I noticed a sign near the coffee shop I go to for a new store opening up around the corner–it turns out that simply having a car was not enough; I needed proximity, too, and the shop in Chapel Hill could only lure me in for something I knew I wanted like ??1602??.
So–predictably, I suppose–I’ve found myself alternately catching-up and finding new stuff; it’s sure as Hell more fun than, say, tracking the declining State of our Union–I happily leave that to “kos”:http://dailykos.com/ and “Josh”:http://talkingpointsmemo.com/ and “Billmon”:http://www.billmon.org/.
As an example, I’ve picked up most of the ??Hellboy?? trades (I date myself by admitting that my first remembrance of Mike Mignola is “Rocket Raccoon”:http://members.aol.com/Swordrat/RakkRuin.htm), and, as something of a Lovecraft fan, ??Hellboy?? works just wonderfully for me.
I wonder how I’ll like the movie. I suppose it couldn’t be worse than ??Underworld??, but I doubt it could approach ??Lost In Translation??, either.
(More on that later, perhaps)
There’s ??Y, The Last Man??–as the proprietor of the store pointed out, “The best last-boy-on-earth story since “Kamandi”:http://members.fortunecity.com/gemex/!”
I’m also amused to see Bill Willingham doing a ton of writing, when I remember him first for his illustrations in various AD&D materials in the early ’80s.
I’m waiting, with intense anticipation, for the end of Cerebus–while reading with a great deal of distress the reports of just how, well…NUTS Dave Sim has become. Still, if you have the slightest inkling of interest in comic books, and you haven’t read ??High Society?? and ??Church & State??, you’re missing out.
I fear that means you, Chet. 😉
And, finally, I’m sad to see that “Julius Schwartz died”:http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2004_02_08.html#003668. While I would be lying–or at least overstating things–to suggest I have some sort of eidetic memory, the fact is, this stuff sticks with me for a long time. And I remember a lot of comic books I read when I was a pre-teen with Juliuz Schwartz’ name on the masthead.
I don’t know why this seems so sad to me right now–good lord there’s plenty of other sadder things going on in fifty-zillion places than an old man who had a pretty damned good run dying just shy of 90. Perhaps it’s just the passing of someone that you realize had, however ephemeral, some influence on your childhood.
