PeterDavid.net

When you think of the vast percentage of Americans who can’t be bothered to come out and vote…and that musicians develop an overwrought campaign called “Vote Or Die,” which really doesn’t mean much of anything, as opposed to the “Vote And Die” message being spread by Iraqi terrorists…

It’s just pretty damned impressive, the Iraqis turning out to vote in their first election. Make no mistake, it’s still a horror show, we still shouldn’t be over there, Bush lied to America, and Bush’s List continues to grow. But at least Iraqis are braving all manner of risk to vote, as opposed to many Americans who are so cavalier about a right they never earned or had to fight for.

PAD

With the Super Bowl coming up next week, I thought it’d be interesting to ask you four questions. Don’t bother posting the answers: These are only for your amusement and edification. Some folks will know a few of them. Some will know them all. But I’m guessing that, of the four, there’s only going to be one that absolutely everyone is going to be able to answer quickly and confidently. Here we go:

1) Which two teams played in last year’s Superbowl?

2) Who won?

3) What was the final score?

4) Which of Janet Jackson’s breasts was exposed, her right or her left?

PAD

So Kathleen was reading Caroline a book yesterday, and on one page a beach scene was pictured. Seagulls were depicted fluttering around.

One of the things you do with picture books is, naturally, see if the child can name the things pictured. So Kathleen pointed at the seagulls and said, “What are these?”

“Birds,” Caroline said.

“Very good.”

Then Caroline took another look at the seagulls. Her eyes widened, and suddenly she started saying, “Mine? Mine? Mine mine mine?”

So now I’m wondering if letting her watch “Finding Nemo,” like, eighty seven times, wasn’t the world’s best idea.

PAD

For those interested, Kath has pictures up of Caroline cavorting in the snow.

http://homepage.mac.com/kathodavid/PhotoAlbum20.html

For those not interested, you can go back and look at the Hulk cover some more.

PAD

Years ago, as a gag for Marvel’s “What Th–?!” I created a female Wolverine clone called Wolverina.

Who knew that if I’d waited a few years and pitched it seriously and given her a more straightforward designation such as X-23, I’d've created the new hot character?

PAD

You sitting down? I sure hope so because if you’re standing and typing, that’s just kinda weird.

Behold the finalized cover to Hulk #81:

After watching LOTR during the snow days, it really underscored a major failing for me.

The villains never won a battle.

They lost the battle of Helm’s Deep. They lost the battle of Minas Tirith (pardon the spelling if that’s wrong.) They lost the battle at the Black Gate (ran away from it, actually, even though they outnumbered the forces of man by a hundred to one.) They lost the battle of the Ents vs. Isengard. Even when they did succeed, it was overthrown in short order. The Orcs made off with the Halflings, but it was the wrong Halflings and they got slaughtered later anyway. Saruman manipulated events in order to get rid of Gandalf in the mines of Moria, but he came back even more powerful. The Orcs took that port city, but that was taken back by Aragorn and his ghost army.

And Sauron, for pity’s sake, should have had guards on Mt. Doom 24/7. If that was the only place where the ring could be destroyed, wouldn’t you want the ringbearer to walk into an ambush instead of a clear shot at the lava flow?

Twelve hours of movies and the villains never did a damned thing right. Sheesh.

PAD

1) Outraged conservatives who think they’re going to bother me when they announce that they’re going to stop reading my books can forget it. I don’t worry about whether saying what I think is going to cost me money because I don’t put a dollar value on speaking the truth as I see it.

2) I will henceforth be treating some of the more belligerent conservatives in the spirit they’re treating me. Specifically, there seems to be this belief that liberals should just shut up even though they don’t like the way things are. So any conservative postings that I don’t like, I will shut up for them, thus enabling me to practice on their behalf what they preach on mine. Particularly postings that consist mainly of insults pertaining to race, color, creed and national origin.

Back to the snow.

PAD

Since freedom is so important to the President that he felt the need to mention the word over two dozen times in his speech, we here at peterdavid.net felt that–in the interest of a new spirit of bipartisanship and cooperation–we should try to spread the concept of freedom wherever and whenever possible.

Hence the “Freedom Clock,” which is either at the side of the page or at the bottom, depending upon your browser. The Freedom Clock will be ticking down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until this country is finally free of George W. Bush…barring premature departure such as impeachment or being tried for war crimes, or an extended stay should some bright Republicans try to repeal Section one of the 22nd Amendment (which I doubt they’d do since it would free up Clinton to run again, and they won’t want to risk that.)

So as the bad news continues, check in every so often to remind yourself that, like any bad meal, this too shall pass.

PAD

And as I look outside, the snow is coming down in waves. This isn’t boding well for the weekend.

Fortunately, we have a cunning plan. We’re going to crack out our director’s cut editions of the “Lord of the Rings” and watch the entire trilogy. That’ll kill twelve hours right there, not even counting the extras. We got popcorn, we’ve got cookies to bake, I’ve got a novelization to finish. Should be a quiet weekend.

PAD

Behold Lee Weeks original pencils of the cover for issue #81. A tribute to Frazetta’s oft-hommaged Molly Hatchet cover, it gets my vote as “Cover Most Likely To Be a t-shirt by next year.”

PAD

The concluding issue of our little miniseries. Whad’ja think?

PAD

On this national day of mourning, a.k.a. Inauguration Day, I am going to offer a radical idea on how to fix Social Security. Ready? Here it is.

We stop sending Americans to get killed.

Consider: At the end of “Schindler’s List,” it is stated that due to the 1100 Jews saved because of Schindler, the result was 6000 Jews who lived that would never have been born.

So over a period of ten years back in the 1960s, we lost 50,000 Americans. I’m not mathematician enough to calculate the number of Americans who were never born as a result: Americans added to the workforce, whose salaries would have contributed to social security, or who would have founded companies to hire people whose salaries, etc. But I would not hesitate to guess that would be a lot of warm bodies, all paying in to the program.

But they were killed or never existed. If, as Bush and Company believe, life begins at conception, then certainly they must give a nod toward conception that won’t occur.

Apparently, though, not so much. Because there’s already 1300 names on Bush’s list. So that’s…what? Another 6500 Americans who won’t be born over the next thirty years? We can’t even begin to wrap ourselves around the immensity of the tragedy involved in the sheer waste of young life. We can barely comprehend the “Daily News” headline that reads “Iran Next! Secret US commando teams already inside to identify potential targets, report claims.” So instead we must dwell on the pragmatic aspects, because the human horror and waste of American lives (not to mention Iraqi lives ranging anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000) is just too ghastly to contemplate.

Fix Social Security. Stop Bush’s list from growing.

PAD

The following will give you a link over to Lee Weeks’ cover for Hulk #80.

http://users.rcn.com/lweeks/images/Hulk080_cvr_72.jpg

Within the next day or so I’ll also be putting up Lee’s pencils for the cover of issue #81 which will be–I’m willing to bet–a t-shirt before the year is out.

PAD

Okay, a friend of mine thought that the following new toy based on Darth Vader represented the absolute nadir of Lucasfilm licensing.

http://www.starwars.com/collecting/news/hasbro/news20050113.html

I, on the other hand, saw it and immediately wanted to run out and buy one.

U-Decide: Low point or irresistable kitsch?

PAD

(Update: I’ve added a picture of Darth Tater. Eeek. –GH)

They’ve been having “Pirates of the Caribbean” in heavy rotation on cable, so I’ve seen it a few times. And listening to Geoffrey Rush laugh–particularly at the point where his undead condition is first revealed and he’s just slammed the doors on Elizabeth, and he cackles dementedly to his crew–I’ve decided he’d be absolutely perfect if anyone ever decides to do a remake of “Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow” or, as it was called by Disney, “The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh.” Rush has this nice, peaceful demeanor that would do wonderfully for Dr. Syn, the Vicar of Dimchurch, but he can do great stuff with his voice to portray his alter ego of the Scarecrow (last seen in a painting in “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.”)

I wish Disney would release the Patrick McGoohan three-parter on DVD. Not the shortened movie version, but the whole series.

PAD

Heidi over on Comicon’s “The Beat” stated that she was unable to get confirmation from DC that issue #20 of “Fallen Angel” will be the last one. Which has prompted a plethora of e-mail and sparking of hope from various fans, whereas I’m just left shaking my head and wondering what the hell is going on. All I can do is pass on what’s told to me. I swear to you, right hand to God, if I hear anything different from what I’ve been told, I’ll let you know…although it could wind up being contradicted 24 hours later…

PAD

A rather unique review site was brought to my attention, wherein “Fallen Angel #18″ and “Madrox #3″ were reviewed at http://politedissent.com/archives/503/, solely on the basis of the medical situations (Boxer’s mom losing the baby, Madrox breaking someone’s fingers.) The reviewer stated in both cases that I got it right. I’m pleased, especially in the case of Madrox, since I really did take the time to do the research and discover which fingers in the hand were the easiest to break. The color of shark’s blood underwater aside, I always try to write for the experts, so it’s nice when the experts notice.

PAD

First question: Was it better than “Daredevil?” Answer–Yes and no.

Second question: Worth your money? Answer–yes and no.

(more…)

Had a phone conference the other day with Brian Bendis (as he mentioned on his own website) to discuss some matters tying in with both a project of his and a new project of mine. Went extremely well.

Went into Marvel today for further conferences about the Abomination limited series and talked with the editor of the new series I’ll be doing later in the year. It’s shaping up pretty well, I think. In a rare double-feature, I’ll be heading back into the city tomorrow for an advance Marvel screening of “Elektra.”

PAD