Month: June 2008

YES, IT’S TRUE! AS OF THIS WRITING, “TIGERHEART” IS RANKED NUMBER ONE…

Continue Reading “TIGERHEART #1 ON AMAZON!” →

“The Dark Tower” is up for a Harvey Award for “Best Graphic Album (Previously Published.)”
PAD

It is amusing that some people fulminate about so-called activist judges, and yet when judges in California legalize gay marriage by a strict reading of the Constitution, conservatives rush to get a referendum on the ballot for November that would restrict marriage to a man and a woman.
Food for thought: a mere forty one years ago, the marriage of Senator Obama’s parents would not have been recognized in sixteen states, because there were strict laws against a mixed race marriage…until some gosh-darned activist judges ruled that law unconstitutional.
When are those who are busy minding other peoples’ business going to tumble to the fact that any two people who wish to marry are the same race–the human race–whether they have different skin or like gender? There cannot be different grades of equality. Marriage, which once was something strictly arranged by parents, typically for financial gain, is in a constantly state of change and gay marriage is simply the next logical step in its evolution…presuming that critics of gay marriage believe in evolution.
PAD

The inestimable Beau Smith has issued a challenge to Marvel and DC to spend a year telling nothing but done-in-one stories. You can read it here:
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/busted/121341903078446.htm
Of course, the thing is, when you’re issuing a challenge to someone, there should be some reciprocity. Like when a politician, for instance, issues a challenge to others to have campaigns that focus purely on the issues rather than dirt. There’s something at stake for the challenger as well, since he has to abide by the same rules or risk looking like a hypocrite.
What’s Beau putting on the line? Nada. He’s not saying that if Marvel and DC do this, then he will donate ten grand to the CBLDF or climb into a dunk tank or give up his column or something. It’s not like when I threw out the challenge to Marvel to maintain “Captain Marvel” at its then-current cover price and in exchange I would drop my writing fee to $20.99 until sales went up. Beau’s challenge is just, y’know, thrown out there. What’s at stake for Beau? Nothing, really.
What would Marvel and DC have at stake? Well, quite likely plummeting sales across the board. I mean, Marvel already DOES lines with done-in-one, easily accessible stories. They’re called “Marvel Adventures.” I’ve written a bunch of them. They sell for crap. For that matter, “Fallen Angel” exists in its own universe and has had any number of done-in-one stories. Yet when it was a DC title it was cancelled, and as an IDW title it still isn’t burning up the sales charts.
The harsh fact is that crossovers sell and independent stories devoid of contact or context with each other don’t, or at least not as well. Rather than issuing challenges to the companies to change what’s working for them, why not issue challenges to the readership to change their buying habits? And Beau can start by pledging to get subscriptions to every single issue of “Marvel Adventures” titles and to “Fallen Angel.” Sounds like a good way to put one’s money where one’s mouth is.
PAD

…it occurs to me there’s one candidate we haven’t considered:
The title character.
What if the Battlestar Galactica survived the attack because it was meant to? Because the ship itself is a Cylon?
PAD
UPDATED AT 11:20 PM FRIDAY–Let’s use this thread to discuss the season ender. So warning to all that spoilers will no doubt be herein.

Caroline lost her first tooth. Nice little gaping hole in the front of her lower set. She was slightly traumatized by it until we explained that this was all a perfectly normal part of growing up, and also told her the whole thing about the Tooth Fairy. Then her eyes lit up. “I’ll have my OWN MONEY?” she said. So now’s she’s jazzed. I suspect we’ll have a fairly easy time getting her to go to bed tonight.
I always thought the best Tooth Fairy riff was Dan Slott’s, back when Dan was writing “Ask Doctor Stupid” for the “Ren and Stimpy” comic. One kid asked the fictional answer man, “What does the Tooth Fairy do with all the teeth she’s collected from me?” Dan’s reply: “Well, Timmy, actually the Tooth Fairy is using all those teeth to build another you. So be careful, because once she has all your teeth…she’s coming for your eyes.”
PAD

At the official website of
the SciFi Network.
PAD