Originally published February 25, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1058
It was easy when I was a kid. You didn’t trust anyone over the age of 30… the sole exception being Walter Cronkite (or, as his name was pronounced, Wal-ter Cron-kite).
Category: But I Digress…
When Heroes Clash
Originally published February 18, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1057
For the first time in quite a while, I have to do a bit of a fill-in column, since I’m crunched on a deadline from a Star Trek novel. (So for all those who ask, “How do you have the time to do all the things you write,” the answer is, I don’t always.)
Capital Punishment
Originally published February 11, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1056
As I’ve stated in the past, I’ve never been a big fan of capital punishment.
One of the primary concerns is that the penalty will be applied along racial and socio-economic lines. A poor black man convicted of murder, for instance, would be more likely to get the gas chamber than would a wealthy upper class white man.
A forfeiture (that of one’s life, in this case) so inherently unfair has no business being institutionalized.
So it was with great interest that I read a letter from Capital City Distribution, dated January 6, addressed to all suppliers (i.e., publishers) that announced some of “the more critical and dramatic changes that will be published in our new Supplier Handbook.” These changes, Capital advised, “are necessary for a number of reasons and have been implemented after much careful thought…”
Indeed.
Suppliers are further advised that these changes “are not for our convenience or for purely selfish motives but to improve the health of the entire supply chain by reducing costs and waste for the suppliers, retailers and distributors.”
Indeed. A laudable goal.
And how is Capital planning to do this?
Well, one way–the most impressive and controversial way–is through Capital Punishment.
Current Events
Originally published February 4, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1055
I have absolutely no idea where this is a nationwide problem or not.
I suddenly noticed that my kids don’t have “Current Events” homework anymore. That, indeed, Current Events seems to have vanished from the local curriculum.
You remember Current Events. Once a week–sometimes every day, if you had a particularly aggressive and socially conscious teacher–you were supposed to flip through the newspaper and clip out an article about what was going on in the world.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm review
Originally published January 28, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1054
Many moons ago, the folks at Warners Animation decided that they were going to produce a straight-to-video movie version of the popular Batman: The Animated Series. And then, somewhere along the way, they must have figured: What the hëll. Let’s put a few bucks into it and release it theatrically.
Thus we have Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, a sort of mixed breed, mixed bag of a film.
PAD vs. PC
Originally published January 21, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1053
I’m writing this two days after the holidays, suffering from (and I mean suffering) a head cold and fever. So we’re gonna keep it simple this go-around. Not too much heavy-duty thinking, because it’ll make my head hurt more than it already does.
Friends of Ellison, Part 1
Originally published January 14, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1052
Since we have rolled into the New Year, I’ve made the resolution to try and do something nice with this column. After all, I wouldn’t want people to come to the conclusion that But I Digress is an entity that exists only to destroy.
Unlike some entities I could name—and which I now will.
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