Month: October 2002

I keep hearing people wondering why the current administration is so hot to go after Saddam Hussein…so hot, in fact, that we’re pretty much the only country in the world interested in doing so (England’s supporting us, sure, but if we dropped the notion, does *anyone* think Tony Blair would continue to bang the drums?)

To me, the answer is pretty simple:

We know where he is.

At the very least, we have a pretty good idea.

We don’t know where bin Laden is. We don’t know where the former heads of the Taliban are. They could be anywhere. But Saddam? He’s in Iraq. Him we can find.

A year from now, Bush will be gearing up for reelection. The odds of the economy still being in the toilet at that point are much higher than the odds of bin Laden et al being in hand. If the Democrats are able to drive home the message of “You’re no safer from bin Laden now than you were two years ago, and the economy sucks besides,” Bush might hemorrhage electoral support. If the Democrats put forward the notion, “Eight years of prosperity and peace before Bush, and now look where you are,” Bush might follow his father as a one-term president. On the other hand, if we’re in the midst of a war, well…Americans might not want to switch horses at that point.

Is the current “Get Saddam” drive politically motivated. I don’t know. What I do know is…we know where Saddam is.

Roughly.

PAD

Finally caught up with the new A&E version of THE LOST WORLD, featuring a perfectly cast Bob Hoskins as Prof. Challenger. The nice thing was that they were running both parts back to back. Commercial interruption frequency is still beyond belief; sometimes as little as seven minutes of the program between commercials. Meanwhile they were already advertising the DVD edition. If A&E keeps this up, then the original airing will serve as simply a preview as to whether to see it on DVD or not. Watch twenty minutes, figure, “Okay, this is worth buying/renting,” and tune in to something else.

With that said, we did watch the whole thing in one shot. Gotta tell ya, it had the fraction of the budget of, say, “Jurassic Park III,” far fewer dinos, and yet (commercials aside) the program itself seemed to fly by as opposed to the endless 90 minutes of JP III. Just reminds you of what a good story and great characters means, as opposed to simply throwing special FX at you.

Definitely check out the vide or DVD. Don’t slog through the commercial-ridden showing, though; I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.

PAD

As part of our ongoing endeavor to make this website more interesting for Gwen to read, here’s a Gwen update: She had the job interview at New England Comics, which she thinks went well. They asked if she reads my books, which of course she doesn’t. That shouldn’t be surprising. Putting aside the axiom that no man is a hero in his own home (except, I think, major league baseball players; I mean, how could they NOT be), I think it’s tough for the children of a writer to suspend disbelief long enough and buy into characters when they’re used to seeing their father sitting there creating the characters on his computer. Shana, my eldest, *did* read “Sir Apropos of Nothing,” but was totally skeeved by the sex because her father isn’t supposed to know about such things. I advised her to steer clear of “The Woad to Wuin” on that basis, since it’s raunchier than the first book.

I remember going to a Cherry Poppin’ Daddies concert some time ago. Girls were screaming as the lead singer bounced up and down while singing “Zoot Suit Riot.” But I could see the guy was about my age, and all I could imagine was him having a teenage daughter in the audience being utterly mortified, because that’s what teenage daughters do best: Be embarrassed about their parents. “What does your father do for a living?” Do you really think she’d say, “He’s a Cherry Poppin’ Daddy?” Hëll no. She’d probably say, “He sells insurance.” Which is what my kids used to say about me, particularly when meeting boys, so they wouldn’t have to worry that the boys weren’t interested in them just to get some free comic books.

At any rate, if Gwen does get a parttime gig at NEC, I’ll let you know. Because it is, after all, a Gwen world, and we’re all just living in it.

PAD

At the Marvel/Fan press conference the other day, Marvel execs slapped CBG around because a CBG columnist (no, not me) allegedly stated that “most retailers” dislike Marvel’s non-reorder, non-overprint policy. Marvel says t’ain’t so. They said they did a study of 300 retailers, and know that for a fact.

Okay. I’ve done no study. All I know is what I’ve seen and heard anecdotally. I’ve seen some retailers write in to CBG praising the new policies. But I’ve also seen retailers writing in and complaining, in CBG and in Comic Retailer magazine, and a number have griped to me in person. I’ve no clue, though, if “most” of the retailers are unhappy campers.

Any retailers reading this? Tell me what you think. Anyone reading this know any retailers? Ask them what they think. I admit to a certain degree of curiosity. I have an opinion based purely on perception, but perceptions can be deceiving. So you guys tell me: Marvels non-reorder, non-overprint policy. Good thing or bad thing? Helping or hurting?

PAD

Herewith my weekly “Buffy” comment (which will annoy the crap out of my daughter, Gwen, who claims that all I ever discuss on this log is “Buffy.” Perhap I should be talking about something that truly interests her, like…her. Okay. She’s got a job interview at New England Comics this Thursday. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Happy, Gwen?)

Last night’s was the weakest entry this season…although even a weak entry put it head and shoulders above many from last season. It’s what I call a Placemarker episode: It endeavors to entertain and give some vague tie-ins with the overall season arc without advancing either the “big-bad” arc or the character arcs too much. They do a number of those each year, particularly early in the season. “Bad Eggs” is an off-hand example from season 2. The only real standouts of that type are usually the Halloween episodes.

So for a placemarker it wasn’t bad. But it dragged. The pacing was off; it suffered from an occasional lapse one sees in the series, wherein the true subject matter of the episode doesn’t make itself known until the end of the first act. Nothing was accomplished in the teaser, and most of the first act was dedicated to telling us what we’ve already known for several episodes: Buffy is working as a counselor. The array of students would have been better and funnier compressed to a fast montage about thirty seconds long. Having Cassie come in and announce that she was going to die next Friday was a nice punch; *that* should have been the teaser, and you go from there.

Next week’s with Anya looks intriguing, and also seems to be addressing my questions regarding Anya’s soul. I had speculated that Buffy could kill Anya since she’s now a souless demon…but if she was souless, how could her marriage to Xander have ever worked? And if she’s not souless, then why was she never agonized over all she’d done, like Angel and Spike? Perhaps we’ll find out. Also perhaps next week has the rumored “Anya sings” flashback.

PAD

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So what am I working on? Well, I just turned in the final draft of the “THE HULK” novelization. Best fan-related comment about the movie was whoever said, “Don’t make me Ang Lee. You wouldn’t like me when I’m Ang Lee.” I cannot *believe* I didn’t think of that. I should turn in my rogue punster card.

I recently turned in the script for SUPERGIRL #79, in which (presuming the sequence is approved) Linda gets married. And I’m working on the script for CAPTAIN MARVEL #7, operating on the cheerful assumption that there will actually *be* a CAPTAIN MARVEL #7. Walt Simonson did the cover. When I found out it was Walt’s first Marvel work in a decade, I said, “Put Thor on the cover. Thor fighting Captain Marvel. How many opportunities for a Simonson Thor on a cover of my comic will I have?” Now all that remains is to write a story to stick on the end of the cover. Very early DC in my thinking, I know, but c’mon…you’d do the same.

PAD