Pat's assessment-
Patrick Buchanan's assessment- I pretty much agree with all of it. I would add that I think he became irrelevant stateside the day after the 2004 election was won and he declared that he was going to privatize Social Security and alter the laws on Illegal Immigration - both were dead-enders and within a year he had been blocked by the Republicans from implementing both. Once Katrina hit, he seemed to be in a sleepy daze. Since the 2006 election he's been stalemated by Democrats on domestic issues and hamstrung on foreign policy by the constant demands put on the state department in the middle east. I don't know what he set out to do in 1999, but it certainly can't be considered a successful presidency at this point. Both parties are negotiating for a change.
"The world seems to be waiting for Bush to depart and for the next American president. For the foreign policy differences between John McCain and Barack Obama are as real and stark as they have been since the Reagan-Carter election of 1980, or the Nixon-McGovern election of 1972.
Looking back on the years since 9-11, it is hard to give the Bush foreign policy passing grades. We pushed NATO eastward and alienated Russia. We have 140,000 Army and Marine Corps troops tied down in Iraq in a war now in its sixth year, from which our NATO allies have all extricated themselves. We have another war going in Afghanistan, where the situation is as grave as it has been since we went in.
The Bush democracy crusade was put on the shelf after producing election triumphs for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. And the Bush Doctrine of preventive war, after Iraq, appears to be headed there, as well.
America remains the first economic and military power on earth. But after seven years of Bush, we no longer inspire the awe or hopes we once did. We are no longer the world hegemonic power of the neocons' depiction. And the reason is that Bush embraced their utopian ideology of democratic empire and listened to their siren's call to be the Churchill of his age.
Of Bush, it may be said he was a far better politician and candidate than his father, but as a statesman and world leader, he could not carry the old man's loafers."
more reprints!
I hadn't realized it, but I've been alerted to two toher reprints of Koblishian goodness coming your way -
The reprint,
in digest form, of the two issues of Marvel Adventures Iron Man are coming out 8/27- a week after the first issue of Legion of 3 Worlds and the Brave and Bold vol. 2 Book comes out.
and out right now apparently is the first volume of
Cable "Classic", containing my first shot at pencilling something for Marvel. One page, over Rob Liefeld's layouts, inked with gusto and excellence by Al 'I'll save you" Milgrom. i got the job simply because I was in the office and it had to be done overnight. I got paid $35 for it- (My rate of $60 per page pencils minus $25 for Rob's layout fee) and 5 months later my first royalty payment for that one page arrived- $500. 4 Months later Marvel took back $180. That's how it worked back then. Marvel would giveth and then taketh away and they don't do it that way now. Maybe I'll get a few pennies of my $180 back now. Ah the ebb and flow of publishing.
Reprinting-
I go back and forth on whether to bother with announcing trade paperback reprints, but these are kinda cool- a
reprint of the
Captain America comics I inked over Ron Garney 13 years ago - even a cursory glance will reveal my thoughts changed on how to ink Ron from the frist issue i inked over him to the last. I went from a scratchy loose phase on his work to a bolder, more swingin' kind of a line in the span of 8 or 9 months. Fun while it lasted!
Another batch of issues collected from the
Brave and Bolds done with George Perez will come out in August either the week that "Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds" issue one ships of the following. I really enjoyed inking the Blackhawks and the Metal Men in there- likely the only time I'll ever get to tackle those characters, although you never know...
Hey - next time - give me the money!
this from the
NY Times-
"Examples of the paperwork for some of those payments, displayed at the hearing, depict a system that became accustomed to making huge payments on the fly, with little oversight or attention to detail. In one instance, a United States Treasury check for $5,674,075.00 was written to pay a company called Al Kasid Specialized Vehicles Trading Company in Baghdad for items that a voucher does not even describe.
In another case, $6,268,320.07 went to the contractor Combat Support Associates with even less explanation. And a scrawl on another piece of paper says only that $8 million had been paid out as “Funds for the Benefit of the Iraqi People.”
But perhaps the masterpiece of elliptic paperwork is the document identified at the top as a “Public Voucher for Purchases and Services Other Than Personal.” It indicates that $320.8 million went for “Iraqi Salary Payment,” with no explanation of what the Iraqis were paid to do.
Whatever it was, the document suggests, each of those Iraqis was handsomely compensated. Under the “quantity” column is the number 1,000, presumably indicating the number of people who were to be paid — to the tune of $320,800 apiece — if the paperwork is to be trusted."
And yet - 7 billion dollars over 5 years is too much to pay for insuring every child under age 10 in this country. What a waste.
Super Pii Pii Brothers!
Remote envy?and yes you'll see the words "dueling pee streams"
Violet's first post - it says "I love Auntie Geri!"
1111111111112222222222222222333
3333333333333333
333333334444444444444444444444444
444444444444444444
444444444444444444444444444444444
4444444444
4444444444444444444444444444444444
444444444444444444444
4444qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
qqqqqqqqqqqqqwwwwwwwwwwwwwweeetyyyuuiiiop[[[
[zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxtttttttttttttttttt
tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
ttttttttttttttttttttttttt
tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttccccccccccc
ccccccccvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvnnnnnnnnnnnbbbbbbbbbbbnnnbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb11111111111111
1111111111111111111111111111
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111
111111111111111111111111111111
1111111111111111111111111111
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111
11111111111
11111111111111111111111111111
11111111111111111111111111111
1aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
JLDetroit!
Good news!
Tom vs the JLA has gotten to
the Justice League Detroit years!My second favorite podcast...
Comic Books and the Soaps!
For the last 20 years I've been hearing about the similarities between Comic Books and Soap Operas. Both serve niche markets. Both have continuing narratives that never end. Both have breakout hits - Iron Man, Superman, Spider-Man, Ugly Betty, Dallas, 90210 that seem to interface with the mainstream.
I was thinking that a corollary to this that no one has ever mentioned to me - it's just as hard to get someone to read a comic that you like as it is to get someone to watch a soap opera that you like. It's virtually impossible - foist a copy of Spider-Man on somebody and you'll likely get the same reactions as if you tried to get them to watch a week of All My Children. "I can't follow what's going on", "who are all these people", "how do I read/watch this?", "where do I start?"
Well. anyway.
I've been really busy. Finishing up with American Dream. Exciting news is that it's
sold out at the local comic book stores.
Work continues apace with Legion of 3 Worlds- George and Geoff are putting their best feet forward - if you're in the tiniest bit a Legion fan there will be no page that won't be sticky with your fancream. Everybody's there in the first issue. Everybody.
A nice
review of Marvel Adventures Iron Man #12 is out there floating in the internet sea. Somebody throw it a line.
Legion!
Almost missed this - some Legion of Super-Heroes stuff came outlast week- a few preview pages for Final Crisis: Legion of 3 worlds, setting up the main villain(s)- here ya go-
I'm telling you - floor fight
It'd not overShe's going to have blowouts in W.Va and Kentucky - 75- 25.
I haven't seen any polls for Puerto Rico yet... she could win the last 5 of 6... and then Florida and Michigan.
She's not giving up. I wouldn't be surprised to see her on the campaign trail in December....
What-
What did Mockingbirds sound like before cars?
'Cause half of my local bird's cries are automobile related... squeaks and revvs and car alarms and keys turning in ignitions.
And were they always nocturnal, or is it just because of the light pollution in L.A that they sing all frigging night?
