April 30 - Hello, again, everybody.  I'm kinda busy tonight with a new art project.  I've been hired to draw a logo for a biker gang.  OK, maybe they're more "motorcycle enthusiasts" than a "biker gang," but they are called The Purgatory Punks, so they at least have a cool name!  I also should mention that I might not have the opportunity to post an entry in the ol' WOMP-Blog tomorrow night because I have two, back to back, caricature drawing events, starting at 8:00pm, and lasting through at least 2:00am on the 2nd.  If I have the time, I'll post before I leave, or, if I have the strength, I may try to post something after I get home.  If it seems like I'm weasling out of writing two entries at the same time, it's because I am!  Never forget my unofficial motto; "Never put off to tomorrow that which...to be continued." 

April 29 - Hey, readers!  Not much to say tonight after a VERY long day at the dumpy "real" job, except that we all found out that a special visitor is coming to WOMP's hometown, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.  A week from tomorrow, The President of The United States, Mr. George W. Bush, is paying us a visit!  They are still finalizing the details, but it looks like Mr. Bush will join the long list of his predecessors who have realized that they just had to see our strange little city of six thousand souls.  Let's count them down, shall we?  George Washington was actually the first President to come near P.d.C., back when he was a young surveyor helping map the frontier, but he stopped just about 300 miles away.  His loss!  Andrew Jackson passed through, years after being Prez, in hopes of helping to mend hard feelings that were growing between Southerners (which he was one of) and Northerners (I think that was about 1844 or so).  William Henry Harrison came to Prairie to raise funds for his campaign.  Zachary Taylor was actually the Commandant of the fort in Prairie for many years.  Millard Fillmore came through when he was Vice-President.  James Buchanan spent the night in a house that's still standing on South Beaumont Road.  The great Abraham Lincoln passed through when he was a young combatant in the Blackhawk War.  Ulysses S. Grant was actually stationed here for a short time (and the house in which he boarded is still standing down on North Main Street).  James Garfield campaigned here (and just across the Mississippi River in McGregor, Iowa).  Grover Cleveland toured Prairie when he was Governor of New York (and he was President twice!).  Benjamin Harrison passed through Prairie after he was mustered out of the Union Army after The Civil War.  William McKinley also made a campaign swing through P.d.C..  People seem to believe that Teddy Roosevelt made a stop here, too, but I can't find any record of it, so we'll put him in the "maybe" column.  Woodrow Wilson toured the area after a record-breaking flood, as did Calvin Coolidge years later.  Herbert Hoover spent many days in Prairie when he was a young man, as this was an important railroad hub in the area, and he lived not far away in Iowa.  Harry S. Truman also toured Prairie after a nasty flood, but his small plane never actually touched down...it just buzzed the town a dozen times.  Dwight D. Eisenhower switched trains here a few times also.  John F. Kennedy spent a day here when he was campaigning (most of it with my childhood neighbor, Al Winters, who was Mayor at the time).  Lyndon B. Johnson is another one in the "maybe" list as people SWEAR he visitied, but I can only find reports that his wife, Lady Bird, and daughters Lynda Bird and Luci Baines visited (maybe he stayed in the plane?).  Richard M. Nixon made a point of seeing Prairie in the years after he was in the White House, but no-one knows just why (maybe he got a Pete's burger?).  Jimmy Carter campaigned here.  He's the first President that I remember seeing.  He jogged on the high school track about four blocks from my house, I shook his hand twice, took a great picture, and my feet were thrown-up on by his sick daughter, Amy!  I'm a little disappointed that Ronald Reagan never came to Prairie.  He spent a lot of his youth in the general area, but, as far as anyone can tell, he never actually spent any time here.  George H.W. Bush did a shortened, helicopter-ride version of the Truman fly-over when yet another flood hit town.  Bill Clinton campaigned here, when his "Bus Across America" tour stopped at the intersection of Beaumont Road and Marquette Avenue.  He talked for about 3 hours!  And now, Mr. Bush plans to stop by.  I should also mention that the only President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, was stationed here as a young soldier.  In fact, at that time, he snuck out of the fort and married Zachary Taylor's daughter, Sarah Knox Taylor.  Also, Al Gore campaigned here twice, first with Mr. Clinton as his V.P. nominee, then during the crazy 2000 campaign (in fact, he stood on virtually the exact same spot where Zach Taylor "captured" Jefferson and Sarah Davis as they were planning on skipping out of town).  Also, the great American Indian leader, Blackhawk, was captured here, and held in the fort until he was sent East.  Yes, there is something special in the air here at Prairie du Chien, and smart politicians make sure they spend some time breathing it in!  So, if you ever want to be the Prez, visit us, won't you?

April 28 - Ugh!  My The Adventures of Comics presentation, which was mercifully scheduled for the same August day as my 20-year high school reunion, has been moved to July 30th!  Vickie said "You know you're going to that reunion.  Fate is forcing you!"  She thought it was pretty funny until I told her that, if I get dragged kicking and screaming to the reunion, SHE is going with me.  That changed her perspective a bit.  Anyway, I have now decided to try to organize an cool alternative reunion for just members of my "gang" (which may be a little difficult since the "official" reunion is being hosted by one of the members of the "gang").  I say "gang" because we were called The Keystone Kopps, and we were from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.  That's about as hardcore gangsta as PB&J sandwiches on white bread with the crust cut off!  Yes, we were quite the nerds, I must say.  We actually had official meetings, dues, a bank account, and elections.  Of course, there were only six members of The Kopps, so elections were sort of anticlimactic.  We also had a newsletter (for which I provided a cartoon strip, off course), and we had a gigantic December 16th party every year.  In our senior year (well, actually, Bill, of whom I've written in the WOMP-Blog recently, was our "elder member."  He graduated two years ahead of the rest of us), our December 16th celebration was so enormous that it cost us around two-grand!  Anyhoo, since Bill (now William) has moved back to the area after years living in Denmark and his recent residence in New York, I think that the time has come for a Keystone Kopps reunion.  I've heard that another member, according to his Mom, will be home for that other reunion, so, with me, that's half of the Kopps already.  Then there's the member who is hosting that lame reunion.  If I can steal him away, it would only leave two.  One lives not far away, in Minneapolis, so he shouldn't be too hard to track down and guilt into it.  Then there's the last one.  He could be a bit more challenging.  The last I heard, he, too, was living in New York, but he's also a World traveller, so he might be anywhere by now.  Well, I know it's a bit of a longshot, but I will say here...

Joseph "Joe" Becwar;  I am activating Keystone Kode #4!  You are summoned!  Write to me here at WOMP!

I will let everyone know when and if Joe gets in touch with me.  On a related note, this year also marks the twentieth anniversary of the high school graduation of the inimitable Mr. Brent Frankenhoff, long-time Friend of WOMP!  Unlike me, Brent is not only planning to attend his reunion, he is actually organizing it!  Of course, he is a good person, and, well, I'm not.  Good luck with that, Brent!

April 27 - Hooray!  I've been asked to present my The Adventures of Comics lecture workshop on the 21st of August!  While this is of course good news in general for me, it is especially welcome news as it falls on the same day as my 20 year high school reunion!  I had, as readers of the WOMP-Blog may recall, already decided not to attend, but now I have a legitimate excuse.  In the previous mention of this pending reunion, I sorta said, nonchalantly, that my high school years were miserable, then left it at that.  I have found out that this took some of you by surprise, and, for that, I'm sorry.  Without boring you with the stupid details, I still should have added that I have long ago come to terms with those days, and it's no big deal to me now.  In fact, I know that, in the long run, the unpleasant experiences of those days helped make me the happy person I am today (OK, that sounds odd, but I think it's true).  Anyway, as the "20 year reunion" title suggests, that was all a long time ago now.  It's funny what time does to your memories.  Not only do you begin to forget stuff, especially bad stuff, but you also gain a certain perspective on things that only time can bring.  For example, in the long run of your life, it doesn't matter whether or not you chose to buy a Snickers instead of a Milky Way at the grocery store on July 15, 1978.  Sometimes, though, this does work the other way, too.  You never know what strange off-handed decision will have a bizarre impact on you in the future!  A good example would be the day back in 1972 that I bought a little sock monkey toy for 50 cents.  Eventually, you realize that you can only learn to trust your decision-making skills, be willing to take the blame when you make a mistake, and keep trying to move ahead in a positive way!  Speaking of which, I'd better get back to work!  See ya tomorrow!

April 26 - Pete's Hamburger Stand has re-opened for the 2004 season here in WOMP's hometown of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.  A strictly warm-weather operation, Pete's is also only open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.  This makes it a special treat to have your first Pete's burger of the "Summer," a little like seeing the first robin of Spring.  This has been an important ritual for citizens of Prairie du Chien since Pete himself first rolled his original hamburger stand onto the downtown streets in 1909!  I mention all of this, of course, because I am The Official Artist of Pete's Hamburgers!  As readers of this WOMP-Blog may remember, I painted a neat little bit of artwork for Pete's to use to make postcards.  They already sell a t-shirt with a design on it that I drew about 4 years ago.  Anyway, true to form, I dropped by the stand on Friday to get my first delicious hamburgers of the season.  As I stood in line (and there is
always a line), I was behind a group of people who, as it turns out, were from Spain.  This isn't unusual in itself.  Pete's has served burgers to people from not just every state in the union, but also from every nation on Earth!  Anyhoo, as I stood there, I listened to them talk, in Spanish, about my postcard (a sample of which was taped onto a window frame of the stand).  I don't speak Spanish, but I could tell from the body language and tone of their speech that they, well, thought it was pretty cute.  By coincidence, one of the guys in the group looked almost exactly like one of the little cartoon people on the postcard, which they found immensely humorous (and he found slightly embarrassing).  When it came their time to place an order (from the choices of plain hamburger, hamburger with cooked onions, hamburger with raw onions, or, if you are hungry for something exotique, you can get a burger with cooked and raw onions), the gal behind the counter asked them from where they'd come (that's how I found out).  As they small-talked a little about why they were in Wisconsin and such, their burgers were "assembled."  When they were told a total, they asked to please add in one of the postcards.  I must admit that I was so proud.  Here, on the first day it was available, one of my postcards was already on its way to Spain!  They trotted off, gleefully breathing in the oniony aroma, and it was my turn to place an order.  I must have been smiling like a nut, because the gal (and I should know her name, but I've forgotten it right now) kind of gestured toward the Spanish folks and said "Thank you so much for the art, John!  The postcards look great!"  She handed me my burgers (both "with," one also with ketchup) and added "Put your money away.  These are on Pete!"  In my moment of pride, I'd forgotten that my "pay" included free Pete's hamburgers for LIFE!  As I walked off, I couldn't help thinking about how many neat things I've been involved in through my cartooning.  As a kid, I'd become interested in drawing purely because it was fun.  It never occured to me that I would ever even give a cartoon away, nonetheless sell one.  Since I have begun my cartooning "career," I've found that the drawings I make have a certain life of their own.  Because of things I've drawn, I've met people from all over the world, either in person, or via the Internet, and it has nearly always been a positive experience.  In that spirit, I'd like to take this opportunity to say here a public "THANK YOU" to everyone who has ever hired me or otherwise supported my art over the years.  You are each as wonderful and delicious as that first Pete's hamburger of Summer! 

April 25 - Oy!  Am I mixed up!  After my caricature drawing event of the early-morning hours of the 24th was done, I got home by about 6:00am.  I was too awake to go to bed, and, since my alarm was set for 8:30, it seemed kinda stupid anyway, so I sat up and watched TV.  I must admit that I did drift off for about 30 to 45 minutes, but, basically, I went without sleep so that Vickie and I could check out all of the bargains in our hometown's "All Town Rummage Sale" event!  We drove from random garage to odd backyard to strange carport to crowded driveway for hours, gleaning whatever cool stuff we could find under $1.00!  Afterwards, we came home around 1:00pm, and I was confused as to why I was so tired...until I realized that I hadn't slept (other than that "power nap") since around 9:00am the day before, nearly 28 hours earlier!  I did a couple of things around the house, then fell into bed...but I set my alarm for 4:00pm because I didn't want to waste a whole day sleeping.  I slept until 4, hit the snooze a few times until it was 4:30, then got up to continue with my day.  Things went fine for about 4 more hours, until suddenly, I just had to take a break, which became a nap, which became 9:00am this morning!  I had slept for 12 hours!  Now I'm so mixed up that it felt like Monday all day, and I am tired, again, and it's only 11:30pm!  Needless to say, I haven't gotten much done for days.  Tomorrow, I plan on getting back on track, so tune into the ol' WOMP-Blog then to see how I once again fail to do so!

April 23 - Hey, gang!  Short entry tonight.  I'm heading out to another caricature drawing event.  This one is for the Garnavillo/Guttenberg, Iowa, high school "after-prom" event.  I'm contracted to be there from 2:00am to 4:00am, but I plan on leaving early to set up around 1:00am because they have a performer starting right about then, and I'm "on" right after his act is done, so I don't want to be noisily setting up while he is doing his thing.  Tomorrow morning, even though I expect to get home at about 5:00am, Vickie and I are going to hit the rummage sales by 9:00am!  I'll give you a more full report tomorrow night.  See ya then!

April 22 - Remember the days when you looked forward to getting the mail?  I recall practically tackling my sister for the honor of running to the mailbox when we heard the sound of that old mufflerless mail truck coming up our street.  We'd stand there (or, should I say "fidget there") in anticipation of just the slight chance that there was a letter for one of us!  Of course, unless it was Christmas or our birthdays, that didn't happen, but, nonetheless, I can vividly recollect that anticipatory excitement that only the mailman could "deliver!"  Today, hmmm...not so much.  We pretty much only get bills and junk mail.  Today, though, it was like a little adventure!  First off, there was some junk mail, offering me 0% fixed introductory APR on a Disney VISA card.  It's main "feature" is a "miles" type program in which cardholders earn "Disney Rewards," applicable to admission at their theme parks and on merchandise in Disney stores.  I don't know if it's because I'm a cartoonist, or what, but I get this offer about twice a month!  I am not big on the whole "vanity" credit card thing.  Like a personalized license plate on your car, it costs way too much for what is essentially the same thing as a normal card, and it is an obvious cry for attention which attracts only the kinds of people to whom you'd rather remain anonymous!  The next piece of mail was an offer to increase my life insurance.  Since it came from my insurer, it isn't technically junk mail, but, since the added cost would be another $126.00 per month, it went into the same "to be burned" pile as the Disney thing!  I also got a Shopper's Supplement to our local newspaper, which might sound boring, but it got my heart racing because it contains listings of locations and times for our "All Town Garage Sale Event!"  In fact, I'm going to go to some of those tomorrow morning...and, as you may know, it takes something monumental to get me out of bed before 11:00am (to be fair, I go to bed at 5:00am).  The next piece of mail was from the Russ Manning Award Committee.  The award, named after the great Silver Age comic book artist, is given annually to "the most promising newcomer in comic art" as part of the also-annual Eisner Award presentations.  This is the honor that my buddy, Craig Thompson, received a couple of years ago.  The letter is a request for nominees.  Not that it matters, but I did nominate Craig back then (I wonder if he knows that?), but, alas, I will never be eligible for the honor... ...not so much because I am so obviously unworthy, but because The Adventures of Monkey #1 had a print run of 3,000 copies, and the eligibility cut-off for work in any previous years is 2,000 copies or under.  Oh, well.  The next letter was from The Gokey family, owners and operators of Pete's Hamburgers!  It contained a little thank you for the artwork that I did for them, and two copies of the postcard that was made from it!  Also included were gift certificates for FREE PETE'S BURGERS!  I may have a contest to give those away, so keep an eye out for that.  The last piece of mail was a letter that I've known was coming, but have been really dreading anyway.  It's an invitation to my 20 year
high school reunion!  AAK!  I'm OLD!  I swear, I was 18 just 2, or 5, or surely no more than 12 years ago.  UGH.  I don't think that I'm going to attend the event, but not out of some sort of snobbery, because I definitely don't think that I'm "better" than the people I graduated with, especially since some of them are millionaires...sigh.  I just didn't have many good high school days.  I had great friends, with whom I am still in touch, but my day-to-day high school existence was filled with fairly unhappy memories and little else that could be "reminicsed" fondly with others.  I don't think that I'll be missed, so it's probably only a big deal in my mind anyway.  Man...how can six pieces of mail put me through so many emotional memories?  After a pile of letters like that, I'm going to make Vickie get the mail for awhile!

April 21 - So, if you've been following along with the ol' WOMP-Blog over the last few days, you know that I've been describing some of "My Favorite Comics Characters."  Tonight, I'm going to wrap up the series with a character that is
VERY close to my heart; Monkey!  First, I have to explain a couple of things.  First, I have many more favorite characters, from Pogo and The Spirit to Chunky Rice and Spawn, but the nine I've discussed so far in this series each had a particular influence on me.  Second, I want to say that the "Monkey" that is one of my favorite characters is not the current version.  It's not like I dislike my own character or his comic book...in fact, I'm very proud of, and happy with, The Adventures of Monkey!  For those who don't know, though, I should probably tell you that Monkey is a character that I created when I was six years old.  I drew his various adventures on the backs of envelopes, in pads of notepaper, or in the margins of schoolwork.  It's easy to remember that, because I still have those drawings!  Even then, I was the kind of kid who collected stuff.  I hated throwing stuff away, including my artwork of Monkey.  Years later, after my college days, I was looking for ideas to draw...something to use to make a portfolio, and, if possible, to self-publish.  I wanted something that was both different from, yet somehow remniscent of, my favorite comics.  I wanted to draw stories that kids could enjoy, but so could adults.  I dabbled with drawing characters that I'd created when I was in high school (Vladic and Conscience), but they didn't have all of the qualities that I was looking for...and, even though they are cool, they just seemd to lack that special "something" that I was trying to find.  I remember thinking about the stories that I drew when I was a kid, thinking "If I could just come up with a character that had all of the qualites that Monkey had."  I decided to gather up those old drawings to see what it was that made them so memorable to me, hoping to glean information to use toward a future project.  In the course of that night, my life took an unexpected turn toward where I am today.  There, in the assembled aging scraps of paper, was everything I'd been looking for; humor, adventure, strong characters, imaginative storylines, a full palette of moral and sociological story potential, and the charm of a tale told by a kid, made richer by the experiences of the adult who read it.  So it is that moment, that
Monkey, which is number ten on the list of "My Favorite Comics Characters."  Today, I try my best to have Monkey stories live up to the feeling I had that night.  As I began to turn that rambling, and random, series of drawings into a single coherent, flowing narrative and comic book "world," I took inspiration from the characters that had meant the most to me...the same favorite characters which have been featured in this WOMP-Blog.  From Batman, I gave Monkey the desire to think through a problem when possible, but also to be ready for the fight if it came (not to mention the whole mansion thing, which I'd already "lifted" when I was a kid).  From The Joker, I made sure that the villains are as complex as the heroes.  From Snoopy, I learned how to retain the joyful spirit of a childhood friend in a later incarnation.  From Krazy Kat, I became aware of the ethic of always trying to push the creative, and social, boundaries while appearing to just be drawing funny animals.  From Spider-Man, I made sure that Monkey understood, and even struggled with, the consequences of his great power and responsibility.  From Popeye, I caught on to how to keep a storyline alive while juggling several charcters and sub-plots for years.  From Bone, I was inspired to champion Monkey, even when the rest of the world couldn't see how special he was.  From Superman, I knew that I'd have to make Monkey strong, while allowing him to also be flexible enough to change with the times.  From Green Arrow, I took the lesson of making a character stand out by design.  From my old drawings of Monkey, I knew that, someday, I'd use all of these lessons to transform my childhood character from a fondly remembered series of scribbles to a place on someone else's list of "My Favorite Comics Characters."  Well, I guess that's it, isn't it?  I'll be back tomorrow with the usual kinds of ramblings.  See ya!

April 20 - OK, tonight's entry in the "My Favorite Comics Characters" is a strange choice, but I can't help it.  When I was a kid, Green Arrow was one of my absolute favorites!  Just before I started reading superhero comics, Green Arrow and Green Lantern had been the stars of a groundbreaking series written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Neal Adams (the same guys who up-dated Batman), but by the time I came across them, their series had become sort of "normal" (if that makes any sense).  Actually, I first saw Green Arrow when he was a member of the Justice League of America.  It was during the classic "Manhunters" storyline.  I knew who everyone else in the group was, but I had never seen this weird green-clad Robin Hood guy before.  For some reason, though, I was totally mesmerized by him!  It wasn't his story (Oliver Queen, millionaire playboy, is deserted on an island for years, so he becomes extraordinarily skilled with a bow and arrow to survive).  It wasn't his "fighting style" (boomerang-arrows, exploding-arrows, and even, most famously, boxing-glove-arrows), or even his caustic-yet-endearing personality (he was sarcastic, sardonic, quick to anger, but with a heart of gold).  So what was it that made him one of my favorites?  His costume!  That awesome, oddball, green costume!  It's not bizarre by comparison to, say, Spawn, but, by 1970's standards of superhero dress, he was outrageous!  He was wearing a simple mask, similar to the blacking that athletes and soldiers put around their eyes, but he had no cape.  He had, as I mentioned, a sort of Robin Hood thing going on, with a turtleneck shortsleeved shirt, dark green vest tunic that laced up, strange extra-long gloves with cut-out band-like designs, the longbow and oversized quiver thrown over his shoulder, and that super-cool jaunty hat with a feather in it!  I don't mean to sound like I'm reporting live from the red carpet of Grammy Awards, but I have to say that I loved that costume!  Oh, and, to top it all off, Green Arrow had a mustache and a double-pointed goatee that curled on the ends!  For years, I bought everything that had G.A. in it, no matter how briefly, and did so almost exclusively to see how different artists tackled the various unique elements of his outfit.  One of the first reasons that I ever started drawing comics at all was so that I could try to draw that hat!  Even to this day, I think about adding some little bit of Green Arrow's uniform to just about every costume that I design!  Well, that makes nine of "My Favorite Comics Characters" that I've written about in the last few days.  Tomorrow, I'll wrap up the series with number ten; a little fellow named Monkey!  See ya then!

April 19 - How could I make a list of "My Favorite Comics Characters" and not talk about Superman?  Supes is often maligned by so-called "serious" comics collectors (the same people who nearly killed the comics industry about ten years ago) because, in the light of 70 years of comic book development, he seems too unbelievable.  I don't know.  A lot of characters require a certain lack of scrutiny to enjoy them (for example, when Bruce Banner becomes The Hulk, from where does all of the extra mass come?).  To me, Superman is more about concepts than science.  Most importantly, Superman has also been a fair barometer of the different eras through which he has "lived."  Created in the mid-1930's by two high school kids, Supes first appeared, in Action #1, in 1938, when the world was on the cusp of World War Two.  Almost immediately, he became a symbol of America, as much as the flag or a bald eagle.  At first, his powers were amazing, yes, but not particularly "super" by his current standards.  He could not fly, but, rather "leap tall buildings in a single bound."  He was not any "faster than a speeding locomotive."  He was not indestructable, as the harm possible from "nothing less than an exploding shell" was the limit of his invulnerability.  He had no heat vision, nor X-Ray vision.  All he had was "the strength of ten men," and that meant ten normal, 1930's, non-weightlifting men (think Henry Fonda or Jimmy Stewart).  He was, in fact, just "super" enough to have an amazing edge on the bad guys of the world, but not so much as to lose a connection to the good ones.  Even today, I can't read a Superman story without "seeing into it" a reflection of this first incarnation.  As The U.S. entered WWII, so did Superman.  Not only did Life Magazine commission a two page story showing how The Man of Steel would take care of Hitler, Hirohito, and Stalin (who was not yet one of the Allies), but his exploits dealt with saboteurs, spies, and sneak attacks in overtly patriotic ways.  Superman stories were as simple as the times; "we" are everything that's good and true, "they" are everything that's evil and wrong, so "we" should beat the snot out of "them" until "they" are gone.  In reality, that seems to have closer to the truth than it would ever be again.  This might help explain why all Superman titles had circulations of over twelve million copies per year!  As the war ended, and times changed, so did Superman.  The Atomic Age presented problems that required superpower upgrades.  Soon, Supes had all of the familiar talents that he still has.  Each generation of creators has built upon what has come before when they could, or scrapped a part of it whenever they had to.  Through it all, though, Superman has remained a paragon of what a superhero, and, more-over, a comic book character, should be...and I think that I know why.  He represents the purest image of a dream effigy, a symbol of our hopes and wishes in a human form.  Nazis coming to kill or enslave you?  Blow them away with one mighty exhale! Commies firing a nuclear missle at you?  Fly up, grab it, and send it into the sun!  Al Qaeda trying to blow up your house?  Move faster than the speed of light as you find the explosives and eat them!  No matter who we are, we all have dreamt of having powers beyond our pathetic circumstances.  How many of us haven't, at some point in our lives, tied a bath towel, bedsheet, or red sweater around our necks and run around the backyard, pretending to fly?  It's pretty easy to see the Superman influences in The Adventures of Monkey.  What might not be as obvious is Superman's influence on me, but, in many ways, I still strive to fight for truth, justice, and the American Way...I just don't wear the red sweater cape anymore!  Tomorrow, another surprise character...Green Arrow!

April 18 - Congratulations, Rusty Wallace, on your 55th career win!  Yes, I know that this WOMP-Blog is not
technically a NASCAR fan-site, but we here at WOMP Central are HUGE Rusty fans, so the halls of H.Q. are a-buzz with shouts of "YEAH!" and multiple high-fives.  OK, that's out of the way.  Now, on to today's chapter of "My Favorite Comics Characters."  Tonight, it's Jeff Smith's Bone!   If you are unfamiliar with Bone, let me tell you that you are not alone.  At least for now, Bone is a wildly popular, if unknown by the world at large, independent comic book.  Issue #1 came out in 1991, and it was a fairly miserable flop.  In fact, I picked up several copies of the first three issues in a "5 for $1.00" box in River City Hobbies, the comic book store in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  With no fanfare, and no advertising campaign, Bone seemed destined for the purgatory of the 1990's Comics Glut Landfill.  With virtually no experience in comics at all, Mr. Smith "retired" from his animation studio to devote himself to a little character that he'd created when he was a little kid.  He'd had a "test run," of sorts, when a version of Bone appeared as a comic strip in his college newspaper, but his concept of the comics industry was a little naive, if I may say that about someone whom I consider to be a genius.  Then, something happened.  I'm not sure exactly how, but, based almost entirely on word-of-mouth,
Bone #4 sold a little better than #3, and, by the time #6 came out, it was an unqualified sales and artistic triumph!  Deservedly so, too.  The comic is a fantastic wonder of the art form, as beautiful to look at as it is fun to read.  Any single issue makes the reader feel transported to a mythical realm so completely that, at issue's end, you almost feel like you've woken from a dream.  All together, though, the series tells a wonderous tale of mystical beasts, unique memorable characters, gothic suspense, gut-busting humor, cow racing, and so much more.  Bone himself is a bit like Walt Kelly's Pogo, both in appearance and in temperament.  He is plucky, inquisitive, a little too-easily "in love" with the beautiful human, Rose, and fond of the book Moby Dick!  Bone may very well be the most perfect comic book series being published today.  Even at my advanced age, I find a lot of inspiration in Jeff Smith's story, using his success-story as a "dream-template" for my own meager comic book "career."  He may not be as "famous" as Batman, Snoopy, or Popeye, but I'd bet that Bone is on many "favorites" lists!  Tomorrow, it's up, up, and away with Superman!

April 17 - OOPS!  Sorry, everyone!  I forgot that my family and I were going to a band concert on the night of the 16th.  By the time we got home, it was 2:30am, and I was beat!  Please pardon my one-day vacation from the "My Favorite Comics Characters" series!  Tonight, it's Popeye!  Again, I find that good old fashioned Saturday morning cartoons led me to wanting to learn more about what is now one of my favorite comic strips.  To be honest, Popeye cartoons are generally pretty bad, and, depending on how old they are, they are not even lip-synched to the soundtrack.  A lot of the incoherent scat-style mumbling that we think of when we imagine Popeye talking is due to the fact that the animated shorts from the 1930s were done so cheaply that the dialog was added almost as an afterthought.  Anyhoo, they still have a quirky charm and humor that made me wonder just what the "real" Popeye was like.  Somewhere, I found some of the early Thimble Theater  strips, the series that spawned the salty swain.  They are amazing humor/adventure strips, filled with oddball characters, of which Popeye was just one...until his popularity overwhelmed the rest, and he was made the star.  It's hard to describe Popeye.  He's sort of an antihero.  He's rough and tough, ugly and disfigured, yet he has a heart of gold, and a can of spinach, that, in the end, make him lovable.  In many ways, the Popeye strip is similar to Dick Tracy, in that it was populated with many unique, often grotesque, villains.  In fact, the strip is very operatic in theme and scale.  After reading an entire, year long storyline from about 1935 or so, I understood why he was so loved; Popeye was addictive!  Bud Segar, Popeye's cartoonist creator, was unusally adept at keeping a story well-paced and interesting over extremely long periods of time.  Also, because he is so different from the typical adventure hero, Popeye becomes more and more endearing as you follow his exploits.  He is a perfect example of not judging a book by its cover!  I've learned a lot about pacing and character development from Popeye, and that, I guess, is why he's one of my favorites!  Tomorrow, it's time to jump from the 1930's to the 1990's with Bone!

April 15 - "My Favorite Comics Characters" continues tonight with Spider-Man!  I must confess that I was a "DC Kid" when I was growing up.  I was all about Superman and Batman and The Justice League of America, and so forth.  I think that's mostly because Marvel comics characters were not on TV when I was a little kid (although I now know that it was only strange timing that they weren't...for example, The Fantastic Four had their own show in the 1960's, and then again in 1978).  That all changed when a young Morgan Freeman, cast member of the PBS kids' show The Electric Company, donned the familiar red and blue uniform of everyone's favorite web-slinger! That was pretty cool!  For any of you out there too young to know what The Electric Company was, I guess I'd describe it as an educational show for kids who were too old for Sesame Street.  It starred a fantastic small cast of amazing actors, and it was filled with skits and sketches and innovative obtuse images intended to entertain with humor while teaching about (mostly) grammar.  As part of the fun, Spider-Man would make exciting guest appearances.  Once I realized that Spider-Man had his own comic, I thought that I should check it out.  I actually had a hard time finding any Marvel comics in my hometown!  For some reason, they were scarce.  It was only later that I found out that it was because they were being snapped up by a strange off-shoot breed of humans known as comic book collectors!  I finally found out that the gift shop at the hospital, where my folks worked, had a small number of comics for sale...ALL MARVELS!  In retrospect, I imagine that these were meant for sick children or something, but, at the time, it seemed like kismet!  There were FF,
Defenders, and Marvel Team Up and Two-In-One comics, but my favorite was ol' Web-Head.  Accustomed to the admiration that DC characters illicit from their worlds, I was blown away by the concept that Spidey was a hero in fact, but not in the eyes of the public at large!  Plus, his personal life was always in turmoil.  Being the accepted, but "powerless," Peter Parker was actually more difficult than being the hated, but free, Spider-Man.  That's a pretty strong statement for a boy about to become a teenager.  Shortly after discovering Marvel comics, I was at a mall in Dubuque, Iowa, with my folks when a book caught my eye..it was Origins of Marvel Comics by Stan Lee.  It was a hefty amount of borrowing against future dollar-a-week allowances, but I managed to buy the book on the spot.  Remember, I had no idea who Stan Lee was...except that his name was in almost every Marvel comic I owned.  I read the book with amazement.  Here, for the first time in my life, was a (hyperbolic) dissection of creating what I loved most in the world; comics!  It's in that book that I first read the phrase "With great power comes great responsibility."  Honestly, this statement can still bring a tear to my eye.  It is beautifully simple, and obvious, but it is profound in its own way, and, as the entire basis for a character, it is pure magic.  Spider-Man, like so much of early Marvel, reflects the World War Two generation who created him.  If there is any lesson from WWII, it is that isolationism is not just a faulty concept, but, ultimately, disadventageous, if not plain out-and-out dangerous.  If you have the ability to shape your world, you pretty much have to.  There is a reason why such nations are called super-powers.  We, of course, find ourselves in a typical Spider-Man situation today, don't we?  The rest of the world views us with suspicion, or hatred.  We, on the other hand, like Peter Parker, are struggling with wondering whether we are using our great power with responsibility.  Such issues are also the domain of the pre-teen boy, or girl, who is learning about becoming an individual...and adult.  For exploring this dynamic, and, in the process, seeking to help us find that balance in our own lives, Spider-Man will always be one of "My Favorite Comics Characters."  Tomorrow, it's time to eats me spinach with Popeye!  See ya!

April 14 - Hey, kids!  Just a quick side-note before I continue with the "My Favorite Comics Characters" series.  Thanks to this simple ol' WOMP-Blog, my first college room-mate, the illustrious Mr. Dave Weiser, sent me a quick e-mail last night!  He asked how I was, who is Monkey, and whether or not I still celebrate December 16th!  For those who are unfamiliar with the grand tradition of celebrating December 16th, it is a special day set aside for family and friends, principally because the day comes only once each year (yes, I do know that it's stupid...but it's fun!).  Hi, Dave!  Anyhoo, back to the characters series.  Tonight, it's Krazy Kat!  For anyone under 80 years old, you may not be familiar with Krazy, but her (Krazy was a girl...although many people will fight with you if you say that at a cartoon museum...trust me) influence is still with us.  Created and drawn by the brilliant George "Geo" Herriman from 1913 to 1944, Krazy Kat was the most popular comic strip in the world for years.  With good reason, too!  First off, it's just plain funny!  Krazy was a simple soul, drifting through life in the American Southwest, hopelessly in love with Ignatz, a cruel, conniving, criminal mouse.  To complicate things, the local cop and chubby dog, Offisa Pupp, was hopelessly in love with Krazy, and tried to capture and incarcerate Ignatz to protect her.  Somehow, some way, Ignatz still always managed to whip a brick at the back of Krazy's head!  This might sound awful, but it was always clever, insightful, and visually amazing!  Not being 80 years old myself, I first came across Krazy while I was in high school.  Our local library had a large book called The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, and I was fortunate enough to find it right when I was trying to learn more about the history of the profession I hoped to have some day!  The book is filled with all sorts of wonderful examples of the very best strips from American history, but Krazy Kat just seemed to jump right off the pages!  Everything about Mr. Herriman's pseudo-poetic work spoke to that little cartoonist "whatzit" in my soul.  The balance of the panels, the innovative and imaginative layouts, the "modern" surreal style of drawing, and the Freudian subtext to the whole thing, all wrapped in a warm blanket of outsider counter-culturism!  Awesome!  Just awesome!  The strip was so popular during its day that President Wilson recited Krazy's exploits over the radio (and wrote fan letters to Geo), creators from Umberto Eco to Charles Schulz were inspred by it, and Jack Kerouac credited it as sparking The Beat Generation!  Even I was inspired to create the character John Woe (who will make an appearance in T.A.O.M. #7) based on the unique storytelling style of Krazy Kat.  Even today, such as in issue #4 of T.A.O.M., I find myself drawing mesas and natural monument structures that look very much like the ubiquitous backgrounds of Krazy's world.  For years, I wondered how Mr. Herriman had done all of this so long ago, and from where did he get these concepts so long before anyone else.  The answer may be in his heritage.  Geo worked at a New York newspaper owned by the controversial multi-millionaire William Randolph Hearst.  Hearst, the inspiration for Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, was a powerful and forceful man, accustomed to having everyone do exactly what he requested.  One of his edicts was that men working for him must wear three piece suits and remove their hats indoors.  Everyone obeyed...except George Herriman.  For some reason, he refused.  In fact, he would wear an overly fancy bowler hat, no jacket or vest, and would actually roll up his sleeves and smoke a big cigar in the main office.  When Hearst found out, everyone was sure that Geo would not be just fired, but totally ruined by this sometimes rutheless man.  Instead, nothing happened.  Eventually, all of the other cartoonists working for Hearst adopted this same style of dress for work...and they all got away with it!  Yes, Geo may have "gotten away with it" because of his popularity, but, the actual reason why he decided to challenge Hearst's rules was because he was hiding something... his unmistakably African-American hair!  You see, Geo was a Creole, straight from New Orleans.  In the 1910's, this sort of secret , once revealed, would be enough to ruin your career, and, in some places, endanger your life.  Never ashamed of his heritage, he none-the-less kept it secret so that he could have the freedom to do what he loved so much, and was so good at!  A true genius, on a par with the likes of Picasso and Edison, Geo also brought to his work a reflection of an entire oppressed, but rich and deep, culture.  In this way, he reflected the African-American influences that created The Jazz Age during this same period.  When I learned this secret (which was still "kept quiet" back in the mid 1980's), it was the "X" factor that explained so much of what made his stuff so special.  In his way, George Herriman was a quiet trailblazer...not just because of his skin color, but because he was the first cartoonist to draw strips with a deeper, artistic meaning that can speak to us even today, nearly 100 years after they were drawn!   Tomorrow...Spider-Man!

April 13 - More of "My Favorite Characters."  Tonight, it's Snoopy!  There is something about Snoopy that strikes a chord with all kids.  Adults have Charlie Brown and his clever, if thinly veiled, grownup anxieties, but kids have the comical antics of Snoopy.  When I say "kids," I do mean kids of all ages.  Snoopy is a part of some of my earliest memories.  When I was a little, little kid, like 5 years old, my Grandma Mundt took me to a large variety store somewhere in Iowa.  She told me that I could pick out any toy I wanted and she would get it for me for my birthday.  Eyes wide with excitement, I slowly wandered up and down the narrow isles, free to choose from the many toy tractors, stuffed animals, and assorted tops and jacks, until I finally settled on a single item; a small plastic jointed Snoopy figure!  The price was 59 cents, if memory serves.  I showed it to Grandma, and she just laughed!  "Sweetie, you can get any toy you want.  Wouldn't you rather have a Tonka truck or a G.I. Joe?"  she asked.  I told her "No, thanks, Gramma.  All I want is Snoopy!"  So, she bought it for me (thanks again, Grandma!).  There is something about his childlike pure ego that speaks right to the heart of what being a kid is all about.  What kid hasn't imagined being a great World War One flying ace?  Well, OK...so I was a strange kid, but so was Snoopy, and everyone thought he was cool!  In fact, he was Joe Cool!  Joe Cool is to a ten year old boy what James Bond is to a grown man.  Also, Snoopy felt things on that super-deep, melodramatic level that kids feel when they play.  When he was happy, he was so happy that his legs were a blur as he danced!  He wasn't just scared, he was terrified to the point of near death.  He wasn't just sad, he actually melted into a puddle of mopey glop.  He looked like how we felt.  Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts characters, based Snoopy on a dog that he had owned when he was a boy.  His dog, Sparky (a nickname that Mr. Schulz ended up with also), was his closest friend, and he actually "sparked" his cartooning career.  One of the grand old comics of the 1930's was Ripley's Believe It Or Not!  Mr. Schulz, then a boy of about 10, sent Mr. Ripley a drawing of Sparky with a description of how he ate pins,nails, and screws (believe it or not).  Mr. Ripley actually included the art and story in one of his comic strips (except, due to the double-entendre nature of some of Sparky's diet, it said that the dog ate pins, needles, and razor blades!).  When this strip was printed in his local newspaper, Charles felt that thrill that only a taste of fame can bring...thanks to his cartooning, and his dog!  Small wonder, then, that he vested in Snoopy all of the childlike excitement and feelings of freedom that he'd first felt thanks to Sparky.  I guess that, for me, whether as that 5 year old in a toy store, or as a grown man with gray creeping into his beard, Snoopy will always be about the freedom of childhood.  Tomorrow, another of my favorite characters...Krazy Kat!

April 12 - Happy Birthday, David Letterman!  OK, now that that is out of the way, let's continue with my "series" of thoughts about some of my favorite characters.  Tonight, it's The Joker!  I love The Joker!  Really!  This may surprise you, but I don't have to admire, or wish to emulate, a character to love him.  I like The Clown Prince of Crime because he is an amazing, nearly perfect villain creation...the very antithesis of Batman.  Where Batman utilizes the power of his analytical mind to turn the tragedy of the loss of loved ones into a driving energy to try to change the world for the better, The Joker uses the excuse of personal disfigurement to descend into a madness so powerful that his mind has nearly become a destructive force of nature, bent on chaos and suffering.  Without the evil genius of The Joker to perpetually vex Bats, he would be a bit too nutty to ever take seriously.  In a world where an evil clown serial killer gets his jollies by chemically disfiguring his victims so that they laugh to death, a hero dressed like a bat actually seems pretty logical.  When I was a kid, The Joker had his own comic book.  It was, like, my favorite title, and it actually  led to one of the coolest "inside comics" stories of my life.  When I was about 12, my family and I were on one of our legendary disasterous Summer Vacations, this one to the St. Louis Gateway Arch and back.  Somewhere along the way, we popped into a truckstop for supplies.  There, in a large bin, was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen; a gigantic pile of comics, reduced to the price of 10 for a dollar!  I was in prepubescent-fanboy heaven!  I spent almost my entire vacation allowance, getting, among others, The Joker # 8.  It was (and still is) an awesome comic, featuring a guest appearance from The Scarecrow.  It featured an epic battle of wits and contrasting styles of ingenious villainy.  The Joker won the confrontation in a memorable single page of the story.  Later, in our comically doomed road-trip, I was re-reading that very page of the comic when the trunk of our car caught fire!  My Dad pulled over, and we all piled out to the "safety" of a nearby tree.  A passing trucker stopped and put out the fire with his onboard fire-extinguisher.  When the smoke cleared, the car was still running, albeit with "icicles" where the tail-lights used to be.  The trunk, however, was completely gutted.  The fire had consumed everything but the clothes on our backs...and The Joker #8!  Now, fast-forward to my "college" days at The Joe Kubert School.  After about the first month, Joe decided to have a sort of "teacher appreciation day" to highlight the works of the people who we were less familiar with.  One of those teachers was an old-time, old-school, and just plain old cartoonist named Tex Blaisdell.  The only thing I knew about Tex was that he had "ghosted" (drawn but not credited) the Little Orphan Annie comic strip.  So, here I was, looking over the old original artwork pinned to the walls of our classroom when I came face to face with that memorable page of
The Joker #8!  Turns out that Tex was the inker for the issue, which makes sense.  His stint on Little Orphan Annie is highly regarded by comic strip fans, especially for his darker, moody take on the character.  The same dark feeling pervades the inks in The Joker #8.  Anyhoo, once I found this out, I called my folks back in Wisconsin and had them mail the issue out to me.  I told Tex about how much this comic and I had gone through, and how much I enjoyed it, and asked him to sign it...which he did, graciously.  I was told later that I had made his day at a time when he really needed it.  Tex died in 1999, so I really treasure my strange keepsake comic.  And, to think that this wonderful story is thanks to the evil Joker!  Well, tomorrow I'm going to switch gears slighty and talk about...Snoopy!  See ya then!

April 11 - What is your favorite cartoon or comic book character?  For me, that's like asking "Which is your favorite Grandparent?"  Here, for a few days (unless some other nifty thing comes up), I'd like to talk a little about some of the characters that still make me feel like a 10 year old comic book reader all over again whenever I see them!  Tonight, it's The Dark Knight, Batman!  I don't know when I first saw Batman, but it must have been early.  I'm a little too young to have seen the first run Batman TV show of the late 1960's, but I did see it in re-run.  I also remember Batman and Robin making guest appearances on the Scooby Doo cartoon, and, of course, as members of The Super Friends.  I even got a Batman action figure as an Easter gift when I was about 8 or 9 years old. All of those things sparked my imagination, but my mind took flight when I read my first Batman comics!  I'm lucky enough to have come across Bats right when he was having a renaissance, both creatively and in popularity.  Almost as a response to the campy TV versions, comic book creators decided to take Batman back to his roots.  The words and works of Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Don Newton, Marshall Rogers, and many more talented folks brought Batman out of his "fighting aliens with shrink-rays" era, and into his current status as a serious vehicle for creative, and important, fiction.  Guest artists, like Michael Kaluta and Walter Simonson, added occasional spice to the mix.  As a kid, this stuff was better than candy!  It was exciting, and it didn't talk down to me...in fact, these stories actually encouraged me to learn more, and to think for myself.  That may be the whole "point" of Batman as a character.  Bad stuff is going to happen in our lives, sometimes VERY bad stuff.  Instead of just wallowing in overwhelming emotion, use the inherent power of your mind to turn that energy around and use it to do something positive.  I think that it is very important to remember that Batman, who has no superpowers, is not just a crusader, but a detective.  That's a subtle way of saying that it's all well and good to want to do good, but it takes hard work to do something about it.  Some people identify with Batman precisely because he has no powers, and I can relate to that.  For many years, I was convinced that I would become
Batman when I grew up!  I even found a secret cave to use as my base of operations (unfortunately, there is now a camper and RV sales lot on the sight).  As a ten year old boy, it was perfectly logical to assume that I would someday pull on a cape and hooded mask and go out into the dark, mean streets of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, to fight crime.  Ah, well....there are some days when I still think about what my super-name would be (Captain Dork?  Mr. Wheezer?  How about The Incredible Bulk?).  That's why I love Batman.  As a character, he awoke, and continues to energize, the adventurous thinker in me.  Tomorrow, a surprise...The JOKER!

April 10-11 - Hello, everyone!  How are you?  It's been a busy day for the WOMP staff (which, as mentioned before, consists of my wife and myself).  We attended an estate auction here in town (where we bought a box FULL of antique doll clothes, complete with a very large antique doll!  She is pretty nifty, and she'll fit in well with the other old dolls displayed throughout WOMP Central).  After having lunch downtown, we ran to our local "mall" for some pet supplies.  Imagine my surprise when I saw Mr. Aaron Uglum, gentleman cartoonist, out and about!  A quick, firm handshake, accompanied by select words of greeting, and he was gone as quickly as he'd come (well, actually, we were just getting back into the car, so, technically, we were gone).  I do hope that you check out his site!  Click HERE to go to the Links Page, then click on his REIN LION COMICS button.  I'm digging his Flying Banner, but I want MORE!  I don't look at his site each day, like a good boy should, but, fortunately for me, he archives each day's comic book serialized installment, so it's not hard to catch up.   Anyhoo, after Aaron's pleasant cameo appearance in our day, we went home to check out our doll and doll clothes, and to just sit for a little while before I had to go into the dull "real job."  Things went a little more smoothly today, so I was home in good order, but I still just sat out the rest of the evening until now.  Whee!  What a cRaZy life I lead!  Oh, well.  At least I have my exciting WOMP-Blog entries to keep me entertained!  Hey, let me try something new tonight!  I want to help people to think of stuff in a new way, or, perhaps, that they've never even thought about before.  Toward that end, I will leave you with a random thought or two!  My first attempt is based on a dream that I had last night.  In the dream I was slowly flying, superhero like, over a the length of a river, from it's formation as a trickling stream, to it's eventual termination at the ocean.  As I looked at my reflection below, it changed from a baby, to a boy, to a youth, to a teenager, to a young man, etc., etc..  When I woke up and thought about my dream, the metaphor seemed a little too obvious, but it holds true, nonetheless.  There are times when a person is fast-moving and bubbly, and other times slow moving but deep and powerful.  The similarities are many.  So, here is my challenge for you tonight: at random, think about an occurence, process, or cycle (like a thuderstorm, the S.A.T.s, or the phases of the moon), and try to see as many similarities with your life as you can.  It's fun, interesting, and perhaps enlightening.  Give it a try!  If so inspired, feel free to share your discoveries with us here at WOMP HQ by e-mailing us HERE.  See ya tomorrow!

April 9-10 - I just wanted to touch base with you all to let you know that the dread "real job" went VERY late, so I'm heading right to bed.  I'll have to try to be twice as creative tomorrow!  See ya!

April 8 - Hey there, friends!  This morning, I went to the parade welcoming back our local National Guard unit from their deployment in Iraq.  It was pretty neat.  Veterans from every war since World War One were in the procession, most noteworthy being the actual WW2 vets, who stood, "frozen" in pose, replicating the Iwo Jima Memorial!  I got tired just looking at them!  I counted 51 "units" in the parade (each band, float, color guard, etc., counted as one), which is a pretty big deal for a city of six-thousand people.  The unit itself also marched.  I was a little surprised to see how few of them there were (about 100?).  Anyhoo, I said that I'd let you know how it went, so I wanted to do so before I forgot.  Oh, and I wanted to tell you that the 2004 edition of the Oziana publication is done, and my complimentary copy is going into the mail tomorrow, so I should have it soon!  I'll take some pictures and such of it when I get it!  Well, I guess that I'm going to wrap this up a little early tonight.  See ya tomorrow!

April 7 - YOW!  As predicted, I am a solid mass of aching pains today, thanks to my nine hour stint drawing a zillion caricatures yesterday.  Even at that, I have been pretty busy today.  One project is still "hush hush," as they say (I think that I'll be able to clue you all in within the next week, though).  The other project, that I worked on all day (in fact, I just delivered the final products at 10:00pm), is a bunch of hand-drawn "Welcome Home" posters!  They are for a parade tomorrow to welcome back our local Army National Guard unit which has been deployed in Iraq.  I'm planning on taking my Mom to the parade, and maybe we'll head on down to the Armory for the reception.  Unfortunately for me, it's CRAZY early in the morning.  I guess that even when it comes to parades, they do more before 8:00am than most people do all day!  See ya later (with a report on the parade?)!

April 6 - Hello, everybody!  This is going to be a VERY short entry in the ol' WOMP-Blog tonight!  I had a caricature drawing gig at the local gamblin' boat today...from 11:00am to just a little after 8:00pm!  If I thought that my arm was killing me after a three or four hour event, just IMAGINE how much pain I'm in now!  My shoulder feels like a hot stone in a campfire, and even my neck and right hand are throbbing with aches!  I'll blather on about something of great length tomorrow, but, for tonight, I'll just leave you with this thought; "OUCH!"

April 5 - Hi!  Yesterday, I was discussing the underlying messages in the Avengers/JLA mini-series.  As I mentioned, I don't know how much of what I have extrapolated was intended by the creators, but it opens the floor for discussion, at least.  Tonight I want to talk to you about how I try to include deeper meaning in my stories.  Hopefully this may be of interest to readers, and of help to aspiring cartoonists.  Of course, this is assumimng that A) I have any idea of what I'm doing, B) I have any idea how to tell you about it, and C) I'm any good at it in the first place!  One of the main methods which I employ when writing a story is the "Three Levels Test."  I've developed this "test" to help guide the balance and direction of the comics I draw (especially T.A.O.M.).  Basically, I make sure that a comics tell a story on at least each of these levels; 1) A basic storyline, with motivated characters, standard elements of humor, drama, and emotion in appropriate balance, and a beginning, middle, and end.  2) A reflection of a larger issue, that discusses, through the characters and situations, a moral message or the psychological aspect that I'm interested in exploring, (or extorting). 
3) A reflection of me, that reveals, either consciously, or perhaps unconsciously, some personal aspect of myself that I want to explore.  Anytime that I'm writing a story and I get stuck on a particular element, I can usually get "unstuck" by seeing whether at least these required elements are being met.  It may sound needlessly complicated, but it is actually quite handy, and I believe that it is the source of any "art" that I might accomplish with my comics.  I'll give you a practical example.  T.A.O.M. comics tell the story of a superhero sock-monkey, yes, with plots and twists and adventure, but they also (hopefully) convey my feelings about loyalty, family, betrayal, mistrust, motivation, ambition, creativity, desire, fear, joy, etc., etc., as well as the reasons for good people, bad people, and everything in between.  More than that, they are also about me!  Monkey is everything good that I should be.  Villains are often "shadows" of my personality (drawn to the extreme), or, at times, people who I've met.  The situations that Monkey finds himself in reflect those that I have found myself in (in some form).  Even Monkey's different personal relationships are reflections of my life (for example, Dan is to Monkey what T.A.O.M. is to me!).  Although I'm always looking to make these connections, they are not forced, but, rather, discovered....or uncovered.  I decided long ago to be able to back up every artistic decision that I make (from "Why does your character wear a cape?" to "Who is he?"), so it hasn't been hard to see the correlations once I started looking for them!  My suggestion to any beginning cartoonist is to look at your favorite character that you've created, and see how his or her "life" story follows the "Three Levels Test," and especially how he or she relates to you.  Once explored, the discoveries can be very inspiring!

April 4 - So, has Daylight Savings Time messed you up all day too?  I woke up at 11:00am, which yesterday was 10:00am.  The NASCAR race came on at noon, and by 1:00pm, I was so tired that I nodded off for about 30 laps.  After the race, we went for a quick drive and grocery store trip.  It was 5:45pm, but the sun was shining like it was noon.  By the time it got dark, it felt like midnight.  I can't tell whether I'm tired from a lack of sleep last night, or because it's past my bedtime for today!  On top of that, we remembered to set back about half of the clocks in the house, but not another 30 percent of them, and the remaining 20 percent are WAY off!  It's like living in a time warp...no doubt the result of the fantastic events of the 1st of the month (see the April 1 WOMP-Blog entry).  Anyhoo, I wanted to rant and rave a little about the fourth, and final, issue of the Avengers/JLA comic book!  I got it, along with other needed supplies, on Friday, but I haven't had time to read it until today.  It is great!  I will say that it is a tiny bit predictable, but that is part of what is so cool about it.  These characters are so iconic that we have certain expectations of their actions, almost like a familiar rhythm.  That can be the greatest challenge for a writer or artist; reinterpreting the well-known "music" of a character in a new and interesting "song."  I think that's why this JLA/Avengers comic can be called a magnum opus!  There are the usual plot "twists," but, to be honest, they are not that surprising, nor interesting.  The best elements are the amazing understanding of, respect for, and fun with the many classic characters (especially their interplay), and the underlying messages of the story.  At some point, in WOMP-Blogs past, I talked at some length about the first three issues of this mini-series, so I won't repeat it, but I do want to talk about the greater issues that the series discusses... ...and how such issues should be part of a good comic book series.  I never know whether the creators intended to include the subtext, or I'm just seeing bunnies in the clouds (so to speak), but I do know that I personally try very hard to have an underlying meaning or two (or three) in every story I draw.  From the A/JLA books, one can easily draw the obvious conclusions, such as "Sacrifice in the name of principle is noble," "Disregard of the inherent worth of others is evil," and "Superheroes always have to fight each other first before they can team up" (OK, maybe that's not a "greater issue," per se, but it still holds true).  There are other "lessons," however, that may not be so obvious.  For example, toward the end of the story, the rosters of the respective teams keep fluctuating due to distortions of the compression of the two universes.  Through it all, no matter the faces, numbers, or powers, they keep fighting a seemingly never-ending tsunami of possessed supervillains.  This is not only a reflection of the ever changing face of the comics industry over the years, but also of the struggle that "good" forces have always had when fighting "bad" forces; bad guys tend to live longer, thanks to their cowardice and self-centered natures, but heroes often have to pick up the fallen flag of a sacrificed comrade to continue the struggle without concern for personal safety.  In the long run, however, the hero is on the right side of the eventual victory (even if posthumously).  It's a harsh fact of life that it is much, much easier to be bad than good.  If you find a wallet on the street, keeping it is a LOT easier than giving it to the police or tracking down the owner, but which makes you feel better about yourself?  By the way, the answers to this basic question, and many reasons for them, can be the first, most basic elements in creating comic book characters.  Another point that I got (whether intended or not) was a sense of entering the next era in comics by officially burying the last.  The series is a long love-letter to what has come before, even more recent (less popular) storylines.  All eras are given the same weight of importance, but, ultimately, the end result is that everything has been boiled down to, and logically launched thereafter from, the current casts of both comic book universes.  It's as if today's inheritors of the various super-names (for example, the new guys who are Green Lantern or Flash) needed a public baptism to be legitimized.  By intertwining, comparing, and contrasting the Marvel and DC worlds, this baptism is on a grander stage, lending it an influence and authority that no one company could have accomplished alone (although DC may have been able to come close, if only because they have more generally familiar characters).  It is no coincidence, I think, that the planned original JLA-Avengers cross-over of 20 years ago fell apart at the same time the market did, and this realized version emerged as the comics market is finally back on track.  This current mini-series is also a sort of "apology" for the dark times between eras.  Hmm.. it is also significant, therefor, that George Perez was the artist for both.  Twenty years ago, George was the "HOT" artist whose every project was considered a "must have" collectible.  Twenty years later, he is a respected master who chooses to work on only selected projects.  His involvement bridges the gap from the '80's market "bust" due to over-production of comics as cheap collectibles, to their current status as serious works of modern fiction.  YIKES!  I just realized that I've been typing for about three hours, so why don't we continue this discussion later?  Tune in tomorrow for more rambling analysis (comments welcome at womp@mhtc.net).  Bye!

April 3-4 - Yowza!  Sorry that I didn't write in the ol' WOMP-Blog until now (4:30am on the 4th), but, at 10:00pm (my usual posting time), I was taking a nap in preparation for the caricature drawing event from which I just got home.  Right now, my right shoulder is sorta burning from drawing for 3 hours straight (which went by very quickly).  In the past, when I've worn myself out drawing caricature after caricature (exactly 40 tonight), I found that a good night's sleep with my arm and shoulder wrapped in something warm makes everything better by morning.  I decided to quickly post this entry before my arm seizes up and petrifies with fatigue.  Of course, I really don't have anything to talk about....except a warning word of advice to any aspiring cartoonists or caricaturists.  That word is "CONDITIONING!"  Most cartoonists (not all, but something like 99.8%), are "indoor kids," unaccustomed to much physical exertion.  "Why should I care about that junk?" is a common attitude.  Well, I'm here to tell you that there is a physiological element to drawing, and a little old-fashioned "warming up" helps a lot.  Even better, a cartoonist might want to find a way to keep his or her body in somewhat working order.  Problem areas for cartoonists are the lower back, the shoulders, forearms, and hands (also the eyes).  I'm pretty lazy, but even I do some (pathetically whimpy) exercises.  The one that I do most often (besides walking, which is also a good over-all conditioner) is a sort of isometric tug-of-war deal with my arms.  Using just the resistant strength of my own arms, I clasp my hands together and pull them this way and that, carefully twisting my back at the same time.  It's not much, but it helps!  Well, I'd better end this for tonight so I can perform my favorite execise....catching some sleep!

April 2 - OK, so none of that stuff I wrote about yesterday actually happened.  Well, we did paint our dining room with "Polished Maple."  Other than that, it was a (poor) April Fools joke.  I thought I should publicly announce the obvious preposterousness of yesterday's statement, especially in light of the story of the gal from The University of Wisconsin at Madison who faked her own abduction.  It's too bad that she couldn't just say "April Fools" and it would all go away.  Anyhoo, other than that caveat, I don't have much to talk about tonight.  I was on the road for most of the day, doing some needed shopping (most importantly for the large pads of paper that I use for drawing caricatures).  We got home at around 6:00pm, after which I fell asleep in the chair while waiting for a Simpsons rerun.  I woke up at about 8:00pm, had some dinner, played some UNO with Vickie, and then sat down to write this WOMP-Blog entry.  I've got another big day coming up tomorrow, culminating in a caricature drawing event for our local high school's "After Prom" beginning at midnight.  So, I guess I'd better just give up on trying to think of something interesting or helpful (or even inspirational) to say, and just go to bed to get some sleep.  I hope to post an entry tomorrow before I leave!  See ya!

April 1 - Hey, everybody! What a day this has been!  Where to start?  I suppose that I should tell you in the order in which stuff happened.  Vickie took today off from work so that we could paint the dining room.  We got up early (or, at least early for me), and, after moving out the furniture and masking the trim, Vickie popped open the can of "Polished Maple" Wal-Mart paint....and that's when everything went CRAZY!  I don't know whether it was because of the unusual mix of C-2Y32, I-Y24, Kx-3Y12, L-20, and Medium Accent Base, or because of the peculiar alignment of dark forces and intradimensional lines of unspeakable power, but, somehow, when that gallon can of ColorPlace Brand paint was opened, so was a portal in the very fabric of reality and space!  Before I knew it, I was sucked into the swirling plasmic electric storm!  I found myself traversing a beam of ever-changing pure energy, back, back, back in time.  I realized that, if I ever wanted to see Vickie again, I had to find some way to get out of the portal, and back to reality!  I spun wildly, like a kite cut loose of its string, but, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my chance!  A tiny point of clarity was coming closer.  I timed my jump, and lept for it!  Instantly condensed into a quantum singularity, I shot through the pinhole of opportunity, emerging from the other side in a Rhode Island fish hatchery...in the Autumn of 1880!  I made the best of this simple life for two years, plotting my path back to my own time, and Vickie.  I saw my chance when offered an appointment to the Royal Guard Academy of Borneo, where I eventually graduated, Suma Cum Laude, in 1887.  Then, while whaling off the coast of Greenland, a vengeful wave washed me to sea.  Encased in a life-preserving block of ice, I was helplessly adrift for decades, finally thawing out near East Orange, New Jersey, in 1938.  Miraculously, due to my bizarre origin and atomic-based powers, I had not physically aged more than 21 years, in spite of my many war injuries.  I kept busy during the Second World War by hiding deep in the Amazonian rain forest, where I learned, from the indigenous Ashaninka, the ancient secret of inducing a death-like coma so as to live for hundreds of years.  Through a natural timing method, I awoke just about four days ago.  Thanks to my 20 original shares of what is now Morgan Chase Bank, I was able to book a flight from my sealed cave right to the Prairie du Chien airport.  My helicopter landed in Prairie at about 6:00 this morning.  I ran the entire distance from the airport to our house, where I snuck in and hid in the closet.  Later, through the keyhole, I watched the events of my crazy journey begin to once again unfold, and I saw myself again get sucked into the vortex, but, immediately thereafter, I jumped from the closet onto the other side of the swirling mass of energy, so that It would appear that I'd never left!  Fortunately, Vickie was too preoccupied with not spilling the paint to have seen any of this.  As far as she knew, I was just waiting for her to hand me a brush.  She looked up, puzzled at the tears in my eyes, and said "What's up with you?  I suppose you don't want to help paint now"  "No, I definitely will help you paint, or whatever else you want.  I was just thinking.....of an April Fools joke..."