Chocolate Love

"Last Kiss" is one of my favorite comics and this one is perfect, so I had to share.

~~~o0o~~~

Words to Live By

I normally find The Lockhorns comic strip (well, it's a one panel comic) fairly routine, and quite dull the last few years, but I read it out of habit and a few days ago, I was rewarded with this gem. Loretta, talking to her friend while eating candy, says: "I put 'Eat Chocolate' on my day's 'To Do' list... It gives me a sense of accomplishment."

I think I'll follow that advice!

Feeling: amused


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NY Comicon

I'd taken the day off for NY Comicon which started today. I didn't go to any of the panels, but I did spend four hours in the Dealers' Room, lusting after toys and other fun stuff, chatting with folks, and taking lots of pictures, like this one.

Then I walked along the Hudson Riverfront before going home. A nice day. Warm, sunny, fun things to do. And no work. Just the way I like my days.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: nycomicon

A Little Photoshop Fun

So, I went to the New York Comicon today (more info on Shelly's Comic Book Shelf) at the Javits Center on Manhattan's West Side and brought my camera. I mostly took photos around the area and one shot had a nice, big, white truck in it and well, I couldn't resist playing a bit. This is the result. If only the truck really had that message painted on its side.

The con was fun, too. I did get to see the prototypes for the Daniel and Jack action figures due out later this year, but was disappointed to learn the Atlantis figures won't be out until next summer. And I so want a Joe Flannigan/Sheppard action figure.

Feeling:

~~~o0o~~~
comicon

Sad News for Comics Lovers

One of my favorite comic book artists, Jim Aparo, died the other day. His work on Aquaman back in the '70s was IMO among the best art on that character. His one flaw was that his women tended to look alike and if not for the hair color and style, you couldn't tell them apart. But his art was clean and crisp and had a lot of heart. He will be missed.

Blogging Through

So Blogger has been having troubles lately. I've seen folks with Blogger blogs commenting about it, including how they were leaving Blogger, but I couldn't get in to blog about it, myself. And it took a while for anything about the problem to appear on the Blogger Status site. If you have a Blogger blog, you should know about this site. It has an rss feed, so you can get the updates come to you. Anyway, they said to try deleting your cookies if you're having trouble, and that's working for me, but I had to do it a few times while actually logged in to Blogger this morning.

And since I don't want to pay (I already pay for 2 LiveJournals and a website) for my blogs and I doubt any fee-based service will allow me as many blogs as I want for one fee, and I haven't found any free services I like as much, I'll be here. Anything computer based has problems now and then. Doesn't matter where you go. Odds are the problems will catch up to you eventually.

This has been a shitty year so far in that a lot of talented people, people who made their mark in the arts, have died. Cartooning and comics have been hit with the deaths of Wil Eisner and Kelly Freas, and now I just read in the NY Daily News that Dale Messick, the pioneering woman cartoonist who created Brenda Starr, has died. True, she was 98 and lived a long, full life, but still, it's sad to know that the person who opened doors for women cartoonists is gone. Brenda Starr was hardly a realistic comic, but I loved it when I was a kid and while I outgrew its silliness — it clearly was a comic that couldn't keep up with changing times, even after Ramona Fradon took over and did a good job after Messick retired from it — it will always have a soft spot in my heart, along with all the other comic strip dramas. There are so few good ones left anymore and the ones that are seem to be pale images of their former great selves. Dale Messick opened doors for women in cartooning and you don't get a better epitaph than being a positive role model, a person who helps bring about change simply by succeeding.

The Sun! The Sun!

I saw it today. And blue sky. And it was in the 50s. And I finally got to the gym. Okay, I just did a half hour on the treadmill and at a lower speed than usual, but after 3 months of no gym, I was glad to just get some exercise.

Picked up latest issue of Wizard (a comics mag for those who don't know) and there was an article on the new Crisis mini-series DC is doing this fall. It's gonna be another one of those "people will die" "big events" the way "Crisis on Infinite Earths" was back in '85 when Flash and Supergirl were killed. When Supergirl died (I never did finish reading the series), I stopped reading comics, except Titans, for 10 years. I stopped reading Titans in '91 when it got depressing and nasty, which meant I didn't read comic books at all from '91 to '95. I read my first comic when I was 7, back in 1960. Not reading comics was odd. I saved money, I had more time (I'd been reading 30 comics a month when I quit), but I missed them terribly. I hope they don't kill any characters who helped me get interested in giving DC Comics another try (I read some non-DC ones now, too), because I don't want to give them up again. But I will. I'll read just the one or two that might still have characters I like and that will be it. I understand that they want to put the other characters through an emotional wringer, but comics aren't just stories and the characters are very real to me. The characters are why I read comics. Take away the ones I want to read about and I have no reason to keep reading.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be New Jersey bound. Will try to blog while away, will see how it goes.

Chocolicious Thoughts on Chocolate and Comic Books

The Chocolate Show is back in NYC this weekend, according to The Gothamist. I once tried to go with my boss during lunch hour, but it hadn't opened yet and there was a line and we never would have gotten out in time for me to take the reference desk on schedule. And thinking about it, it cost $20 to get in just so I can drool over chocolate I can't eat, or maybe for the privilege of spending yet more money on chocolate I can buy. It's so much easier and cheaper to just open one of those huge bags of M&Ms hubby picks up at the Price Club (or whatever it's called now) and just, you know, graze.

The final issue in the Kara Supergirl arc in the Superman/Batman comic finally came out. She's the original version of Supergirl who was killed in the mid-'80s in the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" storyline/maxi-series (that led me to boycott DC Comics, which meant all comics for me then, for 10 years in protest) though updated a bit with her new arrival in the DCU (DC Universe). After a couple of poor attempts at a new Supergirl, this was a most welcome return for this fan. Supergirl was the closest female character in age to me when I was growing up and she was one of my all-time favs. I thought the story was well handled and she's poised to play a real role in the DCU now. But what brought a tear to my eye was the dedication at the end: "Dedicated with love and admiration for the memory of Christopher Reeve." The darn issues were coming out so late, they had time to add that in. The story was worth the wait, though, as was Michael Turner's amazing art.

I finished reading the "gym" book and now have to pick something to read there next. Too many books, not enough time = a tough decision, as usual. I'll try to get a review up on Shelly's Book Shelf in the next day or so.

The penultimate issue of "Identity Crisis" by suspense/mystery writer Brad Meltzer came out too, and with one month to go, I'm still in the dark as to who the killer is, even though it looks bad for one of the heroes. Supposedly, the clues are in there, but I don't have time to reread all 7 issues before the 8th and last comes out. Reading this one issue per month makes is hard for me to keep up and remember the details. I should've waited til I had the whole series here and read it in one sitting as I usually do with mini- and maxi-series, but this one had so much publicity and folks were really talking about it online, I didn't want to risk running into a spoiler. So I've been reading as they come out. The speculation of the fans has been wild and it's amazing (no, not really, cuz I'm used to comic fans blowing things out of proportion and not waiting for the whole thing) how quickly they think the writer screwed up. Brad Meltzer writes bestselling suspense/mystery novels; I doubt he's making mistakes. So I'm reserving judgment til I've read the whole thing. And I've got another month to wait for that.

And now Green Arrow is getting socially relevant, just like the good old days of the "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" comic of the late-60s/early-'70s when Denny O'Neill and Neal Adams tackled the subjects of pollution, over-population, and drug addiction, the latter being the famous (in comics circles at any rate) 2-part story focusing on Roy "Speedy" Harper's heroin addiction. And now, in the new "Green Arrow" book, Judd Winick has written an HIV-positive storyline for GA's ward, Mia. Some people don't like to read about socially relevant themes in comics, but I love it. I prefer a mix of super-hero action, character-driven stories, and social issues. So today's purchases made me a satisfied reader.