A Facebook post that I’m always happy to have show up in Memories is somehow
from a dozen years ago now.
My sister and her kids are visiting. We’re in Mom’s driveway playing with those little wrapped snappers you throw on the ground. My sister J momentarily blanks on both the word “grown-up” and the word “adult”.
I’ll be sharing an overdue post on Star Trek here in the next few months, phasers crossed.
Meantime, I have this. I was moved to scan, crop, and file it away three years ago while reading a bunch of old DC horror comics, and now I guess I know why. Yes, Strange New Worlds had already launched, but — although not exactly ripped from the screen — the panel didn’t quite seem to resonate with anything until this past week’s episode. I won’t explain since that feels unnecessary if you’ve seen it and obnoxious if you haven’t yet and want to. Spoilers are fine in the comments, however, as I would love someone to at least headcanon away the pink dress.
Panel from “The Mask of Medusa” in The Unexpected #218 © 1981 DC Comics. Script:
Robert Kanigher. Pencils, Inks: Vic Catan. Colors: Jerry Serpe. Letters: Unknown.
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My guess is that Chuck has strict instructions not to interrupt the “Barbers’ Picnic”.
Also, Barbers’ Picnic is my new band name and probably one of the activities in the parlor cabinet in the hotel on Widow’s Bay.
Did you think I’d segue from Peanuts’ currently syndicated repeats into talk of The Pitt instead?
You don’t really have to sell me on a book called The Art of Jerry Ordway.
I mean, Jerry himself being part of it’s sorta key, but otherwise there’s very little that could dissuade me from plunking down my actual or virtual cash despite my own and the world’s travails of the day. On which more in a few moments.
The ads worked.
Not that it was entirely the commercials. I’d seen ads online, too, and come across mention of Harry’s in the past when looking up potential alternatives to my usual razors of choice. The quality of Gillette’s Mach 3 and Fusion Pro Glide that I was now buying at CVS didn’t seem to match what Rite Aid was selling ere they went out of business, with the little strip of aloe that soothes your shave and lets you know when
it’s time to replace your blade falling off long before it faded.
So when spots in high rotation during the World Baseball Classic this March proclaimed that Harry’s was finally making a model — Harry’s Plus — with aloe strips and a detail blade on the back of its multi-blade head like I was used to, I ordered the starter set of that new model with one cartridge and a small can of shave gel for just $10, with tax, no shipping charge. The most fundamental aspect of advertising is to let you know that a product exists and how to get it; my need was not being invented here. I cop to having appreciated the streamlined, sharp yet scrappy image the brand projected when doing that earlier search.
A lot happened in the weeks and months since that order was placed to change my opinion.
While I’m dealing with stuff that’s backing up posts in the pipeline, I figured I’d put
the soup can on display as I plug the Zoop campaign for Mark Waid & Barry Kitson’s Empire.
The effort has been funded, so you should be assured of receiving it if you pledge. Choose from a digital copy; the hardcover itself, collecting Empire’s original eight-issue story as begun under the Gorilla imprint and finished at DC, with lots of bonus material; and a slipcased edition.
Shortly after establishing himself as one of my favorite editors and writers, Mark became a friend who among more kindnesses over the years than I’m able to express provided the foreword to my first book. His work includes a legendary Flash run, fan-favorite stints on Captain America decades apart, Kingdom Come with Alex Ross, Archie, Ruse, Irredeemable, and collaborations with Kitson on a Flash & Green Lantern miniseries and Legion of Super-Heroes. He’s long mentioned the celebrated if relatively lesser-known Empire, about what happens once a supervillain conquers the world, being one of his own favorite projects.
Art from campaign promotional materials, apologetically
bastardized for the blog, © 2026 Barry Kitson.
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