News of the Right

My brother sent me an email that was dictated by my nephew, who apparently loves all things Spider-Man:

Sean:

Dominic has Spider Man questions:

1) Can Sandman be killed?

2) Does Spider Man have a Spider Car like the one you can ride in the arcade in Niagara Falls?



Us

To which I responded:

dear nephew and brother,

so far in the comics, the sandman has only been captured, not killed. i’m not even sure how someone made of sand could be killed. maybe he’ll just get old and die that way. plus, spider-man isn’t big on killing.

and

spider-man never had a spider-car in the comics BUT there was a toy spider-car made for action figures - http://www.megomuseum.com/wgsh/playsets/spidercar.html. however, superman had the supermobile for a while when he lost his powers - http://sayitbackwards.blogspot.com/2007/06/supermobile.html. cool, huh?

oh oh oh! did you see the pictures of the puppies i’m taking care of?

lovelove,

uncle sean

Tired then of my brother as an intermediary, my nephew addressed his questions to me directly:

Uncle Sean:

Thanks. How did Superman lose his powers?

I gave my best answer, only vaguely recalling the origin of the Supermoble and how it tied into the activation of Amazo:

kryptonite dust got caught in the earth’s atmosphere and robbed superman of his powers. he built the supermobile to continue to work for good. the supermobile had all his powers - strength, heat vision, x-ray vision, flight, super breath - and was pretty cool

lovelove,

uncle sean

But Dominic loves Spider-Man, not Superman, so his next email got the conversation back on track:

Uncle Sean:

Why does SpiderMan not have the Spider Car? What if SpiderMan lost his powers? I was just wondering.

Love,

Dominic

*whew*! The kid asks some pretty good questions for a four-year old. My part is to answer them without overwhelming him with information, knowing that the questions will keep coming if he’s unsure about something. Also, I know my brother and Dominic do arts and crafts like their “monster specimen jars”:

…and “Good Guys of Oz”:





…so, I thought he’d be up for an art challenge:

dominic,

peter parker, the guy under the spider-man mask is not wealthy. he usually rides the subway everywhere or walks or rides a bike. a car is too expensive for him. also, in new york, there is a LOT of traffic. imagine if spider-man got stuck in traffic driving to help someone. oh oh! and one of spider-man’s powers is to climb walls, right? it would be hard to make a car climb walls.

HOWEVER, i think YOU should come up with a story about a spider-car then draw it for me. we can read it together the next time i see you

i think spider-man DID lose his powers in the comic book one time. a friend of his, a superheroine called “the black cat” helped him get them back, but i don’t know how he lost them or how he got them back. i’ll ask my friends who love spider-man what happened.

love you THIS MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

uncle sean

My challenge was ignored, but sure enough, he wanted to know more:

Uncle Sean:

Why did SpiderMan have to lose his powers in the comic book? Spiders never lose their powers.

Love you, too.

Dominic

God, I love this kid! So, I respond:

dominic,

what hapened was the two of spider-man’s foes - the scorpion and tarantula - created a machine that took away his powers. eventually, with the help of the black cat, he got them back. you’re right, spiders never lose their powers, but spider-man was born a person, not a spider. he got his powers through an accident.

lovelove,

uncle sean

I’m sure this kid knows I’m a pushover. He knows his Mom is a pushover, so why should any other adult be different? So he turns the challenge back on me BUT he gives me a script to follow:

Uncle Sean:

Could you make me a comic book of SpiderMan? Can you put The Sandman in it trying to kill Peter but SpiderMan caught him in the net with his Spidercar and then the Green Goblin shows up and Peter tries to catch him but he can’t because his net is all full and Venom shows up and then MJ throws a brick at Venom and he goes “Nnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” and then SpiderMan tries to kill Dr. Octopus and then there is a fight and Dr. Octopus dies? He thought he couldn’t but he could. And that’s it.

Dominic

I took a few creative liberties because my art skills have gone down the toilet since I stopped practicing years ago, but also because I’m not going to be the one to introduce him to killing and death (even though he seems to have some awareness of it already). I finished the other day and send this back to him:

For which I got back a simple but lovely:

Uncle Sean:

Thank you!

Dominic

(He had me read it to him twice.)

Awwh! And of course, here’s my little superhero dressed up as his hero:

I love this little guy THIS MUCH!!!!!!!!!

The Columbus COSI is not only host to the inordinately fun CSI: The Experience, but also to a GIGANTIC skeleton (click for the full effect):

According to COSI representitive, Claire Paul, the skeleton is

A sculpture by Tim Rietenbach, an associate professor at the Columbus College of Art & Design. Originally funded from an individual artist grant from the Ohio Arts Council and created for Springfield Museum of Art. This skeleton is 100 feet long, 30 feet higher than the COSI Atrium. It was constructed from fifty rolls of 14-gauge fencing material weighing approximately 1,500 pounds.The skull itself is 11 feet high. Installation of GIGANTIC at COSI is made possible through financial support from: The Greater Columbus Arts Council, The Columbus College of Art & Design. Installed at COSI July 2003.

I was thrilled to see both while in Columbus this past May. I can’t wait to get my nephew there to play.

My brother over at Daedalusrose.com has started his new line of images, A Metafiction of Muses. There will be 13 sisters in all. Below is a detail of the Muse of Small Occurrences. Click on her to see the others.

And it’s about time I start using it, even if it’s terrible-looking. I can only improve, right? This past Friday at an adjunct faculty meeting, the speaker was droning on about 401(k)s or how I can retire in 30 easy years or whatnot, and I did what I always do in meeting to keep from falling asleep: I doodled. I came up with these characters:

whom I’m going to call Toxic Bitch and Alleged Rapist. No idea where those names came from. Now all I need is a premise to work them into a comic strip of some sort. Maybe a “Bonnie and Clyde” kind of thing or political commentary. Something dark.

I also did a sketch of Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a movie better in reputation than execution.





I kinda like how they turned out, but having it on scratch paper isn’t the best way to start a portfolio. Maybe I’ll take a class this summer, assuming I’m not moving by the beginning of July.

But I haven’t practiced drawing in ages, as evidenced by this picture I sent Brian Andersen of his So Super Duper lead character, Psyche, an empath who’s way out of touch with his own emotions. I’ve written about Brian’s comic book before and how much I enjoy it, but really, if I keep doing it, people are going to start talking.

Anyway, my “Dark Psyche” will be in issue #4 of “So Super Duper”, available this month at IndyPlanet. Buy it!

Maybe with a few art classes I could draw my own comic book OR I could leave well enough alone and do some edgy ‘zine work for the coffeehouse crowds.

My brother Scott has some great new pieces up! The first is called “Luna Negra”, and the second is called “The Nightmare of Teeth”. To see more of his art go to his (still-being-built) website www.daedalusrose.com or his myspace page.

Is rhythm genetic? Proof of the negative lies below. Try not to watch more than once, but I’ll be you can’t. The swaying penes keeping their own beats to the song “Adultery” are strangely hypnotic. Oh, yeah: this is art, too.

see the curious hotness beneath the fold

Otherwise I’d have to post some sort of porn disclaimer. And we’re a family business here.

Whatever your feelings about male frontal nudity, photographer Ryan Pfluger has an exhibit in New York’s Envoy Gallery featuring comic booky (and some non-comic booky) pieces such as this:

That is art. Hot art. Hot art with comics. What more does a man need?

–via the good folks at Dudetube.

Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles with Golden Apple Comics is hosting a tribute to Stan Lee. Guy’s like 200, right? Guess they figured he needed honored before the Devil came to get his own. Anyway, the art is WONDERFUL! Some more than others, of course, but one item did get my attention more than the others. And oh! I’m sure it’s cost-prohibitive, but if anyone could get this little guy for me

I would do… well, I’d be in no position to tell you what I’d do. Basically, you’d be telling me what to do. Yeah, I want it that badly. And it would be worth doing.. whatever it was I had to do. C’mon! Look how cute he is!! I would love this little guy more than Stan Lee would, Plus, I’ll put out. Stan Lee would not make you that offer, I guarantee!