December 31 - So, here it is...mere moments from 2006, and I have spent much of the day reflecting on the past year. After serious contemplation, and no small amount of procrastination, I offer here the list of...

WOMP's Top Ten Wild-Eyed Rants Or Wide-Eyed Surprises of 2005!

Number Ten (a rant) - I hate the animated "show," Super Milk Chan. HATE IT! It's a first step in the decay of society!

Number Nine (a surprise) - I painted a mural for the Prairie du Chien Museum at Fort Crawford! Never saw it coming.

Number Eight (a surprise) - I actually completed a 24-Hour Comic (Continuity Crisis)!

Number Seven (a rant) - I've decided that geeks, nerds, and dorks are my favorite kind of people!

Number Six (a rant/surprise) - I had a crazy, vivid dream about the mysteries of life. I posted it here in the WOMP-Blog (on February 18th) under the title The Ladder at The End Of The World.

Number Five (a rant) - I went off on the revolutionary emergence of what I called Virtual Property.

Number Four (a rant) - What's with all of the emphasis on realism in comic books? Whatever happened to cartooning?

Number Three (a surprise) - I was asked to provide illustrations for Oziana again! And I did...thirteen of 'em!

Number Two (a surprise/rant) - After nearly six months of rabid fanticipation, I missed the Sin City movie!

Number One (a surprise) - Early in 2005, I made the conscious decision to live my life from now on with a fundamentally new point of view; ART IS MY JOB! And I have (for the most part)! It's not a hobby. It's not a goal or dream. It's my job! Whatever energy I might have put into a dumb "real" job, I will instead focus on my art. To me, that's the biggest surprise of 2005!

So, there it is. Not the most exciting list, I suppose...especially from a year that saw many "Top Ten" lists, including "most fun to draw" comic book characters, Mundtisms, things I've learned in my 115 years on Earth, and the popular WOMP's Top Ten Favorite Cartoonists You've Probably Never Heard Of (But Should Have). The full story of 2005 may be written later with a little historical perspective, but, for now, I will remember both the many times I spouted off about something that was eating at me, as well as the many pleasant surprises of my re-invigorated cartooning "career." So, to all of you beautiful Friends of WOMP, I leave you with my wishes for you to have a Happy New Year, and, of course, the Comic Book Character Of The Day: The Phantom Stranger!

December 30 - Well, 2005 is almost over. What was it all about? It's hard to sum up a year without a little perspective that a few more years removed may provide, but that doesn't stop most people. For example, about an hour ago, I watched the "Year's Best" episode of Ebert & Roeper. They admitted on air that they were a bit surprised to realize that 2005 may have been one of the best years for film ever. They went on to say that, had they thrown out the films on their "Top Ten" lists, their numbers 11 through 20 would still be great choices. The conversation reminded me of one that Roger Ebert had with his late partner Gene Siskel many years ago. Somewhat despondently, Mr. Ebert asked whether Mr. Siskel thought that any of the movies of that year (1989 maybe?) would be remembered in the future. To his credit, Mr. Siskel replied "Yes...it didn't do well in the theaters, and it's not on many lists of the year's best, but I think that the little film Field of Dreams will be seen as a classic someday." Today, 15 years later or so, his prediction has proven to be true. Now, as I type this, I am watching C-SPAN coverage of a symposium on images in journalism, in respect to their impact and truthfulness as reporting tools. It was very interesting to hear the nation's top news editors (USA Today, CNN, etc.) talk about how they make their decisions, and even more interesting to hear of their admitted failings (later-revealed fake photos, photos delivering an impact perhaps greater than the actual story, etc.). They then took questions from the audience. Two journalism students asked questions that, although asked separately, sort of tie together in my mind. The first asked which images from Katrina would the editors choose as iconic of the event, and the other asked about how the news people hoped to literally impress the coming e-generation with individual, representative images. As these men (all men, each about 50 years old) struggled to answer, it occurred to me that not only do they, and we, lack that perspective of time to properly answer these queries, they also could only imagine the answers in terms of what they knew...which was not e-anything. I am sort of in between those editors and those inquisitive students in both age and experience, so I feel unusually empowered to offer my own impressions on what 2005 will mean to the future. Well, maybe I should say that I'll offer my suspicions of what 2005 will mean to the future. First, in spite of the loss of giants like Johnny Carson , Richard Prior, and Pope John Paul II, 2005 will someday be remembered more for who survived than who died. Disaster after disaster struck the people of this planet in '05 (especially if you stretch the year a bit to include the tsunami of the last few days of 2004), and they claimed a hefty percentage of the populace. In the future, people will be talking about how they survived (much like The Depression), marking the year as a planet-wide life-altering experience. Second, I imagine that 2005 will be seen, if only because it fell in the middle of the decade, as a watershed year for personal technology. In fact, with the iPod and X-BOX 360, it may be seen as the dawn of a type of revolution in how we live. I told my co-worker at the dread "real" job that he will one day remember fondly when his house a computer room, with a specially designed computer desk, much the way my parents' generation may be the last to remember gathering with their families around a cabinet-sized radio. In fact, the very word "computer" seems to be going the way of the word "dungaree." Thirdly, I can agree (in principle, since I've not seen many films this year) that this may be seen as one of the best movie-years ever. It may also, sadly, be seen as the last time that such a statement would matter to anyone. It seems to me that films are becoming expensive marketing campaigns for DVD releases. Much in the same way that a store will jack up the price of an item from $4.00 to $6.00 for a day, only lower it back to $4.00 the next with a sign that says "Was $6.00," most DVDs today have not just gobs of special features, but extended versions of the original films themselves, not available to be seen by theater-goers. Lastly, I sincerely hope that 2005 will be remembered as "the worst it got before it got better." Hurricane seasons. Iraq. Saturday Night Live. Your life. My life. This past year has been, well...not so much fun for most of us. Things can always get worse, of course, but I like to think that they may get better instead. So, here's to us, and the hope for a better tomorrow! Oh, and speaking of "tomorrow" (although it's actually already 7:00AM), look for my own annual Top Ten year-in-summary list here in the ol' WOMP-Blog tomorrow (ooh, the fanticipation begins!). Now, your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Jimmy Olsen!

December 29 - OK, OK...it's actually 7:00AM on the 30th as I type this, and I really need to get to bed. I had another unfortunately memorable stint at the dread "real" job today (er, I mean yesterday...or whatever), after which I tried to get a lot of art stuff done here at WOMP Central. Now I'm zapped. And I have to get up in just a few hours (like 11:00AM). So, I guess, even though this is one of the last entries I can make in the ol' WOMP-Blog in 2005, I'm going to whimp out and just leave you with your Comic Book Character Of The Day: The Mad Hatter!

December 28 - What can I say? I can't help it. I want to post something fun and informative for you here on the ol' WOMP-Blog, but I'm preoccupied with feelings of end-of-the-year-and-didn't-do-a-darn-thing ennui (would that be annui?). This year, unlike in years past, the sense of "focus on my failures" seems exaggerated by my recent landmark birthday (the big 115). It coincided with the 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, so the television news channels were presenting retrospectives of his career and life that day. Imagine (oops, pun not intended) my shock when I found out that John Lennon was the same age that I am now when he died! In the same amount of time on this Earth, he had become a cultural icon, while I have remained a cultureless idiot. Now I'm haunted by the thought that, should a similar tragic fate be mine this year, I won't have made any impact on anything anywhere. Not that I think my "artistic voice" is somehow so "important" that it should be impacting stuff, but I've been haphazardly attempting to be creative for...ugh...something like thirty years, with few results. And I'm not just whining again. I'm talking about time investment versus return, a real concern for anyone in any pursuit. The problem may be that I am setting the bar too high in hoping to have made any sort of impact in a world that is jam-packed full of literally millions of more talented and creative people than I. It's not like I have a real fear of mediocrity or failure ('cause I'm not stupid...I know that "fame," especially John-Lennon-type fame, is WAY out of my reach), it's just a question of seeing some quantifiable, tangible progress in my pursuits. That brings me back to my annui. As the days zip by on the way to 2006, I see my "career" zipping right down the drain into futility and obscurity. I really don't know just what I think I'm supposed to get done in any given year, but whatever it is, I've never done it. As any of you long-suffering long-time readers of the WOMP-Blog know all too well, I go through this every stinkin' year. Like I said, I can't help it. I'd like to imagine that this impulse, to strive to do more and bigger things, is actually an admirable attribute shared by successful people, but the truth is that I'm just nuts. Oh, well. After a few days, this intense annui will revert back into my normal barely-masked daily disappointment. Until later, then, I leave you with your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Turok, Son of Stone!

December 27 - Long day. Not much energy. How about a VERY short essay?

Comb It Out

I begin the day with a matte of squirrelly hair on my head, very closely resembling a clot of dusty antique toupees stapled to my skull. Only a hot shower and "lather, rinse, repeat" can bring my "do" back to neutral. Fresh from a good wash, my hair is clumpy, dark and damp, much as it was in photos from my first day on Earth. Hello, comb. Hi, mirror-me. Shall we get to work? My hair goes through several phases en route to one of two final products. Product One is what I call Bachelor Hair. Basically, it progresses thusly; Moe Howard, then Mike Ditka, then baseball cap (thus, Bachelor Hair). That's a good day for my hair...and me. Then there's Product Two, which I alternately call either We Are Devo or Funeral Hair. Both are created through this process; Moe Howard, Mike Ditka, John F. Kennedy, Harvey Korman, Ronald Reagan. The result is a part like the Tropic of Cancer, and hair that is as implacable and dark as the Rock of Gibraltar. Either design gets me through the day, but tossing during sleep inevitably brings me right back to squirrelly antique toupees. In many ways, the process resembles the creation of art, which, in turn, mimics life (and vice versa). From the chaos comes deconstruction, then a need for choice. First, of comfort versus order, finally of presentability in respect to personality. This result lasts until it descends back into chaos, starting the cycle over again. All of this sits very strangely on my head. Luckily, I comb it out every day.

Hmmm. OK. Whatever. I didn't know where that was going, really, so thanks for sticking it out with me. As a reward, here is your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Moon Knight!

December 26 - 'Sup? Hey! What's the deal with you, loner superhero? I mean, yeah, we get it; you're a twisted, emotionally crippled crimefighter with a sense of darkness (Batman, Herbie The Fat Fury, etc.), but none of you are real loners. You hang out with larger groups of friends and co-workers than me! Now, the Unabomber...there's a loner. You so-called loner superheroes never live up to your billing. Even the mindless, shambling Man-Thing has had more "team-ups" than Paris Hilton. Is there anyone out there in superheroland who really is a loner? The Punisher? Don't make me laugh! He has a support staff that would make most doctors jealous. Spider-Man? Hmm. Not an obvious choice, as he is a loner mostly because people don't like him, not the other way around. Even at that, he's been a member of the Avengers, Defenders, and even the Fantastic Four! And what "loner" marries a hot redhead? Let's see...who else is there? Jonah Hex? Well, yes...sort of. As a nineteenth century gunslinger, he was the epitome of a loner, but he wasn't a superhero. As "Hex" in the far-flung future, he's a sort of superhero, but no longer a loner. No, no...he's not a true "loner superhero." Even ones who are virtually "loners," like Daredevil, have had many group affiliations, romantic relationships, or sidekicks. As far as I can tell, the only true loner super-characters are OMAC (and even he had Brother Eye), and The Crow (who had, well, a crow...depending on the incarnation). So, that all having been said, can we all stop calling Wolverine a "loner" when he is a core member of one of the most famous groups in comics? Can we see someone like Ghost Rider as more than a troubled outsider, like he's some sort of James Dean from Hell (James Demon?). What these characters are is closer to being rebellious, antisocial, maladjusted, or - gasp - something more complicated than just a "loner." Besides, most loners (except that Unabomber guy) would prefer to live in a world in which they could trust, or even love, people, but proven history and cruel reality prevents it. Lots of people hate Robin, the Boy Wonder, seeing him as an antiquarian albatross around the neck of an otherwise twenty-first-century-ready Batman. Me? I see these characters as, well, characters. They are not meant, nor designed, to be literal interpretations of real people or situations. They are avatars of their artists' dreams and fears, seen now (in the case of Batman and other older characters) with due respect to what has been created before. These artists have to create stories that have impact of some sort, and that naturally leads them away from loners. Loners are not only scarce, they are BORING! What's the point of following a character with no personal interactions deeper than ordering a pizza? How much internal dialog can clog thought balloons before it feels like the character thinks too slowly (if not too much) before or after each action? Another character, be it side-kick or team-mate or whatever, brings out the character's motivations in a natural and quickly understood way. This is part of the reason why I long ago abandoned my own "loner" character, Vladic, in favor of Monkey. The idea of a true loner character is just creatively flat, so go away, loner superhero stereotype cliche! We're on to you! Now, your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Gyro Gearloose! Oh, and I meant to mention that I have a new comic loaded up on the WOMP-Site for everyone. From a few years ago, it's the mini-comic Monkey WINTER FUN Special #1! Click on the title to check it out! See ya!

December 25 - Hey there! I hope you all had a great day. I spent almost every waking moment of it with one set of family members or another until just a few hours ago, during which time I ate WAY too much food. With the exception of one brother-in-law, I've seen everyone in my own, and my wife's, immediate family over this last week. Even my Grandpa! Now, I just want to hunker down and get some artwork done. Yes, I have a few art jobs due in the next couple of weeks, but, more than that, I'm suddenly filled with the overwhelming (if annually predictable) sense that I haven't done anything all year! If I can squeeze out a few more drawings that bear my 2005 signature (remember; my "autograph" changes each year), I will feel less like the loser that I am. So, between the late hour (it's 4:30AM on the 26th as I type this), the fifteen pounds of Christmas dinner rolling around in my hyper-extended fat gut, and that feeling of rapidly disappearing opportunity for '05 accomplishments, I'm going to leave you for now. Here, presented with no offense intended toward anyone who might, well...who might be offended by it, is the Comic Book Character Of The Day: Santa Claus!

December 24 - That was fun. Another 10 rounds of sparring with computer viral threats has left me and the beleaguered WOMPuter bloodied, but not bowed. With a single exception, which still eludes me like a boxer displaying fancy footwork, I have eliminated all of the recent complications that struck this poor computer. So, now I'm back, ready to post more...uh, just what do I post here? It's been so long that I can't remember. Hmmm. Well, let's start off with some old business. Here are the Comic Book Characters Of The Past Few Days: December 20 - Green Arrow! December 21 - Red Raven! December 22 - Green Lama! December 23 - Red Ryder! See a pattern? Anyhoo, I wanted to tell you all about the crazy amount of art work that I have lined up right now. My schedule is so full (for a change) that I may have to ask for a leave of absence from the dread "real" job just to get the extra couple of hours. If stuff would keep coming in at this rate, I would have to quit the dumb "real" job (uh, is it too late to tell Santa what I want for Christmas?)! All of this work has, of course, rekindled my obsessive/compulsive tendency to waste gobs of time organizing unrelated stuff. It's an odd variation on procrastination, in that I am not just putting off work, I'm actually compelled to wear myself out doing other work. Oh, well...I'm still getting art stuff done, just not very quickly. Tonight, for example, the WOMP Staff and I spent almost two hours reading aloud from a fantastic old book that I bought through eBay! It's an original 1835 collection of 1834 letters from a New York adventurer from who traveled to the western frontier of the United States...WOMP's hometown of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin (or, as he called it, Ouisconsin)! This guy was meticulous in his descriptions of everything from the appearance of the inhabitants, to the types of dogs in town, to which of the local girls he thought were the cutest! It's an amazing account of life in those days, complete with his encounters with a future president, Colonel Zachary Taylor, and the son of another, William Henry Harrison (named after his father, General Harrison). We took turns reciting from the book (being careful to wear white gloves while cradling it in our hands), eating up lots of valuable artwork time...but I don't care. The book is so full of genuine (and intended) humor, interesting details of historic interest, and surprisingly modern attitudes toward the many types of people he encountered, that it reads like a radio play. In fact, I really think that I might adapt it for a stage play or something someday. For now, though, I'll have to put that off until I'm supposed to be getting some other project done instead. Well, I hope that everyone will have a very Merry Christmas. Now, here's the Comic Book Character Of The Day: Green Goblin!

December 19 - Happy tidings, dear WOMPlings. A couple of interesting things on my mind tonight. First, I was struck again today by the continuing nerdification of Pop Culture. When I was a wee young scribbler, oh so many years ago, I literally had nerdy dreams featuring King Kong, Narnia, and Batman, never imagining that I could some day see all of them on the silver screen in the same year! It's like all of my geeky fantasies are not only becoming reality, but the rest of the world is waking up to the amazing world of imagination that, until now, I have only seen in my heart (OK, that sounded a bit fruity, but you know what I mean). It used to be that the things in which I found interest caused me to be ostracized for being weird and, perhaps, a bit lost in that "amazing world of imagination." That's what made me a nerd (well, that, and the whole awkward, greasy, oddly-shaped dorfus thing I have going on). Now, people are actively celebrating the stuff that once made me weird, and, to me, that's weird! Another thing that crossed my mind today was the rapid pace at which 2005 is evaporating into history. Yikes! This one really did go flying past. Oh, and, speaking of the march of history, another of my heroes, William Proxmire, passed away last week. He was a long-serving US Senator from Wisconsin, and one of the most respected politicians in American history...probably because he was the last good one. He was a paragon of honesty and integrity in a business that often quickly abandons both. In one of his last re-election runs, he spent less than $2000 on the entire campaign, refusing to accept any donation greater than one dollar. Being able to vote for him before his retirement is one of my most proud achievements. It is only fitting that flags all over Wisconsin are at half-staff. Let's see, I had something else to talk about...OH, yeah! How could I forget? I have finalized a deal today to provide the illustration for the COVER of an upcoming issue of Knucklebones magazine! Yowza! How cool is that? The details are, as usual, probably best kept a secret for now, but I can say that it will be a painted illustration of three people and board games. Ah. I actually remembered everything I wanted to talk about! Huzzah! All that's left to do is post the Comic Book Character Of The Day: Aquaman!

December 18 - Ahoy-hoy, WOMPsters! How are ya? Good, I hope. Me? I'm just swell. The Mundt's had "Christmas" today, a week before the actual day. Because of the schedules of all of the medical personnel in the group, we had to scramble to put together a traditional Mundt family holiday a bit earlier than originally planned. It went well, but I had to leave early to go into the dopey "real" job. Oh, well...at least I got to see everyone for lunch. Oh, and I got several different A Charlie Brown Christmas books as gifts. Why? Because the classic animated television special and I debuted on the same day! Cool, eh? Lots of neat things are roughly the same age as I, like the movie Mary Poppins and The Super Bowl, but good ol' A Charlie Brown Christmas and I have been entertaining children and warming hearts together since that fateful December day 115 years ago. It was on the TV just the other night, too. I watched the whole thing, with our surround-sound turned up so that I could groove on that awesome music. In many ways, that TV special was one of my earliest creative influences. It's a gem of seemingly simple storytelling, with a storyline that might be too well-known now to see how unusual and innovative it was when it first aired. In fact, its brilliant uniqueness may be the secret of its longevity. Just like me! Ha ha ha! Anyhoo, here's your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Nick Fury!

December 17 - OOPS! Another "no show," except for your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Kid Flash!

DECEMBER 16th, 2005 - Did you have a good one? As long-time readers of the ol' WOMP-Blog know, my high school friends and I began celebrating December 16th - because it comes only once a year - for a LONG time...in fact, this marked the TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF DECEMBER 16TH CELEBRATIONS!! Yep, believe it or not, we've been observing this odd holiday since December 16, 1980. I will reprint, below, the "origin" poem that I posted last year, but now I just want to elaborate and reflect on the events of that day, a quarter century ago. It was my Freshman year in high school, and I had the amazing luck to be one of a group of extraordinary friends. For whatever reason, we called ourselves the Keystone Kopps. The group consisted of Mike, Joe, Karl, another Joe, Bill, me, and Joel, who (if anyone was) was the "leader" of the group. In fact, in those waning days of 1980, I was really more Joel's friend, and therefor only tangentially friends with the others. They, too, had similar relationships with each other (except Karl and Mike who had known each other since childhood). Joel was the kind of charismatic kid who magnetically drew nerds to him like a comic book convention with free admission. And why wouldn't he? Not only was he smart, funny, and inventive, his space-age house had a map of Middle Earth painted on a wall, a working harpsichord in the living room, a red spiral staircase leading to the entertainment center, and an enclosed courtyard complete with a pond with a waterfall. I became his friend in the fourth grade, and this kid, who the same age I was (or maybe even a little younger) became one of the greatest influences of my life (thanks also to his amazing parents, who taught me how to play chess, got me some of my earliest art jobs, and always had time to talk to us, not down to us). By December of that first year in high school, our little core group of Joel, Mike, Karl, Joe, and me, had been joined by fellow Frosh (the other) Joe (who had come from another school), and Bill, who was two years ahead of us. We had all sorts of weird, nerdy fun together, from performing Woody Allen plays during lunch, to arguing about politics, to repeatedly listening to (and memorizing) Nat "King" Cole's Route 66. When that Christmas season rolled around, however, the future of the Kopps was in doubt; Joel informed us that he and his family was moving away. It was quite a blow. I remember thinking "Now what am I going to do? I won't have any friends...just Joel's friends." That "first" December 16th was the last day of school before Christmas vacation. We were all feeling a little, oh, I don't know. Something between sad and worried. Joel suggested that we exchange presents. None of us had expected to do so, but we decided to try to scrap stuff together during lunch break and study halls that we would then exchange after school in the never-properly-locked chorus room. I can not for the life of me remember what I gave everyone (probably some drawn junk of some sort), but I remember what Joel got for me. Well, actually I don't remember the gift, but I definitely recall the hand written "card" that was attached to it (see the poem, below). It was good old-fashioned dumb fun...so much so that we, Joel's "left-behinds," made it an annual tradition. For years, through high school, college, and beyond, we've exchanged crappy gifts, sent strange greetings, and spread the word of December 16th to everyone we can. Today, the Keystone Kopps are doctors and artists and even a mayor, but, for at least one day a year, we are those happy teenage nerds again....teenage nerds who became lifelong friends, in part because of what happened twenty-five years ago today. The (sappy, bad) December 16th poem that I posted last year is below, but, first, here is your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Ferro Lad!

The year's 1980, and a small group of friends

Were wrapping up gifts, but not some loose ends.

Seems each one forgot, as Winter Break arrived,

To think of the reasons from which gift-giving derived.

In haste they were preparing to leave school in a huff,

When somebody asked "Are we exchanging stuff?"

Strange as it seems, for they were all so close,

They hadn't bought presents for the pals they liked most!

A scramble ensued, and somehow presents were found.

Some were hand made, others had been homeward bound.

At the end of the day, the friends gathered once more

To "exchange stuff" before they ran out of the door.

Well, I don't have to tell you that much fun was had

and that these last minute gifts were comically bad!

A feeling of warmth and friendship so filled the room

That each pal was lifted from their mid-Winter gloom.

The occasion was marked on a hastily-made tag

Which was attached to a gift stuffed into a bag.

The author had penned, in a moment of mirth

A phrase which would travel all over the Earth!

"Happy December 16th" the whimsical note began,

After which the reason to celebrate ran

(As true today as it was then, I fear);

"Because it comes only once a year!"

From that year to this, the friends have spread word of this day

And each year it has grown, in a nutty sort of way.

So, enjoy the tradition, say a toast to your friend

For December 16th is too special to ever, ever end!

December 15 - Hey there, stranger! In a shocking twist, I actually fell asleep at a "normal" time tonight/yesterday. Yep, I was sawing logs and dreaming about flyin' monkeys by 8:00PM...of course, the problem is/was that I then woke up after my usual four hours of sleep, leaving me pumped full of energy while the rest of WOMP H.Q. was asleep. So, having found myself in this situation, I began working feverishly on my "Master List of Chores!" It was awesome! I organized all of my packaging and shipping materials, finally assembled and categorized all of my vintage NASCAR T-shirts, searched (with confusingly futile results) for Superman items for a display at our local library (I'll find the stuff...it just wasn't where I thought it all was), put all of my music (non-data) CDs in the same place, drew some stuff, inked some stuff, planned some other stuff, and created an e-mail December 16th message! That, along with continuing my fight with the new pop-up menace that has plagued us over the last few days, pretty much brings us to now...5:00AM on the 16th. I'm still full of ideas for an entry, but, instead, I think I'd better go to bed so that I get back on my regular schedule, sleep-wise. So, until I post something later today (or, you know, early in the morning of the 17th), I hope that you all have a very Happy December 16th, 2005! Here's the Comic Book Character Of The Day: Kid Eternity!

December 14 - YAY! I'm back! Long story short, the mighty WOMPuter was once again attacked by a slew of nasty viral-ad-spies. Ugh! For HOURS I have struggled to aid the poor WOMPuter in its fight to rid itself of the pernicious infestations. Tonight the worst finally seems to be over. We still get the occasional stupid pop-up, but that's like a kiss from a beautiful stranger when compared to the ugliness that we suffered over the last few days. Oh, and speaking of "the last few days," here are the Comic Book Characters Of The Last Couple Of Days: December 12 - Nightcrawler, December 13 - Black Canary! Anyhoo, now I'm ready to post an entry of substance! Yes SIR, I'm really going to talk about something exciting and important, all right. You just watch! Here goes! Stand back....OK, OK...I gots nuttin. It's not just a cop-out, but I really should get some WOMPuter-based work done while I can. It surprises me to realize how much of my life is now controlled by a finicky box of wires and chips. I will say this, however; I have the next two days off from the dread "real" job, including the special December 16th Holiday, so I will try to post something better than tonight's report. Now, however, offer the Comic Book Character Of The Day: Madame Rouge!

December 11 - OK, now this is getting ridiculous. We had another power outage here at WOMP Central, then yet ONE MORE just an hour ago! That's THREE in the last 48 hours! And no-one is reporting the cause(s). I haven't called the power company because I don't see any advantage in complaining about it unless they were unaware of the problem, and I can't imagine that being the case. Again, I assume that this is all Winter weather related. Whatever is going on, it's playing havoc with the ol' WOMP-Blog posting. Today, before I lose the juice again, I am going to just cut this short...but not before I offer to you the Comic Book Character Of The Day: Tigra!

December 10 - Another power outage here at WOMP Central! This one hit the whole city, as far as I can tell (I assume some power line snapped in the cold somewhere). Anyhoo, because of that, I am posting this "December 10" entry at noon on the 11th! Oh, well. I can't remember exactly what I was going to write about, but I do remember that the kernel of it was an idea of matching famous comic book characters with famous comic book artists. My idea was to come up with the ultimate, most iconic and appropriate combination. The problem is that, in most cases, my sentimentality forced me to choose the character's creator, assuming that every artist that came thereafter was somehow warping the creator's original ideas to fit their own style. Here's an example. I wanted to say that Superman's ultimate artist was Curt Swan, but what about Joe Shuster? Another problem I had with the idea was evolving style. As an example, I would say that Moon Knight's ultimate artist is 1982 Bill Sienkiewicz, but not 1980 Bill Sienkiewicz (too bland) nor 1984 Bill Sienkiewicz (too...well, too Sienkiewiczy). So, I was going to write about all of that somehow, but the power went out...and I was much more concerned with keeping WOMP H.Q. warm! The temperature dropped three degrees in the first half hour, then three more over the next hour! Now that the power is back up, I just wanted to post something to mark my intent to do so last night...proof that I didn't just forget it. OOPS! Speaking of forgetting things, I almost forgot; here's your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Doll Man!

December 9 - Uh, not much again tonight. Basically, I've been thinking about Number 5 on my list of The Top Ten Things I've Actually Learned In My Life (So Far) that I posted yesterday. It's true; my biggest regrets are the things I didn't do. Some of those things came back to me today. And they weren't all earth-shaking, life altering choices, either. Most are just silly snap decisions made in the face of a busy day or promises forgotten over time. An example would be that Jacques Cousteau, famed oceanographer, made a voyage up the Mississippi River late in his life. He had a new, modified Calypso craft that could navigate the shallow waters as he researched and filmed a documentary of the river. I had heard that he was working his way up river, but that he was going to turn around in Dubuque, which is 60 miles downstream from WOMP's hometown of Prairie du Chien. I thought about trying to drive down to see the Calypso, but there was no set arrival date nor time, so it would have been difficult. Later, I heard that, because of the annual flooding, the Calypso could come further, all the way to P.d.C.! I listened to the craft's progress via news reports on the radio until, finally, it was in my own hometown! I can't remember exactly what else was going on that day (see Number 8 on my list), but it was something from which I could either take a quick break, or would be completed in a short while. I decided to finish what I was doing, then drive down to the docks to see the ship. Dumb! Unbeknownst to me, the Calypso docked for less than a half hour, then turned around and headed back toward the Gulf of Mexico and history. I had missed it! And Cousteau and his son had actually disembarked to talk to the gathered locals! ACK! Missing out on that is still one of my biggest regrets. Oh, well. Here's your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Enemy Ace!

December 8 - So, have I learned anything in my 115 years on this planet? This being my birthday, the question has been rolling around in my mind all day. So, have I? I mean, I know that I've learned some things, like comic book trivia and how to read and such, but what magical insights have come to me because of my many, many years of living? Well, first off, don't put your faith in Joe McCarthy, Free Silver, or Enron. Past that, the lessons are small, if they are lessons at all. Keeping with a WOMP-Blog tradition, I offer you a list of them;

The Top Ten Things I've Actually Learned In My Life (So Far) -

10) Don't approach an unfamiliar dog unless you are prepared, if needs be, to fight it.

9) Don't talk about anything unless you are more than 99% sure that you know what you are talking about.

8) What you remember is far outweighed by what you forget, and what you forget might be more important.

7) Everything was better when you were younger, except phones. Those new cell-phones are awesome!

6) Time may not heal all wounds, but it usually wounds all heels.

5) Your biggest regrets are not what you did, but what you didn't do.

4) Exercise extends your life by exactly the amount of time you waste doing it.

3) There can never be justice for what our ancestors did to each other.

2) People everywhere are basically good.

1) It's as sappy as a thousand Hallmark Cards with the right size envelopes, but it's true; love is the most important force in the world. It can only be caught when given freedom, can live after death, can make weak men strong and strong men cry, and is found in those who give it to others. And all sorts of other cliches from Wedding and Valentine's cards.

That's about the sum of it. If I had room for another "Top Ten Thing," it would be something about how nothing ever goes exactly as you plan it, but I couldn't squeeze it in. Oh, well. Over the next 115 years, hopefully I will learn something more profound...I just hope I remember it. Here's your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Oatu, The Watcher!

December 7 - Uh, another little vacation from the ol' WOMP-Blog last night. Sorry. In case you're interested, the Comic Book Character Of The Day for the 6th was The Comedian! Tonight I have no real story or tale of cartooning to relate, but I did have fun today with my own version of the Burning Man art festival. Or, at least the original stated idea behind Burning Man (no "wacky tobacky" or cross-dressing mimes on unicycles). I finally had a day off from the I-wasn't-going-to-mention-it dread "real" job, so I set out to complete a list of tasks that included burning a lot of boxes and old papers in our outdoor fireplace. And I mean OLD papers. Some of the stuff was from the 1940's (don't worry, it was just the tattered remains of newspaper that came wrapped around my Grandma's "good" dishes). A large amount of it, though, was just old photocopies of my artwork, and extra programs for the plays and musical productions that I directed so many years ago. As I watched about fifteen years' worth of my creative life go up in flames, I was reminded of the whole Burning Man thing. The concept behind the festival is to produce some artwork, then toss it into the fire...the point being to create for the sake of creating, then send the inspiration back into the nothingness from whence it came. I might have only been burning copies today, but it was still...I don't know...maybe "nostalgic," mixed with "sad," with a cup of "proud" and just a dash of "feelings of profundity" thrown in. If that feeling was all that Burning Man was about, I'd go! Anyway, soon the fire started to die, the sun started to set, and I started to freeze, so all of those complicated feelings gave way to "get back inside NOW!" That pretty much brings you up to speed with my day. Tomorrow (or, well, today as I see that it is already the 8th) is my 115th birthday, which I only mention to illicit greetings and gifts of cash and comics...oh, speaking of which, here's your Comic Book Character Of The Day: Solomon Grundy!

December 5 - On some other, future day, I will have the time and energy to post a fun little entry here in the WOMP-Blog. Now is not that time. Tonight, I can only give you WOMP's Comic Book Character Of The Day: Colossus!

December 4 - Ok, so I've been griping about my dumb "real" job a lot recently. Whine, whine, whine. Even I'm sick of it. Tonight I want to talk about something else...anything else. Let's talk about...ummm...Oh! I know! I wanted to talk about Dick Giordano! More to the point, I wanted to talk about his art style. Mr. Giordano, known mostly as an inker, I suppose, may very well be one of the most influential artists in all of comics history! I contend (when arguing with myself) that his style of clean, stylish figures and layouts, became the "House Style" at DC, especially for superheroes, from about 1975 to 1985, give or take a few years. Because of his respect in the biz, his many apprentices, and his editorial oversight, I believe that he influenced, or directly steered, the visual interpretations of Batman, Superman and the other biggies for an entire generation of comics fans. The DC artists of those days, like Dick Dillin, Irv Novick, Jim Aparo, Jose Delbo, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Alan Weiss, Mike Grell, Rich Buckler, and George Perez, were all drawing in a style that synced up pretty well with Giordano's. Even Curt Swan's artwork was like a less slick version of the Giordano style. Only Carmine Infantino, who was originally Giordano's boss, was "allowed" a style that did not fit the company mold (excepting, of course, non-super titles like Sgt. Rock and House of Mystery). I used to think that they all, Mr. Giordano included, were really shades of Neal Adams; some intentionally, some coincidentally. There is no way to overstate the influence that Mr. Adams had on his peers, but, it recently came to my attention that most of these other artists had established their styles before Neal Adams showed up. It should be noted that the best of Adams' DC stuff was actually inked by Giordano. Dick Giordano, however, seems not only to have cultivated a House Style, but (perhaps inadvertently) set himself up as the paragon of that style by providing almost all illustrations used in DC advertising and licensing. If you found a Joker sticker in your Pop-Tarts, tossed a Wonder Woman Frisbee, or flew a Superman kite, you were looking at Giordano art. Because of all of this, I reiterate; Dick Giordano may be one of the most influential artist in comics history. I think it's high time we all realized it. Now, WOMP's Comic Book Character Of The Day: The Atom!

December 3 - Nothing tonight except WOMP's Comic Book Character Of The Day: J. Jonah Jameson!

December 2 - Yo. I'm afraid I'm pretty bummed right now. I just said "goodbye" this evening to one of my favorite co-slaves at the dread "real" job who is leaving for another job. It was a triple whammy; I will miss her as a friend at work, of course, but also as one of the few co-laborers that our ever-dwindling department still had (right as the Christmas rush crushes us), and, worse still, her example as an escapee has proven to be an inspiration for another co-worker, who will most likely also quit in the next few days. Beyond all of the unwanted extra work that this will mean for me and my remaining co-workers, it has made me very sad to lose that daily contact with people who have become my friends. Yes, I suppose that I will still see them on occasion, but only in passing at best. There is something special about working with people whom you like. It's not dissimilar to the cast of a show. You are so close, so familiar with each other for an intense period of time, then, before you know it, you've all gone your separate ways. Well, almost all. I'm still there. I'm like the old man of the hills there at the dumb "real" job. The other people come and go, but I've been there since they opened the joint. I have had nearly FORTY different co-workers in my specific area in the years since I started, and I can truly say that I liked all of them (some more than others, but I guess that's just the way it is), but it is getting tiresome to continually get to know them, then lose them, then work my rear-end off to cover their absence. In a moment of clarity, I just happened to be watching Craig Ferguson (of The Late, Late Show) as he interviewed Tom Arnold. Mr. Arnold said that he was a very loyal employee, and, if he hadn't been fired from his meat-processing plant job, he'd still be there. That sounded familiar. I've only quit one job in my life (the one before this current one), have been "downsized" from one (the one before that), and all other jobs were temp positions, seasonal help, or the business itself went under. Now, I'm working someplace where I probably won't get fired or laid off (which is good, right?). Sigh. Oh, well...I'll live. Which reminds me to tell you that my illustrations for the L. Frank Baum anthology are still expected, with a January deadline, but are completely on hold here at WOMP Central until probably after Christmas. Hopefully I will get some time off then to deal with them. In fact, other than doodles, I probably won't be able to draw much of anything for a few weeks. Oh, well. Now, here it is, WOMP's Comic Book Character Of The Day: Veronica Lodge!

December 1 - Yello, everyWOMP. I'm still trying to keep to my plan to post at least some sort of cartooning-related report every day, preferable based on something that happened during that same day. Today, however, nothing really happened. I got up, shaved, showered, dressed, saw the WOMP Staff for lunch, shoveled the driveway and sidewalks here at WOMP Central and at my parents' house, got my paycheck, deposited it, sent out several eBay packages at the Post Office, changed clothes, combed my hair, went to work, labored there in despair and disillusion, came home, warmed up some leftover turkey, ate it as I watched Oprah on The Late Show (a truly classic David Letterman moment), then sat down to deal with the WOMP-Blog. And here I am. So, no cartooning-related stuff today, I guess. Well, the eBay packages were each comics from my collection. Does that count? Hmm. Well, for the sake of forcing myself to write about cartoon stuff at least once a day, whether I can think of anything or not, I say that it DOES count! It's boring, but it counts. Oh, well. I guess I'll leave you with WOMP's Comic Book Character Of The Day: The Tick!