Month: April 2006

The origin (kinda…sorta…maybe) of Layla Miller, the character I resolved from issue #1 to reverse the mostly negative fan opinion about. Whad’ja thnk?

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That’s not me asking, actually. That’s the cover story in the current “Rolling Stone,” issue 999. (It’s dated May 4, so i don’t know how much longer it’ll be on the stands.) It’s a detailed, scholarly overview of the Bush administration as provided by one of the country’s leading historians. As much as Bush supporters will cry foul, it is difficult–if not impossible–to argue with the thorough, reasoned and historical comparisons of Bush with other presidents…those deemed both the greatest successes and the greatest failures. Recommended reading.

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I just finished the script for “Spike vs. Dracula #5,” the last installment of the series. It takes place during the early part of the fifth season of “Angel.” Dracula shows up in LA, because naturally his attorneys are Wolfram and Hart…and when he shows up, the ghostly Spike is lying in wait to drive him absolutely bonkers.

It may well be one of the funniest comic book stories I’ve ever written.

But now I have to wait for it to be drawn and everything. It’s so frustrating, because as soon as it’s done I’m anxious to get it in front of reader’s eyes. Kathleen and Ariel both read it and thought it was great. Now I want to get the finished product out there.

So next time you think how frustrating it is to have to wait a month to see what happens in a comic, keep in mind that the writer has to wait even longer to see what your reactions are to what happens.

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For local fans, I’ll be doing a signing (along with Clifford Meth) at Midtown Comics in NYC this Thursday from 5 to 7 PM.

Also, at 1 PM EST, the Freedom Clock finally drops below 1000. The end is…well, not near…but nearer. Unless, of course, the GOP congress tries to do away with that pesky two-term-limit thing. But that doesn’t seem terribly likely.

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…since he was the one who, years ago, heavily pushed the notion that the correct direction for “Star Trek” was to go retro and focus on Kirk, Spock et al in their Academy days. This notion was reviled by most fans that I know of, contending that there was no point in taking “the franchise” backwards. Star Trek, like a shark, must constantly be moving forward or it dies. And furthermore, what remote interest was there in watching the adventures of our heroes as teens? It seemed a pathetic and obvious ploy to court teen viewers rather than accommodate the interests of long time fans.

And now it’s years later.

And “Enterprise” took the franchise backwards and knocked it off the air.

And the success of “Smallville” plus other teen-oriented dramas must have registered on Paramount.

And thus do we boldly go backwards. Well…forwards, I guess, since it’s moving forward from “Enterprise.”

Of course, whether this actually makes it to the big screen, JJ Abrams or no, remains debatable. After all, quite a few Superman films by various big-name individuals crashed and burned before the upcoming installment got off the ground (no pun intended.) But if it does make it to screen, Harve Bennett–who was mentioned nowhere in the “Variety” article–is going to have to be wondering why he had to be so darned ahead of his time, in his concept if not his execution (Bob Greenberger swears Bennett’s script was terrible. Then again, who knows? By the dwindling standards of many of today’s moviegoers, it might have been a smash.)

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It always takes me a day or so to get geared up after returning from a convention. In this instance, I’m back from ShowMeCon in St. Louis, which I attended along with Ariel. The folks who ran the convention were uniformly friendly and helpful, and escorted Ariel and I out to see the Bowling Hall of Fame (which was really cool.)

Also in attendance at the convention was Noel Neill, best known as Lois Lane from the original Superman movie serials and TV series.

Not in attendance, sadly enough, were fans. It wasn’t expected to be a huge convention in any event–predicted attendance was between 300 and 500. But it seemed to me as if there were less than 150 people. Has anyone been noticing a general drop in attendance at conventions, or is it only the ones where I’m guest of honor?

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So while Ariel was out of town, Kathleen and I attended the awards ceremony for the Long Island Junior Bowling Association, which has over 4000 young bowlers in its membership.

Turned out it was a good thing we did. Ariel won a trophy, which we accepted on her behalf, for highest scoring over the season in her category (Handicap All Events, Junior Girls). There were only ten categories, so basically she placed as one of the top young bowlers in Long Island.

Anyone who says “size doesn’t matter” hasn’t gotten a load of this trophy. It’s almost as big as Caroline. A couple of kids in the ten-and-under crowd could barely carry theirs. This should be a really nice incentive for Ariel’s future athletic endeavors. As soon as Kath’s computer is up and running, we’ll run a picture of Ariel holding the trophy on the website.

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