July 31 -  Here's your last Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Batman (Michael Keaton)!

July 30 -  Ugh.  It's so...hot.....feel like I'm melting.  Can't think....burning...sweating...ugh...waves of heat...I think I see...what?  Is that a palm tree?  An...oasis?  It...it is!  With water!  Cool, running water!  Yes!  Must walk...no, run to oasis...can barely crawl, but must find the energy...yes!  Almost there!  Look at that pool of beautiful, life-giving water!  I'll dive head-first into...........WAM!  Nothing!  It's a...mirage!  No...no, it should be real!  Drink the dry sand...it must be water...it just MUST be....but, it's not.  It's nothing.  It looked like something, but it's nothing...just like this old-school non-entry here in the WOMP-Blog.  Sorry.  But, hey; at least you get a dripping wet glass full of your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Superman (Brandon Routh)!

July 29 -  Again with the classic non-entry.  Before I list the daily movie character thingee, you might want to take a moment and check out the WOMP Character of The Week, Dr. Wizardo!  Well, as promised, here is your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Swamp Thing (Dick Durock)!

July 28 -  I'm afraid that this month is going out with a whimper, gang.  I appreciate your readership during this busy time for me, so here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Elektra (Jennifer Garner), AND a special BONUS Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Professor X (Patrick Stewart)!

July 27 -  Ugh.  I guessed correctly.  Between the dumb "real" job and art work, I'm too tired, and too busy (that's new) to post much more than your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Cyclops (James Marsden)!

July 26 -  You know what?  I've been thinking about my recent assertion that I'm "For indoor use only."  I think it's not true...or, if it is, it should be amended a bit.  I actually spend LOTS of enjoyable time outside.  I hike through woods, go on picnics, and visit parks.  So, why do I think of myself as an "indoor cat?"  In a word; heat.  It's the heat that forces me inside.  I can't stand it.  And, for those of you unfamiliar with WOMP's hometown of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, I live on a large, broad plain at the base of bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.  Temperatures here are pretty consistently 10 to 20 degrees higher than the general surrounding area.  In other words, when the nearby towns are at a balmy 90 degrees, PdC may be at 105 humidity-soaked degrees.  On the morning we woke up on the "deserted" island a few days ago, TWSBro's on-boat thermometer read "101"...and it was in the shade.  If that had read "70" instead, I probably would have had a fantastic time (in spite of the pirates).  Hmm.  It all reminds me of how Albert Einstein described relativity to a layman.  I'll paraphrase; "A minute spent with a pretty girl would seem like a millisecond, whereas a minute spent sitting on a hot stove would seem like an eternity!"  For me, the transitive property isn't time, it's heat.  Odd.  Well, I guess I'll leave you with your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: The Rocketeer (Billy Campbell)!

July 25 -  Ahoy-hoy.  Welcome back.  You're just in time for the "thrilling" conclusion of...

What I Did On My Summer Vacation 2- Electric Boogaloo

(or No Man's An Island, But Some, Apparently, Are Beaches)

OK.  I left you on a sort of false cliffhanger last night (which, by the way, is keeping with the true history of serials...many of which ended with the hero clearly being blown to bits in an on screen explosion, only to be shown slipping his bonds and escaping before the explosion in the next episode).  When it comes right down to it, we were not ever really threatened by the drunken trespassers who were drawn to my blazing campfire.  In fact, I neglected to mention that they were accompanied by two little kids and a puppy.  I suppose that I can chalk up my threat assessment to the fact that I don't drink.  I have no real experience with drinkers nor drunks, so they all seem like volatile asylum escapees to me...and I have, unfortunately, had some experience with those.  In any case, whether real or imagined, the thought of a possible invasion of a murderous gang of rovers played havoc on my attempts to sleep.  Not that I could have slept all that well anyway.  TWS (The WOMP Staff, remember?) and I shared a tent which was on a sloping beach, so our sleeping surface was not only awkwardly lumpy, but also something akin to a Slip-n-Slide in a miniature sweat lodge.  To make matters worse (or better...it's something of a toss up for me), TWS rolled over, clocked me with her sleep-clenched fist, and then slept on top of me for hours.  I am still surreptitiously running my fingers over the bruises on the back of my head from that.  By daybreak, I was stressed out, beat up, sweat soaked, sleep deprived, thoroughly bored, and in serious need of a 64 ounce Mega-Gulp full of Diet Mountain Dew.  Oh, and there was absolutely no way I was going to...ahem...require the use of toilet paper while I was sharing an island with an indeterminate number of curious drunkards.  Still, I was there for TWS, not my own enjoyment.  I sucked it up and went on, and I found a way to have a sort of "fun" in spite of myself.  For example, TWS and I explored the wooded areas at the heart of the island, where we discovered the very old remains of a boat (maybe even a mid-size paddlewheeler, but it was so deteriorated that I couldn't really tell).  I also played with the kid-element of "and the rest," making sand canyons and tidal estuaries for temporarily captured minnows and clams, explaining the finer points of good fire maintenance and safety, and generally frolicking in an embarrassingly childish and overly-exhausting way.  By noon, though, I was ready to get back to the air-conditioned safety of WOMB...er, I mean WOMP Headquarters.  I packed up our tent and other stuff, then placed everything neatly by the shore.  It was only then that I discovered that the grown-ups had been considering staying another night!  Now, I may have been able to keep up a happy front for twenty hours, but NOT forty!  NOT FORTY!  I know, I know...I'm a big, whining baby, but I put down my foot and demanded to be ferried home...within the next hour or two.  TWS wanted to "get some sun" (no matter what I did, I "got some sun" whether I wanted it or not), so we hung around for just a little while longer.  Finally, we threw our gear into TWSBro's boat, and made the short trip back to reality.  Within minutes, we were home, seemingly no worse for the wear.  I was stinky and tired, yes, but what I didn't know was that now I was in real peril.  I took a shower, then laid down on the couch for about five minutes.  When I stood up, my legs were seized with incredibly painful cramps!  I screamed in anguish as I attempted to squelch the pain by pounding on my thighs.  It was excruciating, and it went on for five full minutes before subsiding to mere aching.  In my life, only a particularly bad toothache, about fifteen years ago, had been more painful.  I realized that I was dangerously dehydrated, and well on the way to a heatstroke, so I started drinking water by the bucketful.  I had one more cramping episode, but it centered on just my right thigh and it passed quickly.  Now, is that ironic?  Anyhoo, somehow I managed to survive everything, but I was in no shape to post a WOMP-Blog entry, or do much of anything else, really.  Over the next week or so, I may not have time to post much either, unless something specifically report-worthy happens.  I've got a ton of art work to do, and I'll be spending WAY too much time at the dread "real" job as well.  Please forgive me.  Right now, though, here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Batman (Val Kilmer)!

July 24 -  I'm back!  About the time I was writing the belated "July 20" WOMP-Blog entry, The Staff and I were invited to go camp overnight on a deserted island in the middle of the Mississippi River.  And I actually did it!  No phones ! No lights!  No motor cars!  In fact, not a single lux-ur-y...well, we did have toilet paper (I bet Gilligan would have killed The Skipper for a single roll).  And, as it turned out, our island (like Gilligan's Island ) was not deserted.  So, just sit right back and I'll tell the tale of...

What I Did On My Summer Vacation 2- The Legend of Curly's Gold

(or Life's A Beach, Then You Sleep On One)

As you know, I'm not an "outside cat."  My product label clearly reads "For indoor use only."  Of course, as these things always go, this doomed/encouraged me to marry an "outside cat."  If she had a product label, it would have long ago faded in the sun.  It's not like I don't go outside (that's the only way to get from one air-conditioned building to another), it's just that I usually do not enjoy it...and therefore avoid it whenever possible.  But, you know what?  Recently, my beautiful wife, also known as The WOMP Staff (and TWS for the rest of this story), faithfully stood by my side for TWO HOURS as I enthusiastically devoured the Masters of American Comics exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum.  She is not a comics fan.  In fact, she said that, after the first 50 or so, looking at all of that original art was, for her, "like looking at a display of hundreds of potholders."  But she did it anyway.  How, then, could I refuse to do something that she wanted, especially when all it would cost me was a box of frozen hamburgers and sweaty inconvenience?  It happened that TWS's kid brother, hereafter referred to as TWSBro, was going to take his young family (um...let's just refer to them as "and the rest") out on an overnight camping adventure, and he invited us.  Silly man.  What was he thinking?  I'd never get involved in something like that...unless asked to do so by long-suffering TWS.  Ugh.  OK, OK.  I said I'd go.  So, we loaded up our car with only what we thought we'd really need on a deserted island.  Of course, 50% of what we took was worthless ballast, and an equal amount of stuff that we should have taken remained at home (see my comment above regarding Gilligan and toilet paper).  We drove several miles away, to the prearranged dock location, in preparation of casting off, but it had been made inaccessible by the abnormally low water level (thanks, global warming!).  For the next three hours, we searched high and low for a place where we could both put TWSBro's boat in the water AND know where in heck we were after we did so.  Eventually, we split into two groups.  I was in the "just leave them standing on the shore someplace" group, while TWS and TWSBro were the entirety of the "we're going all the way back home to put the boat in, and we'll be back to pick you up later" group.  So, I, and "and the rest," played on the beach.  For an hour.  And a half.  The sun was actually setting by the time one of the little speeding darts in the distance turned and headed for us.  After all of that, we ferried directly across the river to a fairly large island we'd been staring at for quite some time.  TWS had already set up a preliminary camp, which we all then expanded upon.  We rushed around, trying to beat the dying of the light, and, somehow, we were up and going before nightfall.  I quickly took over campfire duty.  I may not know, or enjoy, anything about being outside, but I do know how to maintain a fire.  Heh, heh...fire (awesome).  So, hooray!  I had a mission!  I wasn't going to drink beer, play volleyball, dance, limbo, skeet shoot, or whatever else the others might, so I was thrilled to have something to do.  And, man, what a fire!  I had that thing perfectly designed, with just the right combination of protection and airflow, dry lumber and fresh wood, and never any accelerants.  As it turned out, it was a little too good, because it soon drew a rowdy crowd of drunken strangers to our camp.  Having come from all points along the river, these interlopers were "humorous" to the others in our group, but intrinsically threatening to me.  It didn't help that I'd just seen Six Days, Seven Nights the night before (in which modern day pirates, led by Jango Fett, stalk crusty Harrison Ford and delectable Anne Heche after they witness a brutal murder).  In fact, our rough looking camp-crashers were vaguely threatening, saying stuff like "Don't be scared of us.  We only kill people we don't like."  Wait.  That's not vague at all.  That was very threatening.  Quickly formulating a plan, I decided first to be "Mr. Silent."  I've discovered that not talking produces the illusion of strength to a stranger.  I also had my eye on a stiff piece of shaped wood in case I needed a cudgel.  Fortunately, they eventually left, after which everyone decided to go to sleep.  I, however, sat upright in our borrowed tent as I expected to see the pirates return.  An hour or so after everyone else, I finally fell asleep (remarkable, considering also the lumpy sand beneath our meager blanket) thinking "What will the next day bring?"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Now, here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire)!

"July 23" -  Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: The Punisher (Dolph Lundgren)!

"July 22" -  Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: The Punisher (Thomas Jane)!

July 21 -  Yello, WOMPlings.  Once again, I'm a day late (and several dollars short...but that's another story).  It's actually noon on the 22nd as I write this.  I did spend several hours typing away on the stupid Internet last night, just none here in the ol' WOMP-Blog.  By the time I finished those other projects, it was already 3:00AM, and, well, at that time of day, there is no such thing as "I'll just take a little break."  In the blink of an eye, I was fast asleep.  Oh, well.  I don't know what I would have talked about anyway.  I have had a few thoughts about this month's "theme" (comic book movies), but I probably didn't have the energy to talk about them last night.  Now, however, well...I'm heading out the door.  In fact, I already know that I won't be able to post anything tonight, either.  Right now, then, I'm going to once again post your pre-planned Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: The Flash (John Wesley Shipp), AND another BONUS Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Superman (Kirk Alyn)!

July 20 -  It's that time of year again; time for the mega-awesome, super-cool Comic-Con International in San Diego.   Oh, and it's also the time of year when I once again whine about not attending.  But, you know what?  Not this year.  Nope.  I don't care about Comic-Con...well, I care, but it's not like a big deal or anything...OK, it is a big deal, a GREAT BIG big deal, but not to me.  And I know that this sounds like the beginnings of some tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic posting which will slyly reveal how much I really want to be at Comic-Con, but it's not.  I really don't care.  I have so much stuff going on that I probably couldn't have gone anyway.  None of it is as interesting as, well, anything at the convention, but I still have to get it done.  In fact, I'm cutting this a little short tonight so that I can get back to it.  To give you an idea of what I'm up to, I have crossed two art projects off my "to do" list, leaving six others to be completed by Wednesday, and the illustrations for The Cardboard King in Oz to at least be planned by the same date.  I suppose, in the long run (the very long run), this is my best chance for attending Comic-Con in the future!  Hmm.  Well, you've been such a good WOMP-Blog reader, that you deserve something special.  Here is your scheduled Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Judge Dredd (Sylvester Stallone), AND a BONUS Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day: Batman (Christian Bale)!

July 19 -  YIKES!  What a storm we had last night!  I'm posting this entry as being from "July 19," but, because of the nasty rain/thunder/lightning/windstorm on the actual 19th, I'm really writing this at 2:00PM on the 20th.  That's OK, because I don't really have much to say.  I put off, until today, delivering samples of my "art" to The WOMP Staff's connected cousin, so I don't know what, if anything, may come of that.  The only thing of "interest" that I wanted to talk to you about...well, I may have already talked to you about.  Look, I'm just too lazy and forgetful to try to figure-out whether or not I've already written about something that happened earlier this year.  For some reason, I don't think that I did...but I feel like I would have.  Whatever.  It's not even all that interesting nor important.  Basically (and I'm starting to think that I did tell you all this once already), for some unknown reason, and by some unknown hand, the second ever photocopied issue of The Adventures of Monkey, Chicago Comicon Special #2, is listed on Amazon.  In fact, it is the only thing listed under my name.  Not the earlier Chicago Comicon Special #1 (of which there were twice as many printed), not the subsequent minis, not the full-blown The Adventures of Monkey comics, not any other comics work, not any of the illustrations done for dozens of books and magazines, not even any of the Oz artwork I've done.  I've been doing this cartoon-stuff for over twenty years, and the world's largest books-for-sale database lists only that one, 25-print-run giveaway minicomic as the only thing I've ever done.  This all came back to me as The Staff's cousin asked (politely, but with unintended condescension) whether anything I've done has ever been published.  She was just genuinely curious, and supportively so, but my glaring lack of profile or presence in "the real world" came screeching back to me like a runaway train.  It's one thing to think that everything you've done sucks (which it does), it's another thing entirely to find out that, to the world at large, it never even existed!  In fact, outside this, my own WOMP-Site, a cursory Googling of my name produces doctors and diplomats and only the briefest mention of me.  Me, me, me!  OK, so maybe this IS a little self-centered, but (and this is a hard lesson to learn...one with which I am still grappling) an important element of being self-employed is being self-promoting, so this Amazon/Google thing is a fairly big deal.  I don't have the advantage of a publisher pimping my name to trade journals and comics shops.  I have no-one else but me who might try to find my next gig.  That's not to say that 1) I do a very good job of it, 2) I don't still rely on previous contacts to pass my name on to others, or 3) I have a personality which really, really, congruous with self-promotion.  It might seem that I like it, or that I do it all of the time, but I struggle, down to the pit of my gelatinous gut, with promoting myself.  Even the other night, as The Staff's cousin asked about whether I'd been published, all I could say was "Oh, yes.  Yep."  I guess I left it to The Staff to tell her cousin about my Oziana and Baum book illustrations, Monkey comics, etc..  That's OK.  It's pretty embarrassing to have someone else talk about what I do, but, for me, it's so much worse to do it myself.  And that's not necessarily modesty.  I'd like to claim that I'm without ego, and that I don't care about what others think of what I do, but that's, unfortunately, not true.  In great part, I'm reluctant to promote myself because I'm old enough to know that any of my artwork, with which I am temporarily pleased, will ultimately reveal its true suckiness in time.  For some reason, it's just not as obvious to me while I am working on it as it is shortly after its done.  ANYHOO, I wanted to (again?) post a link to that old Monkey mini on Amazon so that you can check it out.  Look at it by clicking HERE!  For now, here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Human Torch (Chris Evans)!

July 18 -  I barely made it through last night's WOMP-Blog entry.  I was nearly asleep by the time I typed the last sentences, which is why there were so many odd typos (mostly omissions...dropped words here and there).  Because of this, I've decided to do something that I don't think I've ever done before; I'm going to edit last night's entry.  In fact, by the time you read this, I will have already done so.  Yes, yes...I have said, sometime in the past two and a half years of blogging, that I wouldn't do this, but that was something of a lie anyway.  Every night, after clacking away on the keyboard with fevered abandon, I have always gone back and proofread, spellchecked, and otherwise edited each entry extensively before I "published" them to the WOMP-Blog.  Last night, I just posted it "as is" so that I could go to bed.  As I re-read it today, the handful of acceptable gaffs which normally infest my rants were more like a series of festering wounds which made all of my efforts look sickly and sad.  Of course, there will still be mistakes in it, but at least they won't be as glaring (at least not to me).  If you've already read it, it won't have changed much, but, if you haven't perused it, please do.  In it I discuss what is easily one of the most personally influential days I've had recently.  Tonight, I had another!  Before I talk about it, I should remind you that, in attempt to keep some of my life somewhat private (although not completely), I have been trying to refer to my beautiful wife as "The WOMP Staff," instead of calling her by her actual name (Hortense).  Anyway, tonight, out of the blue, one of The WOMP Staff's cousins paid Prairie du Chien a visit.  She is the daughter of The Staff's father's oldest sister.  She has lived in Phoenix for many years, and hasn't been back to our area since The Staff was very young (and then just for a funeral).  We had an impromptu get-together at my In-Laws' house where the family talked, looked at old photographs, and tried to re-connect (or, in my case, to get to know The Staff's family better).  It turns out that The Staff's cousin is a successful designer whose upcoming furniture line will be featured in Architectural Digest!  She enjoys the virtually unattainable trifecta of doing what she loves, loving what she does, and getting paid for doing (and loving) it.  It was nice to talk to a person in that position...I was beginning to think that those didn't exist anymore.  Anyhoo, it was a very interesting night, which I am still digesting.  Maybe I'll have something more to say tomorrow.  The Staff's cousin has asked to see some of my artwork...a request which I am nervously contemplating.  She seems pretty connected with art-type folks, so I think I've mentally inflated her possible reactions to a very high level of importance.  In other, more familiar words, I hope she won't hate it as much as I know she will.  Sigh.  Oh, well...here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Catwoman (Halle Berry)!

July 17 -  Greetings, WOMPians.  OK, here is my report of...

What I Did On My Summer Vacation (Part Four)

Later, on Monday, after my stint at the Manitowoc library, we got to do some of the "on vacation" stuff one might expect.  We ate dinner at a nice restaurant (located right across the street from the courthouse, this place had a "law and order" theme, right down to packaging our leftovers in a sealed police evidence box!), we shopped a bit, and we even took a swim in the hotel pool (well, in my case, a "wade")!  The next day, we took some photos of the sites of Manitowoc, hit the farmers' market, got some great bakery items from the Natural Ovens gift shop, and checked out a handful of other little shops.  We also stopped by the library again to say "Thanks" and "Good-bye" to O.F.O.WOMP Brian Simons.  From there, we drove off to Milwaukee, heading toward the Milwaukee Art Museum.  About a month ago, I got a letter from Terry and Delores Burrington, Official Friends of WOMP (and, on a side-note, Terry was the first person to hire me to draw something, way back in the day).  The letter was accompanied by a newspaper article about a traveling exhibit at the museum, called Masters of American Comics!  Knowing we'd be so close to the museum during this trip, I just HAD to see it.  So, armed with directions through the extensive downtown road construction, we found our way to MAM by about 1:00PM Tuesday.  I couldn't wait!  We found the ticket table, bought our all-access passes, and went directly in to the heart of the architecturally dramatic new wing of the museum.  The exhibit is pretty big, with hundreds of beautiful originals and a large number of rarer newspaper comics sections and comic books.  Although extensive, the display is focused on just fifteen of the more (or even most) important artists from the last 100 years.  Without a doubt, the years from 1900 to 1970 were represented by THE "Masters" of cartooning and comics; Windsor McCay, Lyonel Feininger, George Herriman, E.C. Segar, Milton Caniff, Chester Gould, Frank King, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Harvey Kurtzman, Charles Schulz, and Harvey Pekar (yes, this list omits some of the "biggies," like Al Capp and Carl Barks, but it's still pretty darn good).  I have been lucky enough to have seen artwork by most of these artists before, either at Mort Walker's original Cartoon Museum out East, on the walls of The Kubert School (Joe was a big, and early, collector of original art), or at dealers' booths during twenty-five years worth of comic book convention attendance.  This was a little different, though, as many of these originals were THE originals.  For example, along with two other excellent samples of McCay's inventive, mind-tickling art, the enormous original drawings of what are absolutely the most famous and iconic Little Nemo in Slumberland strips of all time, most of which were actually reprinted in The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, were on display.  Not to mention that there were several insanely rare, and important, un-published works on exhibit, including Feininger's original character design sketches for The Kind-Der Kids, and a wildly stunning 1939 private painting of Krazy Kat, et al, by Herriman (of course, just about anything by Herriman is wildly stunning...and insanely rare, for that matter).  The displays are roughly chronological, which is an extremely effective way to see how one artist influenced another, and so on down through history.  It was also very handy for me personally, as I got to see, close up, the specifics of how these artists produced their work (on what paper it was drawn, with what, how it was inked, its size, etc.).  These elements, of the formative years of comics, would have been enough for me all by themselves (heck...just seeing Kurtzman's artwork for Corpse on The Imjin, Eisner's immortal Spirit story featuring flying Gerhard Shnobble, or the pages of Crumb's early '60's sketchbook with the very first, never-before-seen-by-the-public Fritz The Cat story, would have been worth the measly $14.00 all-access pass), but the exhibition continued into modern comics.  This is where I had some questions.  The last thirty years of American cartooning and comics were represented by just Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, and Gary Panter.  What the...?  For goodness sake, where was Frank Miller?  What happened to Alex Ross, or Neal Adams, or Bill Watterson, or Sergio Aragones, or any of hundreds of other artists...real artists...who have rocked, shaped, or otherwise influenced everything else that's being done today?  This seeming lack did not diminish from the rest of the artwork (but it did surprise me).  Spiegelman, with a career that extends back to the Underground comics of the 1960's, was best represented.  Along with his little-known oddball early stuff, there were several pieces from his important Maus books, including the original paintings for the covers.  There were also some of his latest works, about living in the aftermath of 9/11, which have been collected as In The Shadow of No Towers.  That was brilliant, very personal stuff, shockingly more personal even than his famous retelling of his family's ordeal during the Holocaust (and its continuing ramifications).  Ware's super-clean, ultra-stylized, flow-chart artwork was also very interesting, sometimes slyly amusing, sometimes shockingly dark, and always, always, like the gorgeous print-out from some sort of futuristic cartoon-producing robot.  As for Panter...well, other than his iconic 'Eighties cover artwork for Raw #3, I must admit that I'd never seen anything he'd ever done before I saw it on the walls of the Milwaukee Art Museum on Tuesday.  I'd never even heard of him.  His stuff is, on the surface, the exact, direct opposite of Ware's.  It's disproportionate, scratchy, grungy, crowded, disgusting, and amateurish....but, like I said, that's the surface.  In affect, Panter's artwork hit me like the first time I saw sketches by Picasso.  It is crammed full of weird depth and emotional context, like peeling open the back of a mental patient's head and discovering that there really is a barbaric war going on inside, fought by nasty creatures that were drawn on the backs of napkins and electric bills.  To call it "personal" is an understatement.  It looks like Panter HAD to draw this stuff or it would devour him while he slept.  And it, in it's way, is astonishingly beautiful and moving.  In fact, I guess it moved me right out of the hall and into the attached, exhibit-specific gift shop.  Yep, before I knew it, two hours had passed, and we'd seen everything in the "Masters" show.  I promptly bought the gorgeous exhibit companion book (chock full of art, info, and essay, this oversized hardcover was a steal at $45.00...you should try to get one while they're still somewhat plentiful).  We then wandered on to the rest of the museum, which traces, with prime examples, the history of art outside comics, from hundreds of years B.C.E., to today.  In a way, this was a comparative study, as it often paralleled the "Masters" display.  By just before 4:00PM, we'd had our Art fix, so we made a quick circle of the larger museum gift shop, then got into our car and headed for WOMP Central.  Along the way, we stopped at Westfield's Comics in Madison so that I could top off my comics-gorged working vacation with the proverbial "wafer thin" mint of what's on the stands now.  As we drove home, we went through a frightening, torrential downpour.  It was over by the time we got within 20 miles of home, but it gave me time to think.  Between trying to navigate while hydroplaning, and attempting to see more than 30 feet in front of our car, I had some serious thoughts about all that I'd done and seen over the previous two days...a virtually complete spectrum of comics.  Without any real resolution, I wondered how, or even if, I could enjoy something so deeply without wanting to also become involved in it somehow.  What drives a "Master" is mysterious enough, but at least, usually, they enjoy some level of personal and artistic success at some point.  Trying to figure out what drives me, a half-witted no-talent with delusions of adequacy, well...that's one rainstorm from which I may never emerge.  Here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Storm (Halle Berry)!

July 16 -  Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of WOMP!  How are ya tonight?  Me?  I'm a little bummed.  I just found out that, yet again, my WOMP-Blog entry from yesterday did not post (it's there now, though...skip down to "July 15" to read it).  That's OK, sort of, but I also spent a lot of time redesigning some of the WOMP-Site Main Page...and none of that posted either.  Sigh.  So, take a moment to check that out, won't you?  I have, after over two and a half years, dropped the wildly inconsequential "This Week In The Adventures of Monkey" feature, replacing it with a brand-spankin' new "WOMP Character of The Week" component (which also links to the Fun Stuff page and the WOMP character avatars).  On top of all of that, I have posted the entire "Done In One" comic book, Triskaideka, that the kids from the Manitowoc area created at my workshop last Monday.  Check that out by clicking HERE.  Tonight, I'm taking (another) break from reporting on What I Did On My Summer Vacation.  The next, and last, part is so interesting (at least to me) that I want to post it tomorrow, when, hopefully, a day off from the dread "real" job will grant me extra energy and time.  Until then, here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd)!

July 15 -  So, what was my "unexpected surprise?"  Well, let me tell you...

What I Did On My Summer Vacation (Part Three)

Right as the "Done In One" workshop was ending, and I was saying my goodbyes and such, I noticed a young woman who seemed to be waiting for someone.  I assumed that she was somebody's ride home, so I didn't pay much attention to her as she was reading my flickers comic book story, which I had on display with other samples of my recent work.  Finally, as the last kid left, she was still there!  She introduced herself as "Charlie to my friends," and asked if I'd look at her portfolio to offer any tips or advice.  That was a "surprise," of sorts, but the "unexpected surprise" part was that she had drawn many of the Silent Era film stars that had inspired me to draw flickers in the first place!  She, too, had been very surprised to see a story with which she had such a strong connection.  Anyhoo, we talked for almost a half hour (while the WOMP Staff patiently read a book nearby).  Charlie (and she said that, as one of her friends, I could call her that), is a college art student.  She explained that she is very interested in creating graphic novels.  She even had some interesting ideas for a couple (which I will keep secret for her...for now).  Her sketchbook also had some fully inked sequential stuff, which was very strong.  Her style is very nice, something like that of Charles Vess mixed with the art of Peter Gross, but, of course, also quite her own.  She draws from life more than I ever did, and depictions of her friends appear throughout her work.  I never know exactly what to say to someone who asks my advice, especially since I'm fairly deep in the "still learning" stage myself.  In fact, I've come to realize that it's an awesome responsibility.  Even though no-one has ever heard of me, and I am not very good, I'm still someone who is on the outer-most fringes of the comics business, so a half-hour conversation with me might influence the course of someone's life for decades.  And there's so much I want to say, to let them know stuff right now that took me many years of failure to realize...but, I know, I know; the failures are part of it.  I tried to restrain myself from pontificating too much, and, instead, focused on a small handful of specifics on which Charlie might want to concentrate.  My big piece of advice was that she should take the plunge and produce something, anything, for sale as soon as possible.  The sooner she works out those "from concept to saleable publication" problems, the better.  Anyhoo, I wished Charlie well, and the Staff and I left for dinner.  Hopefully, Charlie, whom I will "honor" with the title of Official Friend of WOMP, will keep us updated on her progress over the years.  I'm proud to say that I still hear from most of the young artists with whom I've had similar conversation over the years.  In fact, just tonight I heard from O.F.O.WOMP, and misunderstood misanthrope, Mr. Geoff Hamerlinck!  Back when it was unofficially Mini-Comic Month here in the ol' WOMP-Blog, I sorta gushed about Geoff, and, at last, he has emerged from his undisclosed location in Minnesota to write this -

Mr. John Mundt,

I finally stumbled upon my womp blog entry and it brought a smile to my

face. It's nice to know that such kind words are being spoken of me,

and that so much careful consideration and fondness has been granted to

my crude little comics. I should see if I still have the originals of

that one.

I'm about 20 days from my first permanent move away from St. Cloud. I

am moving to Chicago to get my MFA from the School of the Art Institute

of Chicago. Perhaps my first project should be a Manuel Labor-inspired

animated short.

Keep making Monkey Comics!

GH

Thank you, GH, for keeping me in your thoughts!  I wish you the best of luck in whatever deviltry you perpetrate.  And, as for you, Charlie; send us an e-note when you can!  Here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Captain Marvel (Tom Tyler)!

July 14 -  Hey there, gang!  So, where was I?  Oh, yes...

What I Did On My Summer Vacation (Part Two)

The "Done In One" comic book workshop in Manitowoc.  The kids, ranging in age from about twelve to fifteen, came in, mostly in twos, and sat confidently at the pre-arranged tables.  As we figured out, of the fifteen or so there, all but about two had been involved in last year's effort.  That was handy, as I didn't have to explain too much about what we were going to do.  Basically, I begin these with an extended brain-storming session, wherein we collectively come up with a story, characters, etc..  As I said the other night, I had a couple of story theme ideas in the back of my head, ready to go if the kids couldn't settle on anything, but I didn't need them.  As it turns out, of the many early suggestions, everyone sort of coalesced around the idea of a mystery of some sort (although we quickly ruled out murder, for obvious reasons).  We talked about how a mystery needs a sleuth, and how a sleuth character often needs another person with them so that we, the readers, can be let into the problem solving without a lot of thought-bubbles.  Our two characters began to take shape, first as twins, then cousins, briefly similar kids from different times, and finally a geek and a popular kid.  The idea of opposites, I explained, gives potential to their relationships, arguments, and evolutions.  Staying away from convention, we made the geek a girl, and the popular kid a boy.  The "mystery" first took shape as a theft of an object of some hidden power or secret.  We decided to set the mystery in the Manitowoc Library itself.  Because of this, all discussion of a mysterious object began to center on a book.  A book with a map?  Maybe a secret code?  Did it allow people to travel through time?  And who would steal it?  And why?  Our thief began to take form as "the phantom," a temporary name applied to the creepy cloaked figure who would remain in the shadows until the end of the comic.  As we designed the kids, they became thirteen year olds, each having the number thirteen somewhere on their clothes.  This became important as we began to include the number in just about everything, including the larger theme of the book!  Finally, we dropped the idea of a theft of the book, and changed it to a book which has a dark, concealed power.  To emphasize this secret, we decided that it had been rumored for years, and that "the phantom" had actually been an earlier victim of the book's power.  In fact, "the phantom" had actually been two victims, from one-hundred years ago, who were just like our sleuths, but have been mystically-merged into one grotesque being.  The book, then, transports any two people who both touch it at the same time while it's still on the shelf in mysterious, and seldom seen, Section 13 of the Manitowoc Library...but only on Friday, the 13th!  After I told them about triskaidekaphobia, everyone decided that the title of the magical book, the name of "the phantom," and the title of our comic book itself, would be Triskaideka.  We also decided that the Triskaideka book would transport the teens to a Library Realm, where everything was made out of books.  Now, at last, our story had taken shape.  Because of an earlier suggestion that we leave our ending with the possibility of further adventures, we decided that our sleuths would discover how to escape from the Library Realm, where Triskaideka, once two kids just like them, were doomed to stay for not solving the same mystery.  All along, as we talked and drew, I explained about the idea of a "deeper meaning."  To a group of kids who saw some reflection of themselves in the characters, that meaning became "being thirteen."  In bits and pieces, they revealed the struggles and fears of "being thirteen" to me, and I helped them put these into the comic (as best we could in six pages of actual story).  In the end, I think we ended up with something somewhat close to our conversations during the brainstorming.  As my able assistant Brian hastily assembled the individually drawn panels into the pages to be photocopied, I cranked out what was probably the worst cover artwork in the history of comics.  In less than five minutes, I drew the mysterious book, thirteen stars, thirteen question marks, and a convincingly mystical Triskaideka title/logo...and, as per consensus, that was all.  Off everything went to the copier, and, a mere four hours after we'd started with nothing but blank paper and our imaginations, we all left with our own copies.  Over the next few days, I will try to post the comic on the WOMP-Site.  Tomorrow I'll continue with my report, which includes an unexpected surprise (which, I suppose, is the only kind of surprise there is).  Here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Superman (George Reeves)!

July 13 -  Hey there! I think I have to cop out of the ol' WOMP-Blog tonight.  Beyond the exhausting and thoroughly rotten day at the dread "real" job, I haven't been feeling well at all since getting home (always hypochondriactic, I'm sure I'm having a mild heart-attack...even though I probably just have a sinus headache and crampy left arm).  So, I guess I'll continue my report on "My Summer Vacation" later.  Here, though, is your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Hellboy (Ron Perlman)!

July 12 -  I'm back from Manitowoc.  In fact, I've been back for over a day, but I didn't post an entry in the ol' WOMP-Blog last night because I fell asleep in a clump after a long day of driving through the many scenic construction zones of the Wisconsin highway system.  The drive wasn't all that bad, I guess, and the stuff we did when we got out of the car made it all worthwhile.  Here, then, is my report of...

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Well, it was actually more of a working vacation (and it's not like I really do all that much from which I might need a holiday break anyway), but I do want to tell you all about it.  So, let's start from the start; we headed out for points North at 7:30AM, the car having been fully packed and gassed-up the night before.  The Staff drove the first 100 miles, after which I took over for the rest of the trip.  I'm not a good co-pilot.  I can't even tune the radio.  I don't really like driving, but I am, at my advanced age, now unaccustomed to, and uncomfortable with, being just a passenger.  Anyhoo, we took a more "straight line" route than usual, in an attempt (successful, as it turns out) to avoid the worst of the area road work and congestion.  We may take the same alternate route in the future because we arrived in Manitowoc at 11:30AM, a full half hour earlier than previous routes have allowed.  After checking in to our hotel, we went right to the Manitowoc Public Library to set up for the workshop, which was to begin at 1:00PM.  As we did, Young Adult Librarian, and Official Friend of WOMP, Mr. Brian Simons greeted us and pitched in.  I couldn't do these "Done In One" comic book workshops there in Manitowoc without Brian.  Not only does he hire me (Thanks, Brian!), but he is my right-hand man.  He assembles the kids' artwork, photocopies the books, and maintains order...plus, he's fun!  I don't think that The WOMP Staff would make it through these four hour workshops without his fun conversations.  Brian asked me if I had any theme in mind for this year's project.  Although I always let the kids choose the path of the comic we write, I usually have a fall-back idea in the back of my head just in case they can't come up with anything.  This time around I had a couple of ideas, and Brian suggested one as well....but, as it turned out, we didn't need any of them (although the kids naturally settled on what was secretly Brian's suggestion of "a mystery").  Anyhoo, by 1:00PM, we were set, and the doors opened to let in about fifteen kids.  Most of them had been involved in last year's comic, and some had participated in the one in 2004 as well.  It was nice to see them all again, as I'm starting to feel like I know them.  All in all, it was an excellent group, none of whom were there to just kill an afternoon.  Everyone enthusiastically and productively participated, and each one provided crucial and creative elements to the final product.  Tomorrow, I'll tell you how that went.  Tonight, I'll leave you with your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Batman (Lewis Wilson)!

"July 11" -  Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller)!

"July 10" -  Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba)!

July 9 -  Well, I seem to have a moment between packing for, and fretting about, my "Done In One" comic book workshop in Manitowoc tomorrow (see the Appearance Schedule Page for more info).  But it is only a moment, so I just wanted to post tonight's Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Batman (George Clooney)!

July 8 -  Looking for the deeper meaning in Superman Returns is very much like looking for "bunnies in the clouds."  I don't know where I picked up that saying, but I've always used it to explain my sometimes overzealous compulsion to interpret the supposed "deeper meanings" in the world around me...which may not be any deeper than exactly what it seems to be.  Of course, everything in the world does have the possibility to deeply move, teach, or surprise, if you choose to look for it, but I guess I've come to expect that such things are purposeful elements in works of fiction (and most non-fiction, for that matter).  So, I tried to find something hidden within Superman Returns.  In so doing, I've had to pull myself back a bit.  First, I had to try to actively ignore any elements of the film which were already inherent in the Superman mythos.  Any bits that were emphasized or downplayed to fit a personal vision are fair game, but whatever elements would be the same in any given Superman comic were out of bounds.  That was easy.  What was less easy, in fact nearly impossible, was attempting to restrain my desire to see Superman as the USA...partly because he has so long represented the U.S. everywhere else, but mostly because it looks like it will be several years before we might be able to say America Returns.  How wonderful it would be, though, if The Man of Steel had a worldwide popular resurgence at the same time our nation did.  But, no...not yet.  We're still somewhere in that sad limbo between Superman III and Superman IV, The Quest For Peace.  Yes, this current Brandon Routh Superman can be an icon, as Eric Gillitzer touched upon last night, for us to look to again.  And that's a good thing.  We need icons sometimes just to remember what we should be...but it's just another cloud bunny.  It's not really there, no matter how hard I look for it.  So, what is there?  Tossed and turned like a stone in a tumbler, I've been looking for the shiny, smooth answer in the center of a larger, rough rock.  When it comes right down to it, at its core, I think Superman Returns is about loneliness.  Everyone in the film, with the possible exception of Perry White, has had to come to terms with some form of aloneness, or the fear of it.  Superman himself left Earth (alone) in attempt to see if he was, well, alone.  In the process, he left Lois...alone.  She, to move on, finds Richard White...who then worries that he will be left alone when Superman returns.  Ma Kent made a similar choice, having lost Pa and, for all she knew, Clark.  Luthor is always alone, a man beyond men.  Even his gal sidekick, Kitty (beautifully played by Parker Posey) finds herself alienated by Lex's plans to murder millions.  Feelings of loneliness pervade Superman Returns, and without any satisfying results.  Everything is NOT wrapped up nicely at the end of the film.  If anything, everyone's aloneness is re-emphasized, even deepened.  Lois was alone when Superman left, but is tragically even more isolated now that he's back.  The pronounced lonesomeness that the characters experience becomes further entrenched by events in the movie.  In fact, much of the plot revolves around the sometimes touching efforts of the cast to reach out to each other...or their hesitation in feeling free to do so.  Heck, even Lex is merely trying to create a new community of sorts (with him as the master, of course).  I suppose that it should come as no surprise, then, that he nearly achieves this goal after first visiting The Fortress of Solitude.  All of this "loneliness" seemed pretty obvious to me, but still a cloud shaped bunny until I read that Superman Returns director Bryan Singer was an adopted orphan who was raised Jewish.  As he matured, he also realized that he was gay.  That the director of the first two X-Men films should understand first hand the loneliness of being different should not come as a surprise.  That it may have seeped into the Superman mythos may then be much more than just "bunnies in the clouds."  I feel like, whether consciously or unconsciously, this was what Mr. Singer latched onto when making the film, giving it the deeper meaning of a personal search to connect in a world that makes you lonelier for the effort, even as you are also lauded for your actions.  Hmmm.  Well, I think that'll do me for tonight.  I will be at the Manitowoc Public Library on Monday, for which I will be going to sleep early on Sunday, so I may not be able to post a WOMP-Blog entry for a few days.  Until then, here is your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Wolverine (Hugh Jackman)!

July 7 -  Thanks to my public plea, Mr. Eric Gillitzer, O.F.O.WOMP, sent an extended commentary on elements of my Superman Returns review.  In it, he touches upon many issues which I, too, have been mulling further.  Just so that you know where he's coming from, and so that I don't have to post a real entry tonight in the ol' WOMP-Blog, I will reprint Eric's comments, verbatim, below...

Hmmm.  I may have to agree with you on the point that movie may not have had much below its surface.  But even that’s only a maybe.  I can conceive of at least a couple of things buried underneath the surface of the movie- but perhaps I am reading into things that aren’t there let me know what you think.

1)       Man vs. Superman-  The movie creates a new romantic triangle.  The classical form is the Clark/Lois/ Superman conflict.  Is Lois in love with the man (Clark) or the Superman (Kal-El).  The problem is that this is not an accurate way to represent that choice.  After all Clark can never truly be a man- he can only be Superman in disguise- his every action is compromised by a distracted hesitancy and tentativeness that comes with knowing that you may have to zip off to resolve a global crisis at any moment.  The two can not compete with one another for Lois’ attention and neither of them can ever really be there for her in any emotional sense.  There simply aren’t enough hours in the day (super speed or not) to save the earth multiple times, write effective journalism and be there to ask Lois how her day was and be there as her sounding board.

The introduction of Richard allows the movie to explore this more clearly and fully.  Richard is a man among men.  He is perhaps what Superman is to other super heroes.  Richard is masculine, but attentive and nurturing.  He is smart, confident, fit, successful and talented.  He is in some ways what Clark Kent, the man, would be if he were not compromised by his divine alter-ego.  He can devote 100% of his attention to Lois and her needs with far more regularity than either Clark or Superman ever could.  Richard as demonstrated in the movie, can demonstrate every bit as much bravery and courage as the Man of Steel, but is not torn when it comes to saving Metropolis or saving the love of his life.  He is a man- a mortal man and can therefore be selfish in ways that Superman’s sense of moral responsibility will not allow.

In the end it seems that neither Superman or Clark can ever “win” Lois.  However a man- a real flesh and blood man- the man that a truly mortal Clark Kent could have become, is in fact capable of being the partner Lois has been seeking all this time.

This point is further developed by the tacit and unspoken understanding that Lois and Superman will not be together- that Lois will remain with Superman- and that RICHARD will be the one to raise Jason.  To embellish on a quote from the movie, “The (absent) father becomes the son.  The son becomes the (absent) father.”  For the very same reasons that Lois and Superman/Clark will never truly be together, Superman/Clark will never truly be able to be there for his son.  This represents an interesting parallel between Superman and his two fathers.  Superman/ Clark was also raised by a mortal man- and his father seems to have chosen to “abandon” him to mortal hands.  Was this due to Jor-El’s sense of responsibility to the people of Krypton?  At the end of this movie I think Superman far better understands his Kryptonian father’s choices than at the beginning- or at any time in the previous two movies.

2)       Lois wins a Pulitzer Prize for a piece of rhetoric detailing why the world doesn’t need Superman.  Beyond being an interesting bit of background material or perhaps exposition to detail Lois’ feelings of resentment and abandonment, the piece acknowledges an element that the audience has to subconsciously reckon with.  I think the movie quietly resolves this as well.

Our world is no longer the same optimistic world that birthed Superman.  There no longer seem to be clear-cut values.   We live in a world of political necessity, trade disputes and brutal, horrifying terror plots.  The notion that one man- no matter how fast, how strong or how well intentioned could possibly do anything to substantially change any of that is ludicrous and insulting to our intelligence. 

Even the comic book world is no longer the four color world that birthed the Man of Steel.  For decades more elaborately and cunningly wrought characters have been more popular sellers than the Last son of Krypton.  Superman’s blue, red and yellow jumpsuit is not hopelessly anachronistic- and his “do-right” attitude is passé.  In this world of post-modern literary criticism, we prefer more conflicted, grittier heroes.

So why do we need Superman?

We need him because he is an icon.  He is the paragon- the ideal that we all- in the back of our greedy, cowardly, self-interested little minds would like to aspire to.  He inspires the very best in us.  He is the “light” that Jor-El says we need to guide us.  He shows us the path that we knew all along was right- and shows us what can be achieved if we are willing to follow it.  He leads not by word but by example.  He is a standard by which we can judge our own actions.  Even though we know full well that these are juvenile and simplistic thoughts- we can draw inspiration and power from them.

Even comics themselves can not evolve beyond the need for Superman.  He’s not the sexiest, the grittiest, or most popular.  He is the exemplar- the archetype for what heroes should be.

Tomorrow night I will post some of my continued thoughts of this "deeper meaning" to the film (some of which resemble Eric's pretty closely).  Here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  The Hulk (Lou Ferrigno)!

July 6 -  ARGH!  I spent almost FOUR HOURS typing up a review of Superman Returns last night, only to find out that it never posted!  I have corrected the problem, but it's very deflating to think that all of that work was for nought.  Please scroll down to "July 5" and read it.  I worked very hard on it.  Unfortunately, it still comes too late to keep O.F.O.WOMP Eric Gillitzer from misinterpreting my silence, and the previous night's non-review, as a dislike of the movie.  He even sent an e-mail extolling the film's virtues...most of which echoes (or presages, since he actually wrote it before my review posted) the same points I made below.  He did, however, touch on a few specifics which I neglected to mention, so here, in his own words and no particular order, are a few of the reasons Mr. Gillitzer enjoyed Superman Returns;

1)       Theme Music-  How can you not love those themes?  In some ways I find them even more compelling than the  Star Wars themes.

2)       I DID believe a man can fly- again.  There is a grace and effortlessness about how they have set up the flight sequences.  Even the intense pursuit and chase sequences were beautiful.  The glimpses of a flying man from the mortal perspectives (Lois, Jimmy, etc) just made me jittery.

3)       Homage to Christopher Reeve.  I got the very real sense that this movie and characterization was intended to build on the character as developed by Reeve.  I appreciated that.  To have tried to re-imagine or scrap Reeve’s incarnation would have been foolish, sad and a little distasteful.

4)       Lois- I LIKE this Lois.  She’s not as ridiculously over the top and comedic as Margot Kidder.  She has some edges and some imperfections- but she seems to have a lot of internal strength.

5)       Jimmy- he’s goofy and inappropriate- but a whole lot of fun.

6)       Perry.  C’mon you KNOW you want to see Skeletor play Perry White.

7)       Lex- Lex is great. Crazy?  Sure.  Goofy?  A little.  But Spacey clearly captures an intelligence, jealousy, anger and frustration.

8)       Jor-El’s voice- How freaking awesome was that?

9)       The solitary scene above the earth just prior to streaking to what could be his death- and the plummet afterwards.  I love all of it.  ALL OF IT.

10)   Want some more?

I think I speak for everyone at WOMP (me, my wife, and a sled-team's-worth of cats) when I say "YES!"  In fact, I'd be very interested to hear what the rest of you thought of the film.  Drop me a line with your review.  Click HERE for my e-mail.  Oh, and check out the Fun Stuff Page.  I have posted many more WOMP avatars.  Even if you'd never have reason to use an avatar, it's still an interesting look at a whole bunch of WOMP characters.  For tonight, I think I'll wrap this up with your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Blade (Wesley Snipes)!

July 5 -  Like I said, I needed a day to allow my review of Superman Returns to ruminate, to gel.  Why?  I don't know...I guess I usually let my gut make any first impressions that I may get, allowing my brain to later sift through that for the second, third, and other further impressions.  With Superman Returns, my gut sorta failed me.  While my brain was impatiently standing by, tapping it's foot, waiting, my gut just said "I liked it."  "I liked it?"  What's that?  So, I spent much of the night trying to figure out why my gut, my prodigious and protruding gut, was so wishy-washy.  The answer seems to be that the film met my (admittedly high) expectations, but did not exceed them.  As you may remember, I've been dreading the possibility of disliking the movie for weeks.  True to my patented optimistic pessimism, I hoped that it wouldn't be as bad as I knew it would be.  Fortunately, my wish came true, and my prediction did not.  I liked the movie.  It is very good.  But it's not great.  Well, it might even be "great," but somewhere at the lower end of that classification (with "great" things thankfully coming more often these days, as I noted recently).  Before you think I'm sour on Superman Returns, I should tell you that there were many things about it which I absolutely loved; 1) The whole "just the next Superman film" concept was a stroke of genius, a beautifully simple tribute to Christopher Reeve (et al).  Within moments, I was drawn back to my childhood as if the intervening twenty-five years or so never existed.  Strangely, it's also been so long since the original Superman, The Movie came out that its 'Seventies graphics and clothing styles are actually back in fashion.  From the photo of Glenn Ford on the Kent mantle, to the eery irony of Marlon Brando's Jor-El speaking from beyond the grave, this most recent film satisfyingly rewarded me for keeping those decades-old original Superman movie memories alive in my heart (cheesy, yes...but true).  2) Kevin Spacey.  That's it.  You don't need any more...just Kevin Spacey.  He's just awesome, isn't he?  I enjoyed watching the Luthor-wheels spin in those twitchy, watery, wise eyes.  I know that he didn't look to Gene Hackman's portrayal for inspiration, but both actors perfectly captured that smarmy, charmy, calm-on-the-verge-of-berserk personality that makes Lex Luthor the perfect antithesis to Superman.  However, where Mr. Hackman left off, Mr. Spacey took off.  As an egotistical genius who probably believes that he should be called Super-man (instead of that "alien"), Spacey's Luthor clearly feels entitled to commit the kind of grand, unilateral, and ultimately monstrous actions that Superman, by virtue and principle, actively resists.  To Luthor, people, even those closest to him, are just pawns on a board the size of Earth.  As long as the king is protected, all other pieces are expendable as soon as they are no longer useful.  And it all shows in Kevin Spacey's face, the way he moves, and in every other nuance of his performance.  3) Richard White, the Lois-Lane-love-interest character played by James Marsden.  Too long hidden behind those cycloptic goggles, this really felt like a "break-out" performance for Mr. Marsden (if a featured actor from three of the biggest grossing films of all time could be said to need, or even qualify for, a "break-out" performance).  I found myself pulling for him in the awkward love triangle (or quadrangle, if you'd include Clark).  He was smart, heroic, and supportive...a hard characterization to achieve without seeming sappy, unsympathetic, or even weak.  And how would you react if your current lover's "ex" was literally Superman?  I was prepared to dislike him, but the writers, and Mr. Marsden's portrayal, led me down another, surprising path.  4) The amped-up level of Superman's powers.  Traditionally fluctuating to fit the storyline, Superman's many super-abilities seemed to be consistently at current comic book levels in the film.  This is what I wanted.  I'm tired of Supes surviving a nuclear bomb blast in one scene, then being tackled by a street thug in another (and all previous non-comics incarnations of Superman are guilty of this, from the early radio and movie serials to the current Justice League Unlimited animated series).  It may seem like a small point, but it's an important one to me.  If Superman's powers wax and wane at the whim of the writers, then the movie makers become more important than us, Superman's fans.  If Superman's strength is consistent, and the writers find ways to use that, then respect for the character, and for us, remains at the heart of the production.  5) It was funny!  In just the right proportions, the action and romance scenes were balanced with warm humor, sly parody, knee-slapping guffaws, and just plain fun!  I won't spoil any of these moments for you (see last night's rant), but I can say that it made for a feeling of "going to the movies" that many other big films seem to lack (which is partly why I wait until they are on TV to see them).  6) Superman is back.  I'm a comics traditionalist at heart.  Oh, I enjoy, and support, new comics characters and creators, but, under it all, at the core of my being, there is a Joe Shuster drawing of Superman lifting a green sedan above his head.  And that was in the film, both figuratively and literally (except that it wasn't, sadly, drawn by Mr. Shuster).  Now Superman is back in the mainstream, no longer a retro relic of ages past.  He's relevant again to people outside of the world of comics conventions and parents' basements.  For so long, I've feared that The Man of Steel would join Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and David Lee Roth on the list of forgotten science fiction characters from last century.  Now, with the young stars and multi-million dollar profits of Superman Returns, I think that he will also stay for a while.  All of these factors, plus the script, casting, art direction, and special effects, are why I liked the film.  But...but there were a couple of things which (barely) pulled it back from joining the list of my personal all-time favorites;  1) Superman barely spoke.  I don't think he uttered much more than twenty sentences in the whole film.  So much of the plot was about the world's reaction to his return that little attention was given to listening to him explain himself.  In fact, if you take out the obligatory "apology to Lois" scene, and anything said while as Clark, I'm not sure he said twenty words (oh...wait...there was the "air travel safety" speech, so he may have said thirty words).  Anyway, it was a little strange.  2) Do you really think that Kate Bosworth, as Lois Lane, is mature enough to have gone to, if not graduated from, journalism school, then have gotten a job as a star reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, met and fallen in love with Superman, have mourned his mysterious disappearance for an appropriate length of time, met and fallen in love with another man with whom (he believes) she spawned a child, have then raised that child to kindergarten age, oh...and to have won a Pulitzer Prize?  What is she, like, nineteen?  She'd have to be as old as Margot Kidder to have accomplished all of that without the benefits of reversing the Earth's rotation, thereby turning back time.  In other words, it's highly implausible, but not, I suppose, completely impossible (no, wait..it is especially impossible to reverse history by destroying the Earth's natural rotation!  What was I thinking?).  I liked Ms. Bosworth's performance, and I found her delicate, porcelain doll appearance to be a throwback to the 'Forties Lois (especially the version in the Fleischer cartoons).  I just had a hard time reconciling the character's supposed history with the actress's chronologic reality.  3) OK.  The great Lex Luthor, wielding powerful Kryptonian technology and a mind the match of Superman's power, decides to destroy most of mankind so that those remaining will pay to live in his giant radioactive sand castle?  This part was a "throwback" to the sorry plots of the old Superman films that I'd like to "throwback!"  4) There were a couple of scenes which were...ugh, this disappoints me to say...too hokey, even for a big Sentimental Sally like me.  One even made me laugh inappropriately.  I guess it's a fine line between iconic image and forced reference.  Most of these were crowd reactions or other small bits of business.  All were unintended as "groaners," which is how I'd categorize them.  Some "groaners" were intended, and those worked well for me, but, for example, that shot toward the end of the film, of the perfectly spaced and racially mixed pedestrians gazing skyward as Superman fell to Earth, made me groan with chagrin.  5) And this is the big one: there didn't seem to be anything deeper to this film than the storyline.  Sure, in 1978, comics seldom even went that deep, so any hidden meaning in Superman, The Movie was either unintentional, or built into the Superman mythos already.  But this is 2006, a full two decades since Alan Moore bumped comics up a notch with Watchmen.  I wanted more...I was expecting more.  In fact, I was willing to suffer a mangling of Superman's character for more.  Instead, I got what The WOMP Staff so perfectly labeled the "Empire Strikes Back or Two Towers of Superman movies," just another serviceable chapter in the saga, meant to move us along somewhere between point "A" and point "Z."  While none of these "negatives" are that bad, they left a dry taste in my previously watering mouth.  Still, there were just enough moments which made my eyes well-up to balance it back out, most noteworthy being 1) Noel Neill as the dying widow seduced by wig-topped Lex Luthor.  Classic cameo. 2) Jack Larson playing a bartender who listens to Jimmy Olsen talk about "Mr. Kent," then later actually hugs him in jubilation as Superman returns.  Seeing the two Jimmy Olsens, Mr. Larson and Sam Huntington, embrace in camaraderie, even momentarily, made me tearful. 3) Superman flying.  Sometimes theatric, sometimes like a flash of blue and red, the appearance of flight was beautifully presented.  When...and I don't think I'm really divulging any plot secrets here...when Superman flies above the Earth at the very end of the film, then glances our way and smiles before zipping off into the distance, I choked up so strongly that The Staff thought I was actually choking on my popcorn.  No, it wasn't an errant hull that made me shake in my seat, it was the attempt to squelch the wellspring of nostalgia and emotion that had overcome me.  And I was doing so well!  I made it through the whole movie without serious threat to my (self-perceived) placid demeanor.  But, like I said, Superman is engraved on my soul, so that shot, a direct homage to the same classic Christopher Reeve shot, got to me deeply.  In the end, factoring all "pros" with the few "cons," my review of the film is summed up pretty well by its title; Superman Returns.  Tomorrow, back to more non-relevant pap as per usual.  Here's your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  The Hulk (hmmm...the performance was a little Eric Bana, and a lot of Ang Lee)!

The Fourth of July -  I hope you all had a great day!  It was a mixed bag for me, with some "ooohs," a few "ahhs," and just a handful of "ohs."  It started with a bang when The WOMP Staff and I saw Superman Returns.  I liked it, but I'm still mulling it over in my head.  Maybe I'll give you my impressions of the movie tomorrow (lucky you).  Then we took a little drive around town before I had to go in to the dread "real" job.  Yeah, that was a blast (thank goodness I have fun co-workers, because it would've been fairly unbearable otherwise).  Since returning, I've been watching the tail-end of the Twilight Zone marathon on the SciFi Channel.  Right now, it's Nothing In The Dark, the episode with the fearful old lady who believes that she won't die if Death can't get into her basement apartment, but, in aiding a wounded policeman (Robert Redford), she unwittingly invites Death right in.  OOPS!  I should have provided a spoiler warning...but, c'mon, that episode is from forty-four years ago.  There really should be some sort of statute of limitations on spoiler warnings for Pop Culture surprise endings.  For example, I would never reveal the shocking secret at the end of Superman Returns (Lex Luthor dreamt the whole thing while in the electric chair).  I will tell you, however, that Rhett (not giving a damn) leaves Scarlett, King Kong falls to his death from the Empire State Building, Rosebud is a sled, Michael becomes the new Godfather, Norman is the killer and his mother is a petrified corpse, Darth Vader is Luke's father, E.T. phones home, Rick lets Ilsa leave with Victor, Dorothy always had the power to return to Kansas by merely clicking her heels three times, Soylent Green is people (it's people!), and Ernest goes to camp.  I figure the movie spoiler warning mandate should be in affect only until a child born during a film's first release can get a driver's license.  For TV, with it's penchant for reruns, that grace period should be about the length of time it takes for a show to go into syndication (what is that, like three years..five maybe?).  For comic books, though...hmm.  That's a tough one.  There are some classic, iconic moments in comics which have found their way into the subsequent film adaptations, which are unknown to comics neophytes like The WOMP Staff.  Those, I suppose, should be protected by the spoiler warning.  When the Spider-Man 3 trailer played before Superman Returns today, I wanted, like the dickens, to blurt out "It's the black symbiote suit!  That means there's going to be a Venom," but, for The Staff's sake, I refrained...although, during the film itself, I just couldn't help pointing out Lex Luthor's consistent use of his right hand to...OOPS!  I almost did it again!  Oh, well...my day is fizzling out like a burnt-up sparkler anyway, so I should just wrap this up.  Here's your appropriate Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Superman (Christopher Reeve)!

July 3 -  Guess what?  I have actual news!  First, I got my invitation to the 18th annual FALLCON in the mail today.  Since the Minnesota Comic Book Association has recently become the Midwest Comic Book Association, they haven't yet updated their FALLCON web page since before the 2005 show, so I have been a little worried about whether or not they were even going to have a convention this year.  The dates are set for October 7 and 8, 2006, and it will again be held in the Education Building on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.  I, and the WOMP Staff, plan to attend again this year (and every year thereafter, if they'll have me), so stop by and say "Hello, dork-wad" if you attend the show.  The second bit of news is that I've been asked to provide the illustrations for an upcoming book, The Cardboard King in Oz!  Cool, huh?  I have just printed the story from an e-mail, but I've yet to read it (it's something like 50 pages long).  I already know, though, that it features many of the most famous of the inhabitants of the Land of Oz, including Dorothy Gale's bestest little friend, Toto!  I'm very excited about it, and I hope to work on it very soon...but I have a handful of smaller art jobs that I must complete first, including drawing the Mole Day artwork for 2007 (I am not allowed to divulge the theme for next year, but I can tell you that it will be "different").  International Mole Day, by the way, is October 23.  The theme for 2006 is "Mole Madness," for which I drew a mole slam-dunking a basketball (as in "March Madness"), a gaggle of moles in outrageous fan gear (including one wearing 6.02 x 1023, the numerical equation known as the mole, like a Green Bay Packers cheesehead), and a politically incorrect image of a loosely straightjacketed mole running free from an insane asylum!  For 2007's art, I'm just at the sketch stage, but I should have that all wrapped up in about a month.  Oh, and that's about when I'll be at Fennimore Fun Days, drawing caricatures.  All in all, beginning a week from today when I present another "Done In One" comic book workshop at the Manitowoc Public Library, I'm starting to actually have a pretty heavy art schedule.  Weird.  This cartooning biz is so spurty.  I guess that's the way it goes.  Now, I'm signing off until tomorrow night.  Here is your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Batman (Adam West)!

July 2 -  OK!  Now we're talkin'!  I've not yet seen Superman Returns, but every review I've read says that it's good!  I even got the "thumbs up" from Official Friend of WOMP, Mr. Eric Gillitzer, who made a dedicated phone call just to let me know that the movie doesn't suck.  Plans are for the WOMP Staff and me to see the film on the 4th (before I have to go in to the dread "real" job).  I can hardly wait!  Tonight, I had all sorts of plans to post some sort of long, windy blatherfest about, oh, I don't know...Jack Kirby or something.  Then we discovered the annual Twilight Zone marathon on the SciFi Channel.  Between that, and my stint at the dang "real" job, the day flew by, until there were just these few moments left before I pack it in for the night.  To make up for this, I put some more WOMP Avatars on the Fun Stuff page, and will post TWO  "...Of The Day" entries!  Here, then, is your Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  The Thing (Michael Chiklis), and Bonus Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  V (Hugo Weaving)!

July 1 -  Not a very good start for me this month.  I'm actually posting this entry, as well as the one for the 2nd, in the wee hours of the 3rd!  I'm always running behind, it seems.  At least I've been busy (as opposed to "lazy," my usual excuse).  This month, my "...Of The Day" feature will be Comic Book Movie Characters (and Actors)!  In fact, as I compiled my list, I realized that they are all superheroes of some sort!  Maybe next month I'll post characters from comics-spawned movies like American Splendor and Ghost World, but, for July, I'll stick to the cape and spandex set.  So, here's the first Comic Book Movie Character (and Actor) of The Day:  Daredevil (Ben Affleck)!