Here's a review to cap off the week:

It's been coming up a bit in recent discussions about Aquaman, since Veitch has gone back to this landmark (seamark?) work to give his version of Aquaman an angle to work from. This book has beautiful Curt Swam artwork, inked by my friend Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze). It was written by Keith Giffen, who is better remembered for his fun version of the Justice League. It features a whole new origin for Aquaman, who is, as of this story, no longer the son of a human lighthouse keeper. In fact, many of the complaints fans had about Peter David's run on the book originally stemmed from the complete retcon Giffen did in this one-shot. Despite the retcon of the lovely and romantic Silver Age origin for Aquaman, this is a pretty good book.

This will be my only blog today, nothing more until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, so I'd better find a song for the day right now... hmmm...

"The Ballad of Aquaman" by the Social Bedders. I get a lot of stuff from MP3.com, and every once in awhile I do a search on "Aquaman" to see if anyone has added new songs about my favorite hero. And every once in a long while I run across a decent song. This is one of them. In fact, I fully intend to someday do a music video for this song, since it's so cool. Someday.

I forgot a song of the day for yesterday, but I've decided not to stress about it.

"Mighty Thunderer" by Rolf Harris. My Mom likes Rolf Harris, and loves this song. The imagery in the song is fantastic. And, it's a song that was interesting to someone who grew up in a rainy area. Droughts weren't something I understood.

I'm now down to 42 Aquaman stories left to collect from the Golden Age (or at least, pre-1955). That sounds like a lot, I know. But there are 193 Aquaman stories before his first Silver Age origin, and 468 Aquaman stories total (including Atlantis Chronicles, if I counted correctly). That makes it less than 10% of the total left for me to find. Ok, it's the hardest 10% to find, but still, I'm making progress in reading all the stories. I no longer believe that reading every Aquaman story is impossible.

The latest batch was from England. Yes, they were B&W reprints, but at least I was able to read the stories! My wantlist is getting smaller and smaller...

Now, on to something slightly different. I know this may be a longshot, but I'm hoping someone out there who reads my blog has some information. I'm starting to write biographies of Aquaman creators for my website. While it won't be hard to get information for most of the modern, or even Silver Age, creators, I'm having a lot of trouble finding information about two of the first four Aquaman artists. Paul Norris and Ramona Fradon are both alive and have done interviews and such, so they aren't difficult to find facts for. But I have almost nothing on Louis Cazeneuve and John Daly.

Louis Cazeneuve (1908-1977) was born in Argentina. He had a younger brother by the name of Arturo who was apparently ashamed of his comic book work. Louis did a couple of works in Argentina, then moved to the US and worked for just about all the publishers at one point or another. Beyond that, I have nothing about him except a list of his works. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to find out more information about him? I don't want you to do my research for me, that's the fun part! But I could use some suggestions on where to start.

John Daly is more of a mystery. I don't have any birthdate for him. His comics career seems to have gone from 1940-1956. He may have been in advertising before comic books. Same as above, anyone know where I can start looking for more information?

If anyone can direct me to someone or someplace I can find more information, thank you! When my Aquaman page is finished, some day in the long distant future, I hope to have a lot of information that many people wouldn't think of looking for there along with all the obvious stuff.

Birds of Prey: Gladiatrix: Just watched this one from tape, we'll watch the other one soon. This wasn't bad. I kept groaning every time the bad guy hammed it up, but other than that, it seemed like the show had finally hit its stride. A couple of nice bits with Alfred. 3 starfish.

Green Arrow #20: Pretty good. Nice misdirection in the title and the cover, not to mention some of the thought balloons of GA. Hester's artwork is beginning to grow on me. I'm enjoying the Archer's Quest, and I'm looking forward to seeing the ending. 3 1/2 starfish.

Powers #27: I'm still liking the dark side of being part of a superteam. I thought the parody of a classic comic with typical Bendis dialogue worked well to open the book. It was a nice contrast with the darker tone of the rest of the book, yet still uniquely Bendis. 4 starfish.

Way of the Rat #9: I've been a bit disappointed with the last few issues. Too much fighting, not enough story. This one had a lot of fighting, yes, but also a major development matures into the story. I liked it. 3 1/2 starfish.

Next week: Green Lantern, Power Company, and Spectre.

A thought for the day: "Reality is what doesn't go away when you stop believing in it..." - Philip K. Dick

Thanks to Neil Gaiman, I've learned that scientists are testing data storage in bacteria. The really scary thing is the last section of the article, where the scientists admit that they haven't mixed populations of bacteria with different works stored in their DNA to see if the new DNA strings give any survival advantage. I wonder if bacteria storing Darwin books would last longer than bacteria storing Shakespeare?

Futurama/Simpsons #2: The whole crossover is about what I expected. It was amusing, nothing terribly special. It helps to have a knowledge of both shows. 2 1/2 starfish.

Superman/Batman Generations III #1: Even if you haven't read the first two minis in this now-epic Elseworlds, you should be able to mostly follow this story. The text article in the back fills you in on any details you might have missed. Overall, not bad. 3 1/2 starfish.

Hawkman #11: It's ok. I liked the bits with Kendra, but the rest was slightly boring. I'm not regretting that we dropped this book, but if hubby is interested we might get the next issue (which we didn't order) to finish out the storyarc. 3 starfish.

JSA #44: A decent story. I may never exactly figure out the whole relationship between Captain Marvel and Black Adam, but it was a good read anyway. 3 starfish.

Still left to review: Green Arrow, Way of the Rat, and Powers.

I wasn't the only person who wanted a little more of Lone Wolf and Cub. There's a few folks like me on Dark Horse's Message Board. NOTE: Massive spoilers for the end of the saga are on this page! Don't read if you don't want to be spoiled!

"Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies. Not a happy song, but not a particularly sad one, either. Kind of a dealing with it song, which is what I feel like right now. I just need to deal with it.

A good large stack today, and I even bought an extra at the last minute when I saw the price. I'm working my way through them slowly, no rush! Let's start with... hmmm... Aquaman! You know I read this one last week, and if you click on the cover below you'll go to the detailed review on my Aquaman page.

Aquaman #2: I liked the first issue, but I also recognized the first issue for what it was: a set-up issue. This issue was MUCH better. From the cover to the last page, this issue was simply great. Fantastic Aquaman again! I'm in heaven! 4 1/2 starfish.

Superman: The 10 Cent Adventure: This is supposed to get me to want to buy Superman? The Batman 10-center at least was interesting. This... this was just blah. There were two or three interesting moments, but as a whole it was jumbled and boring. Nope, I don't intend to buy any more Superman. 1 1/2 starfish.

Daredevil #41: I didn't intend to buy this, either. I saw it there and thought, "that's nice" when I saw the price. Then my shop owner and her employee ganged up on me and tried to talk me into it. I even picked it up. Then I said, "No, it's Marvel, and I'm not buying any new Marvel until their policies change," and set it back down. But the combined appeal of such a low price with a great writer and an artist I'm currently interested in (since Maleev has done some Aquaman covers) got me to finally buy it. With my discount it was less than 25 cents. And it was certainly worth more than the price. While I'm not sure I like Maleev's artwork as interior art, the story was strong and interesting (and helped immensely by a "Previously in Daredevil" update on the title page). The coloring brought out the best of the art. If not for the $3 price tag on regular issues of this book, I'd probably buy the rest of the storyarc (well, that and Marvel's nasty no-reprint policy). 4 starfish.

Still coming: Powers, Hawkman, Futurama/Simpsons, Way of the Rat, Green Arrow, JSA, Superman/Batman Generations 3 #1.

Comics are coming in today, so I'll probably be doing reviews tonight. At the moment, however, I don't feel much like writing, so I'll give you a pointless picture instead.

Not in the mood for a song, so you get a poem instead. Counting the Mad by Donald Justice. As always, the proper way to enjoy a poem is to read it aloud. That means using your voice. Or have someone near you read it aloud. Don't just read it. It has to have sound.

Comicon Splash reports that Christopher Reeve will appear on Smallville.

Newsarama reports on DC's 2002 in an interview with Paul Levitz.

The Seattle Times reports that a planet has been found using transit searching. That's when you look at a star non-stop until you see something pass in front of it. While a very promising method, the problem is that you have to look at a star non-stop, which is difficult to do when the Earth itself is rotating, and the stars go out of sight. There is also an interesting article about black holes at the Seattle Times site.

A local survey done by the Seattle Times says that we don't want to go to war. Not surprising for this area, the origin of the "No Iraq War" signs. I think I agree with most of the people surveyed. I haven't seen any proof yet to back up Bush's claims: but if we get proof of the weapons, I wouldn't be opposed to war.

I wrote two letters today, snailmail letters on real paper, in pursuit of dreams. One was to Paul Levitz, and I'll wait until I get a response from him before I mention what that dream is. I have certain expectations regarding it... I want to know for sure before I start writing about it.

The other letter was to Paul Norris, the co-creator of Aquaman. My New Year's resolution was to get his autograph if at all possible, so that's what the letter was about. I asked if there was anything in particular he wanted in his biography on my website (coming soon) and if I could please have his autograph.

Not a lot, I know. I never got an answer from Ramona Fradon when I wrote to her. That made me hesitate this time. When I finally met Ramona, she remembered my name and apologized for never replying. But it still is a memory that doesn't leave easily. So I hope for a reply from Mr Norris. I do consider him one of my heroes. He is a great artist, he never missed a deadline.

So today I've been chasing dreams.

"Duchess" by Genesis. Seems a bit like a dream chasing song, even though I don't think I want the ending from the song.

Comments (2)

If I'd known you were writing Levitz, I'd have asked you to put in a good word for reprinting his 1970s run on the "All-Star Comics" revival.

Franklin Harris | Email | Homepage | 01.07.03 - 9:43 am

Eh, there wouldn't have been enough room in the letter. I was trying to keep it short and simple so he'd reply.

Laura Gjovaag | Email | Homepage | 01.07.03 - 11:24 am

My mother-in-law wondered who would take the time to read my blog every day. To anyone who actually does, thank you. People who are interested in goofs like me keep the world fun.

I took the Comic Book Ideology test, and I'm apparently Stan Lee. Thanks to Franklin's Findings for the link.

There is a neat paper on the lack of copyright protection in Japan that you can download. It's a different view than I've seen before, and is worth a read. It is a work-in-progress (by Salil K Mehra, an assistant professor at Temple Law School), but it covers some areas of copyright law that those of us watching the Supreme Court case are interested in. The article is about dojinshi, which roughly translates to amateur comic book/graphic novel works based on existing characters. We might call it "fanfic". The article explores why dojinshi is tolerated in Japan, where in the United States it would be stamped out ruthlessly by the corporations that own the characters being used. Thanks to Journalista for the link.

It's old-home week on rec.arts.drwho.moderated as the newsgroup moderation software finally went live on Friday the 3rd. Alerted by hubby-Eric, I visited the group and quickly saw names of people who I hadn't heard from in years. Because much of my "youth" on the 'net was with the Doctor Who fans, it was like going home.

Doctor Who means a lot to me, mostly due to the friendships that I formed while being part of the active fandom in the early 1990s. Through Doctor Who fandom I met Eric. I met a lot of other people I consider dear to my heart. I was written into a Doctor Who novel by Paul Cornell. My husband was killed in another Doctor Who novel by Kate Orman. Both Paul and Kate are posting in the moderated group. It's great to read them again.

It's good to be back.

Comments (8)

If you appear in a Kate Orman novel, it's a fair bet something nasty will happen to you.

Franklin Harris | Email | Homepage | 01.06.03 - 9:28 am

Yeah, he was the only character killed in the novel. Poor guy. They even edited out his first name, he's just Professor Gjovaag. I think that was in "Sleepy". I was written into "Happy Endings" along with half the rest of on-line Doctor Who fandom.

Laura Gjovaag | Email | Homepage | 01.06.03 - 12:18 pm

Yup, it was "Sleepy." I even autographed a friend's copy with a sketch of a smoking corpse... I'm actually very proud of being killed in that book. BTW, I think Gary Russell also wrote us into one of his books...

Hubby | Email | Homepage | 01.07.03 - 12:21 am

Just in case you're interested in another blast from the past, I knew both you and Eric (as Tegan and Sgt. Benton) when you posted on the "DW" BBS on Prodigy, must be almost 10 years ago now. I went by the handle "Jay in VA," and I was the kid who was way too impressed with his own fanfic. I stumbled onto your blog just a few days ago and have been a daily reader ever since. Glad to see you guys are both doing well, despite being offed in effigy (I always wondered if that was you in Sleepy, Eric).

Jason | Homepage | 01.07.03 - 10:07 pm

Heh, Good you read you again, Jay. Are you the one who wrote the Doctor Who/Sesame Street/Barney crossover?

Laura Gjovaag | Email | Homepage | 01.07.03 - 11:50 pm

That was someone else, though their name eludes me. If it was original, thought-provoking, and/or amusing, it was probably someone else. Mine were the ones that read like a 12 year-old wrote them, largely because one did.

Jason | Homepage | 01.08.03 - 12:36 am

That's ok, we still like you, Jay. Are you still a Who fan, or have you moved on?

Laura Gjovaag | Email | Homepage | 01.08.03 - 10:26 pm

I still keep up with it, though I stopped reading the books after Lungbarrow; fandom these days is digging out the old tapes every few months and reminisicing. Grad school keeps me a little too busy to do anything more involved (not to mention I don't think many people here in Missouri, where I ended up, have even heard of Great Britain).

Jason | Homepage | 01.09.03 - 6:31 pm

I originally intended to spend some time today writing about the ghosts I've met in the past, but I haven't been as interested in the subject today as I had hoped, so I'm having trouble bringing all the memories to the surface.

If you ask me if I believe in ghosts, I'd probably say "maybe". I don't believe in ghosties that can impact the real world, like in movies. I think my sense of ghosts is that they are memories with a little more substance than normal thoughts.

That doesn't make a lot of sense, I know. So let me tell you a couple of ghost stories.

If I've ever run into a ghost, it was when I was with my best friend growing up, Wendy. If I've ever seen a haunted family, hers was the one. I don't think they were very haunted, but enough that we ran across things we didn't understand every once in awhile. Now, I'm going to emphasize that Wendy and her brother had mean senses of humor, so some of what happened could easily have been practical jokes. The only ones I plan on writing are ones that apparently scared them as much as me.

There were two instances that I've always remembered as *real* encounters with the unknown. The first happened when I was very young. I went over to ask if Wendy could come out to play. I was either alone or with my older brother David. The curtains were drawn closed on their front window, which usually meant they weren't home, but I could see shadows moving behind the curtain, so I knocked on the door. I heard sounds, maybe voices, maybe just movement. I kept knocking and saying, "I saw you, enough with the joking! It's not funny!" But they never answered the door. I left, extremely miffed. A couple of days later I saw the family in the driveway, unpacking their car. I went up to them and asked why they hadn't answered the door. Wendy's parents looked more and more alarmed as I told them what I saw and heard, and the entire family suddenly started to check the house to see if anything was missing. The day I had visited was the day they had left on the trip. No one was home. There was no sign of any forced entry, nothing was missing. It could have been a burgler or intruder, but we'll never know for sure. I wouldn't think of it as a ghost, except for the other incident...

I used to do the ol' sleepover thing at Wendy's house. My parents were cool with it, since it was just next door. We'd usually sleep in sleeping bags in the living room, after having snacks and talking half the night. On one such sleepover, we'd had a cheerful night and settled down to sleep. Neither of us were completely asleep when we both heard footsteps. We thought it might be her older brother trying to scare us, so Wendy waited until the footsteps were in the middle of the living room and snapped on her flashlight. There was nobody there. We consulted, I confirmed that I'd heard it too, and we uneasily tried to go back to sleep. It was no use. The footsteps returned, moving from the same spot they'd last been at. They circled us, this time with me turning on the light in pure panic. It wasn't the house settling. I know what houses sound like, and this sound was definitely footsteps. Every time we turned off the light, the footsteps were back, walking around us in the living room. Finally, one of Wendy's parents came in to tell us to get to sleep. Still half-convinced it was a prank, we told the adult what was going on. "You're imagining it, go to sleep." We refused until the parent checked to see if older brother was in his room and asleep. He was. Satisfied? No, but when the parent left we sheepishly turned out the light. A few moments later the footsteps returned. They walked around us once more while both of us listened in terror, then they walked steadily out of the living room. After a little while, that seemed like years, Wendy said, "Is it gone?" I replied, "I think so." and then we eventually slept.

We tried to come up with reasonable explanations for it, but we never did. Both of us were absolutely SURE there was somebody in the room with us. Both of us heard the footsteps, and both of us felt somebody there. When we turned on the lights, the feeling of someone in the room went away.

There are other incidents. Every single one that I take seriously happened when I was with a member of this family. Some of them I'm sure are pranks, I just don't know how they were pulled off. I know I went through high school and college convinced that the family was haunted (and it was the family, not the house, because the hauntings followed them when they moved, and also happened at their summer home). Looking back, I'm less certain. Time has made most of the strange happenings blend into normalness. The wierder things that happened make less sense, I think my memory just exaggerated them. But I remember the feeling I had during the footsteps incident, and I've felt the same thing a couple of other times. I consider it my "ghost detector" feeling, even though I can't connect it to any other ghosts.

I don't know. Do ghosts exist? Perhaps. Have you met any?

Comments (3)

My friend was convinced his basement was haunted a few years ago. Quite a few of my friends are pagan (so is he), and they all mucked around with that black magic stuff (which I don't believe in). I remember one night we were all hanging out in his basement, when someone burst in, saying that he'd opened a portal to Hell and he couldn't close it. He said he read the Necromonican and "forgot to shut the portal", and now his pants wouldn't wash (there's a story there, but I'm not very good at telling stories). That's more or less been my only contact to the occult in my life.

Matt | Email | 01.06.03 - 3:58 am

Okay, I just envisioned this as an incident from "That 70s Show," with Kelso bursting into the basement and shouting, "Help! I just opened a portal to hell and demons are rushing out! Man, my father is going to freak!"

Actually, this has potential as an episode...

Hubby | Email | Homepage | 01.07.03 - 12:25 am

I don't know what is more frightening: That I know what you are talking about, or that I agree that it would make a pretty good episode of That 70s Show.

Laura Gjovaag | Email | Homepage | 01.08.03 - 10:25 pm

Here's a fun cam site. Check out these pictures, do you see a ghost?

If you do see a ghost, make sure to go to the Evansville Courier & Press Ghost Site (after first saving the picture of the ghost so you can send it in). Check out the spoofs of ghosts people have sent in. Very amusing.

Well, that's one way to make sure nobody breaks into your library. With so many ghost-watchers checking the cams all night, there's no chance anyone sneaking around won't get caught...

The Lady as sung by Urban Tapestry. The full song is available at MP3.com. This is kind of a ghostly song, even though it is really about vampires, I guess. In any case, it's a nice haunting tune.