Hey! I want some Big Top points, too!

I have no idea what it all means or what the hell it's supposed to be selling, but here's a new commercial featuring a couple of really, really rich guys...



I like it, mostly for how damned strange it is. The Conquistador? Showering in your clothes? A computer that's like a cake? Now that's funny stuff. A lot funnier, say, than those annoying Mac commercials that waste the talents of John Hodgman, one of the funniest guys on the planet.

OK, go ahead, Mac cultists. Tell me how I'm wrong.

Need another reason not to support Sarah Palin?

Howzabout this? She doesn't support your rights to read what you want. Here are the details, from an article in TIME:

(Former Wasilla, Alaska Mayor John) Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times.

"She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast."

That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

Nice, eh? Just the sort of close-minded religious nut we want one shaky heartbeat away from the highest office in the land. Don't let that carefully crafted "hockey mom" image fool you. She's a mom all right -- that mom in my neighborhood who tried to convince my parents to stop me from playing Dungeons & Dragons as a kid because it was a tool of Satan. My parents had enough common sense to see that woman for what she was.

Let's hope the voters have same common sense in November.

Who are these people?

Having a bit of time on my hands now that CATWOMAN has ended, I've been going through my old mini-comics with the idea of scanning in the originals and collecting them in some sort of self-published Lulu-Cafe Press-whatever book. I'm mostly doing this for myself so I can have them in one place, but if I actually complete this project, I'll post a note here at X-Ray Spex. Who knows? Maybe people want to see the sort of goofball comics I came up with before anyone was paying me for it? Keep in mind, I both wrote and drew these books, which might make them more or less interesting, depending on your opinion of my art. (There's a reason I get paid for writing, you know.)

Anyway, I haven't looked at some of this stuff in a long time (most of it was done between 1987 and 1994 or so), and some of it, frankly, mystifies me. I found one strip, called TOGA PARTY, that I have virtually no memory of doing and can't even remember where it appeared. But even stranger was this cover for the third issue of SLICE O' LIFE FUNNIES, my half-assed autobio mini (years before PEEP SHOW and YUMMY FUR, incidentally). I remember what the cover was for...

... but I can't remember who most of these people were. The story was a reunion of my old characters, most of them created even earlier than the mini-comics era, when I was in elementary and junior high school (i.e. the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. Yes, I'm that old.). I remember the story itself -- a fairly serious bit of dark nostalgia inspired by Alan Moore (of course) and a column Howard Cruse wrote for the long defunct mag COMICS SCENE.

I'm not really sure why I'm posting this here -- it's not like anyone else is going to recognize these people, after all -- except for the fact that I thought it was sort of funny that, after trying to sort out DC continuity on CATWOMAN, AMAZONS ATTACK and CAPTAIN ATOM, I found myself hitting a wall when it came to my own continuity. If only someone would be kind enough to set up a Wikipedia entry on this comic.

Anyone? Anyone?

Buy my comics, make me rich: CATWOMAN #82

Well, gang, this is it. The final issue of CATWOMAN hits the stands Wednesday, ending not with a bang, and not with a whimper, but with our hero Selina committing grand theft auto. GRAND theft auto.

There's also plenty of talk between her and that guy who dresses up like a bat, a chase through Gotham and at least a couple of cameos -- namely the people who've been bringing you this comic book for the last few years. Oh, and the word "regurgitant" makes an appearance, too.

Here's Adam's cover, which captures the bittersweet mood of everything coming to an end. I know just how Selina feels...

We never sold big numbers (which is why there's not going to be an issue 83), but we had fun, and what made it even more fun was knowing some of you out there in comicsland were enjoying what we were doing. If you do read this issue, whether you like it or not, take a second to swing by the comments section and put in your two cents. I'd love to hear from you.

I don't have anything else lined up right now, but I'm guessing it's just a matter of time. And when I hear about my next project, I'll make sure you hear about it, too. In the meantime, keep visiting the blog. Unlike Selina on that cover, it's not going anywhere.

A Day at the Fair, Part 2: Punk Rock Lives!

I'm a fan of punk rock, as you probably realize if you read this blog for more than three posts. The Ramones are my favorite band of all time, and I've gone through periods of obsession over the Clash, the Stooges, the Sex Pistols and all the other usual subjects.

But sometimes, now, in the 21st century and as a 41-year-old father, I feel like the spirit of punk rock has died, killed by mainstream co-opting and left to die on the floor of Hot Topic. The real thing -- the take-no-prisoners breed of punk that thrived in New York and London in the 1970s -- it just doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Unless, of course, you're at the Winnebago County Fair...

I can't remember the name of the ride, but it was something along the lines of "Rock 'n' Roll Express," and the outside was beautifully decorated by this intricate mural that, on this section, paid tender tribute to those punk rock pioneers, the Sex Pistols. That's obviously Sid Vicious, front and center in the green shirt, with Johnny Rotten to his left, and I guess that's Paul Cook behind Sid, banging away on the drums, though Paul always sported blond hair. That might be Steve Jones to Johnny's left, barely visible here with his guitar and sunglasses, but it might also be someone from the next section of the mural. Elton John? Corey Hart? Who knows?

I didn't hear any Pistols songs coming out of the ride's cranked-up loudspeaker, but I did hear a bad cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," and the rest of the ride features images and logos of other bands in a blatant and proud display of trademark violation.

Now that, my friends, is punk rock.

A Day at the Fair, Part 1: I'll never forget this, that's for sure

Remember the days right after Sept. 11, 2001, when we were still shaking from the impact of the terrorist attacks? Remember the flags flying everywhere, and the ubiquitious image of those guys raising Old Glory over the rubble of the World Trade Center?

Take heart, America. You can relive those days right now, in the year 2008. Where? Why on the merry-go-round of your local county fair. Here's what one of the horses at last weekend's Winnebago County Fair looked like...


OK, you can see the eagle and the color scheme, but can you see the image in enough detail? Allow me to zoom in a bit closer...

There you go. The guys hoisting the flag, the towers in flames, the "We Won't Forget" and, of course, the tear in the eye of the eagle.

I know just how he feels.

Coming tomorrow in Part 2: Punk rock lives!

The Fall Reading List

OK, so it's been a while since I've posted anything new here, and the last time I actually did post something, it was just the usual self-serving hype for one of my comic books. What can I say? I've been busy with the usual -- work, writing, child, and, of course, the whole other blog I write (and, not incidentally, get paid to write). So something had to fall by the wayside, and I'm sad to say it was ol' faithful X-Ray Spex here.

But I'm going to try and change my ways here, friends, and get back on track posting to the blog. Truth is, it's something I enjoy doing and it helps me clear my head a bit of all the pop culture debris that tends to accumulate up there. And, this being fall, time of cooler weather, more time inside and lots of new TV shows I have no interest in watching, I thought I'd share my tentative list for autumnal reading. I'm hoping to make it through most of all of these books before the first flowers of spring bloom (Have I mentioned I hate spring? I do. Not a big fan of summer either, now that we're on the subject.) and I have to start cutting the damn grass again.

If you've read any of 'em and care to share your thoughts, please do. Or, if you've got some recommendations based on these picks (you know -- like Amazon!), bring them here.

FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL by Hunter S. Thompson -- I'm about a quarter of the way through this one and enjoying quite a bit. I've read it before, but it seemed like a good book to re-read this year, for obvious reasons. I had considered re-reading Richard Ben Cramer's excellent WHAT IT TAKES, but I just don't have time between now and election day.

KING DORK by Frank Portman -- I've heard nothing but great things about this latter-day CATCHER IN THE RYE (just dig that jacket design) and I used to be a big fan of the band Mr. T Experience, largely due to Dr. Frank's razor-sharp lyrics. Haven't started it yet.

STRANGE AND STRANGER: THE WORLD OF STEVE DITKO -- The wife, bless her heart, got me this for my birthday, and I've just paged through it so far. Big, beautiful examples of Ditko's work, with astute analysis by author Blake Bell. I did skip ahead and read the chapter on Ayn Rand, and it was fascinating.

THE COMPLETE CHESTER GOULD'S DICK TRACY -- I'm still working on Vol. 4 (yeah, yeah, I know I planned to finish it long ago), but I just haven't had a chance to sit down with it. My all-time favorite comic strip, bar none, and I'd better get cracking, because Vol. 5 is due out at the end of the month.

THE FILM CLUB by David Gilmour -- This doesn't really count as a fall book, because it's still summer and I'm already done with it (birthday gift from mom -- thanks, mom!), but I wanted to mention it. Pretty interesting tru-life tale of a father who takes his screw-up son out of school and watches movies with him instead. It's a plan so crazy it just might work. Nice look at the power of film, but I question this guy's taste in movies -- which I find myself doing with almost any book related to the subject.

DOWNTOWN OWL: A NOVEL by Chuck Klosterman -- Klosterman's probably my favorite pop culture writer these days, and I was intrigued enough by the excerpt of his aborted novel in KLOSTERMAN IV to spring for a whole book. Plus, I just found out today that he's coming to Rockford early next year to speak. We don't get many author-types in these parts, so I'm glad we're getting one I actually like.

SNUFF by Chuck Palahniuk -- And speaking of authors I like named Chuck, it's the new book from the man who brought us such heartwarming family fare as FIGHT CLUB, CHOKE and the short story about the guy whose intestines were sucked out through his .... well, never mind. After a slow start, Palahniuk's latest novel, RANT, really grabbed me (it's a time travel novel, believe it or not) and I'm looking forward to reading this one.

MY EDUCATION -- by William S. Burroughs -- A whole book of Burrough's dreams? Really? How did I not know this existed? (And while we're on the subject of the Beats, I've got a tentative plan to read or re-read most of Kerouac's stuff, from ON THE ROAD to THE DHARMA BUMS to DR. SAX and beyond. We'll see how that goes.)

THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald -- Everyone one else by me has read it, and I keep reading books that quote it, so I figure I might as well read it for myself. Besides, my wife's copy just sits there on the shelf, staring at me.

CINEMATIC STORYTELLING by Jennifer Van Sijll -- I love books about movies, and I love books filled with cinematic techniques I can swipe for comic books even more. This volume is loaded with them. Here's just one example that'll change the way you watch movies: In many classic Hollywood films, when the hero enters the scene, it's from the left, but when the villain enters, it's from the right. That's because in Western countries, left to right motion seems natural to us, but right to left seems a bit off. How about that?

AMERICAN FLAGG by Howard Chaykin, et. al -- And finally, I'm re-reading what might be my favorite comic book of all time, Chaykin's still-ahead-of-its-time FLAGG in the hardcover edition I never thought I'd live to see. And you know what? It's a damn good read with more stuff packed in each issue than I remembered. When I got to the end of issue one, I couldn't believe that was only a single issue. Wakka Ding Hoy!

Buy my comics, make me rich: CATWOMAN #81

This is (almost) it, kids, the penultimate issue of CATWOMAN. (At least by me and for now). It's an action-packed one, with Selina pulling off a penthouse heist, a truly nasty villain and a guest appearance by that guy starring in the billion-dollar blockbuster now playing at a theater near you. Here's the cover, by Adam Hughes, as always...

Interior art, also as always, is supplied by the exquisite team of David Lopez and Alvaro Lopez, with colors by Jeromy Cox and letters from Jared K. Fletcher. And, as long as running the credits, Nachie Castro edited the whole thing.

Comments? As always, bring 'em here -- and be sure to stop by a month from now for the final issue.