn't driving through explosions or falling off buildings, I'd be brawling with a young Terry Bradshaw in the local pub...just because I could! The thought of doing it now makes every joint on my body ache but back then I really thought that being a stuntman was the life! I even imagined having a recreation room/bar in my house with breakaway furniture, so you can goof off and crack a chair on your best bud without any damage to him or your furniture! Just piece it back together and clean up the spilled beer the next day!

   For fans of John Krisfalusi, creator of Ren & Stimpy, check out the animated short on http://www.quisp.com/. Karen ran across it while Googling all things Quisp, a beloved cereal from many a baby boomer's childhood. What's cool is that, even though we hadn't seen the credits for the animated short until the end, we figured out that it had John K. & Spumco's style written all over it!

   Well, once in a while I come up with a friggin' brilliant idea. Here's one now:

   I'd love to see an intercompany crossover book focused on one artist, in the manner of Marvel Visionaries. Picture this: A Gil Kane hardcover with the contents of the Marvel GK Visionaries trade from 2002, but add his many contributions to DC in the Silver Age (Green Lantern, Atom...) and the 80's (Sword of the Atom, Action Comics...) all under the same cover!

   They could also do a Marvel/DC Jack Kirby Visionaries featuring his golden age Captain America, Vision, Sandman & Sandy, Newsboy Legion, Manhunter, the 50's Young Romance, Green Arrow, Challengers, House of Mystery, then the Atlas Monster books, some Silver Age Marvel stories, select Forth World Stories, 1973's version of Sandman, Kamandi, Our Fighting Forces, a First Issue Special, then his final Marvel work, Machine Man, Cap, Black Panther, etc.

   I didn't mention my favorite Kirby '70's DC creation, The Demon because I'm still crossing my fingers for a hardcover collection of the series. And since Machine Man hasn't made either of the first two Kirby Marvel Visionaries, I expect that there'll be a collection of that before long (I mean, if a hardcover Devil Dinosaur has been solicited for August, I assume every '70's Marvel/Kirby work will eventually be reprinted)

   Pat Olliffe and I did a last hurrah, penciling and inking a part of 52 week 52, a copy of which I received in the mail last week, and I think that the wrapup went above and beyond my expectations! I love stories that involve mucking about time travel and the various ramifications of such, at least when done well. I'm glad the Multiverse is back. The original crisis from 1985 served the purpose at the time, specifically updating DC's approach to comics and gaining a legion of new fans who saw a fresh start to dip their toes into the DCU waters (I've horribly mixed my metaphors, but this is my third rewrite and I have to move on, you understand...). It appears that 52's finale has more ramifications than last year's Infinite Crisis, which will probably play out well when the trade paperbacks hit the streets.

   Well, I wish I had some sort of grand story this week, but all I got is this mishmash, and I hope you still dig reading this. I just had to post something this week in conjunction with the release of Gen13 #8, the first issue that CARLO BARBERI and I do pencil & ink chores for the mighty GAIL SIMONE and mainstay colorist supreme CARRIE STRACHAN! My first regular series work in years and I couldn't be happier. Floating from series to series gave me tremendous experiences and new audience, but the upcoming Gen13 stories are just too cool to be believed. I mean, our 'first' issue has The Authority mixing it up, so check out our version of Apollo, Swift and the Badass supreme, Midnighter! Okay, hype time over for this month...

   Carry on!
 
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