Mixed-up comix memories

I’m getting ready for the New York Comic Book Marketplace show in, you guessed it, New York. Denro and I will be heading down there on Friday. Going through a portfolio of original art, I came across some stuff I did myself, over twenty years ago, when I was an occasional contributor to the Comics Buyer’s Guide. The late Don Thompson bought pretty much everything I submitted, except for a cartoon that made fun of writer Peter David’s barf bag puppets. These are a few cartoons I never submitted.

Here’s my take on what really happened after the Fantastic Four were bombarded by cosmic rays. The caption is “Sue! Where ARE you?? SUE!!”

In this one I wondered, “What if Disney bought Marvel Comics?” At the time the idea was silly, but now it’s reality!

I did bunch of strips paying homage to Calvin & Hobbes, calling them the names of two other philosophers, Carlyle & Hobson. I had Calvin-Carlyle’s parents commit him to a psychiatric institution, where he meets Dennis the Menace.

P.S. This one is from an attempt at doing a comic strip.

From Barnes’ Back Pages

Today on Barnes Newberry’s online radio show, My Back Pages, he played the band Love doing AndMoreAgain, a song I hadn’t heard in, I think, 40 years…

… and he played a song I couldn’t recall ever hearing before — Fleetwood Mac with its founder, Peter Green, shortly before he left the band, doing The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown). What a great track! To me it sort of sounds like Alice Cooper with Elvis Costello style vocals.

A King deal

Denro tipped me off that Barnes & Noble stores have bargain-priced copies of Mark Evanier’s book Kirby: King of Comics. I bought one for $12.95, so now I can keep my autographed copy on the shelf. This deal is, from what I can see, available only in stores.

As I have said before, Jack “King” Kirby — a title given to him by Stan Lee — was the greatest creative force the comic book biz will ever have. Kirby’s family has, so far, been unsuccessful in getting money out of Disney-Marvel, and that’s wrong, because the corporation owes the man a lot.

Standing ground in Florida

I don’t know everything about the Trayvon Martin case in Florida — no one does, except for George Zimmerman — but from what I’ve read, if the “stand your ground” law applies, it seems to me that it favors Trayvon, who had every reason to feel threatened.

Follow-up: Five days later, more details are emerging about both Zimmerman and Martin, and my opinion hasn’t changed — Trayvon, and not Zimmerman, is covered by the “stand your ground” law.