Bully for You


I’m very late in sharing the news that my pal Bully has resumed bringing joy to the masses at his blog Comics Oughta Be Fun!.

Bully, a little stuffed bull

A couple of Januarys past — which might have been a Sandman issue — Bully, the
little stuffed bull who is a fuzzy, cuddly bane to oppressors of the righteous and vulnerable, returned after sadly but understandably closing up shop in June 2020.

51 Favorites: #14


I’ve had Don McLean’s “American Pie” on the list of things to include in this
series from the start.

Cover to 'American Pie' album with Don McLean's thumb in foreground painted with a star and stripes

Once upon a time, I figured that when I did finally write about the song it would be
in large part to annotate or explicate it. That was before. It was before cyberspace got quite so full; before I realized that with age the mystery and myriad possible interpretations of the lyrics grew more interesting to me than any definitive answers; before McLean slowly began to break his silence on the subject, most recently and distinctly in a documentary that premiered on the Paramount+ service last month called The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s “American Pie”.

Blam’s Next Blog


A very long time coming, I Have Issues has gone live.

Campbell's soup can in the middle of dozens of vintage comic-book covers

Kind-of. I’m stretching the definition of “live” there. Right now all you get is a logo
and tag line, plus — maybe, depending on the results of my internal debate over whether it adds value or subtracts from the minimalist placeholder — a brief mission statement. I registered the domain a while ago now and have been planning the site
for more than a decade.

Jawn of Justice


Cover of Superman #293 from 1975, depicting Superman with arms crossed in front of gushing fire hydrant as Lois Lane and other civilians lie pleading or expired on the street, with doctored text -- Lois: 'Help us, Superman! We're dyin' for some wooder!' Superman: 'Yiz orn't gettin' any -- 'til I'm kooderback fer the Iggles!' Caption: 'Watch as the Metropolis Marvel is transformed into 'The Superman of Easttown!' Plus: Team-up action wit' Green Lannern!''

I was talking with a friend recently and this happened.

Going the Distance


Few of us have made it to the end of 2020 without feeling a sense of loss, I suspect, even if we’re fortunate enough not have been directly visited by the most unspeakable of tragedies.

Tom Hanks in 'Cast Away' yelling at his made-up volleyball friend / 'Six Feet, Wilson!'

I’ve rarely strayed into social commentary here on the blog, preferring to keep it focused on fun stuff and critiques of pop-cultural pursuits.