That’s Leonard Nimoy hitting the skins next to Adam West.
I came across this photo from the late 1960s, photographer and location unknown
to me, via one blog link that led to another. You know how it goes. I hit a wall once a Tumblr post led to a Facebook page that I can’t access ’cause I’m not on Facebook.
My old buddy Stefan Blitz, proprietor of Forces of Geek, mused on Twitter several weeks ago that if he opened a restaurant themed around people who created comics the menu would include Joe Quesadilla, Howard Chicken, and Darwyn Cookies.
Which means nothing if you aren’t in the loop and don’t appreciate the puns, but I got
a smile out of it — and the idea to brainstorm my...
Top Eighteen Dishes, Drinks, and Desserts
Served at the Comics-Creators Cafe
18. Karen Burgers
17. Gary Franks
16. Tuna Isabella
15. Veal Adams
14. Clams Robins
13. P. Craig Mussels
12. Marie Severin-Layer Dip
11. Nachos Whedon
We’ve lost Neil Armstrong to the stars at the age of 81.
Neil Armstrong in the Eagle module after the moonwalk.
Photo: Buzz Aldrin for NASA.
An obituary up on the NASA website includes excerpts from and links to statements from the Armstrong family, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and President Barack Obama. The page also has embedded video of Armstrong and links to information on the historic moon landing of July 20th, 1969.
I’m a few weeks late in bidding aloha to the Flyin’ Hawaiian, Shane Victorino.
Photo: Jeff Robertson for The Associated Press © 2012.
He was traded by the Phillies on July 31st to the LA Dodgers — who drafted him
back in 1999, although his Major League debut came with San Diego. The Padres got him as a Rule 5 selection, just as the Phils did in 2005. In the past seven years the goofy, hardscrabble Victorino was sent to two All-Star Games, rode in one World
Series parade, and got lodged in the hearts of thousands if not millions of fans.
I didn’t read any reviews of Rachel Hartman’s delightful fantasy novel, Seraphina, before settling in to enjoy. The little I knew already felt like more than I should. A secret carried by the title character is revealed to the reader fairly early on and, I think, to be suspected well before that; still, even if a good story is often less about the What than about the How and the Why and the consequences of the What, it’s best to let the story unfold on its own terms.

Avoiding chatter about Seraphina was hard because Hartman’s novel is clearly what they call in the book trade a triumphant debut.
The blog’s faithful readers know that from time to time I’ve shared my submissions
to an online Top Ten contest held regularly at CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman website.
A few months ago, I put up a post with my riffs on a Twitter hashtag begun by Tony Isabella, writer both of comics and about them, champion of the oppressed, scourge of the unjust. I knew that I’d likely join the Twitterati sooner rather than later, and it dawned on me that I could use my contributions to such games as Top X posts here on the blog. What I didn’t know was that The Late Show’s Top Ten contest, along with its weekly E-mail newsletter, would shortly be coming to an abrupt end.
My follow-through after participation in enjoyable hashtags like #badnoir has been poor [although one of my titles for that got turned into a what-if mashup in 2014] but I can’t not import the results of a prompt I started myself after a pithy Twit from Julius Sharpe, as reTwitted by Hannah Kincade, which read “I think every movie should be personally addressed to Wong Foo”.
Sharpe was referring to the 1995 film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. His line stuck with me. I first replied, “At least from the Batman cast,” Julie Newmar being known as the first Catwoman in the camp 1966-68 TV sensation. Then I offered up some variations on the movie’s title involving said cast. Since I couldn’t shake the meme I took Sharpe’s advice and branched out to other movies.
Here then after far too long a preamble are...
My Top Eight Other Movies Personally Addressed to Wong Foo
I was quite taken by the following sequence from The Uncanny X-Men #166,
dated Feb. 1983.
Excerpt from The Uncanny X-Men #166 © 1982 and characters TM/® Marvel Comics.
Script: Chris Claremont. Pencils: Paul Smith. Inks: Bob Wiacek. Colors: Glynis
Wein/Oliver. Letters: Tom Orzechowski. Editing: Louise Jones/Simonson.
The set of five panels is at the bottom of Pg. 12 of the issue’s story, “Live Free or Die!”, drawn by Paul Smith in his second issue as penciler of the series.
If you’re unfamiliar with the issue and would like some context, you can head over to my friend Teebore’s post on it — the reason I was rereading the issue in the first place. What I have to say about the panels below is taken from comments I made there, but I thought I’d repost the passage here even though I’m on a bit of a vacation. It seems fitting to be publishing this analysis online from the same library where I did my first historical and critical reading about comics as a kid 35 years ago.
With new posts being sparse here lately and several months having passed since my
last volley of word-verification definitions, I declare it time for another.
The backlog is growing short, as I wrote earlier this year, thanks to Blogger’s switch
in formats yielding less choice material. I’ll probably close the door on this series after
a few more installments, based on current reserves and the sluggish pace at which new entires are added to my stockpile, whereas for quite some time after I began the well was replenished at a strong, steady pace. You are hereby referred to my stand-alone page collecting past entries, where this phenomenon is explained, if it’s unfamiliar to you.
• agamsee — [uh gam see] phr. Edward G. Robinson pointing out some dame’s leg.
• clonyma — [kloh nee mah] n. Your mother’s genetically engineered duplicate.
• counduct — [kown dukt] n. How Dracula behaves.
• daymews — [day myooz] pl.n. My cat’s morning wake-up sounds.
• eReese — n. A peanut-butter cup you can eat in Second Life. (Is that still a thing?)