Saturday, March 20, 2004

How I got this sketch is detailed in my San Diego 2000 Con Report. Todd Nauck is one of the nicest artists I've ever met, and that's saying something because I've met an awful lot of artists now. This is also one of the very, very few sketches in my collection that I didn't actually ask for. Todd drew this without asking after looking at all the other sketches in the book. And it's still one of my all-time favorites in my collection, and the sketch that cemented Todd as one of my all-time favorite artists. I was bitterly disappointed when Young Justice was cancelled, and I've supported his projects, particularly WildGuard, even more fervently since then.

AQUAMAN
by Todd Nauck
22 July 2000
(permission to post given 29 Feb 2004 in person)
WildGuard

To see all the sketches I have permission to post so far, check out my Sketchbook Page. If you have any contact information for any of the other artists I'm trying to contact, please e-mail me. Click for a random Aquaman sketch.

As a reminder: Almost every sketch in my sketchbook was non-commissioned and done on the floor of a con. These are not the best works of the artists. These are only representative of what the artist can do under pressure in a loud, crowded, and often stressed-out environment. Most of them were done as quickly as possible, to prevent huge lines from forming. Don't judge any of these artists negatively by the artwork you see, instead be as impressed as I am by what they accomplished in far-from-ideal conditions.

The Saturday Sketch ™ is brought to you by the letters "A", "Q" and the number "27", and also courtesy the fine artists who pour their lives into producing wonderful comic books, then come to conventions only to get asked by geeky fangirls for a sketch of Aquaman. Support an artist, buy a comic book.

by Tegan at 8:22 PM Seattle time

So, I know. There's this massive bit of Doctor Who news, and I haven't reported it yet. I'll explain why. It's because there is a large part of me that really doesn't believe that the new Doctor Who will make it to the screen, and even with all the evidence for it, I can't quite bring myself to pay that much attention to it until I see the final form it takes for myself. Silly? Yeah.

So, this is who has apparently been cast as the Doctor. His name is Christopher Eccleston and he's been in a lot of different movies that I've never seen, as well as various TV shows in which he's become quite well known in Britian.

The companion, who's name is apparently Rose Tyler, has not been cast yet.

by Tegan at 5:24 PM Seattle time

Amazing Spider-Man #505 (#64): Mary Jane is having doubts, so why doesn't she confide in Peter? That sort of indicates a flaw in their relationship, that she isn't confident enough to let Peter know what she heard. I wonder if anything will develop out of this? In the B-plot, I like Peter's new-found adulthood. Being able to talk with kids and get them to listen is a rare skill, and one that I admire greatly. Showing Peter as a mature adult is nice, especially since he hasn't lost his sense of fun. Overall a satisfying issue.

Abadazad #2: Being very familiar with Oz, I think I was expecting a longer and more difficult journey to the Emera--- er, to Inconceivable. These books traditionally start out with a bunch of quests before they make it to see the Queen, so I was thrown off by Martha showing up right away and The City being at the start of the quest instead of the end. And where's the obligatory party held in the honor of the guests arriving for the first time? *ahem* Anyway, other than that, I really enjoyed the issue, and was a bit disturbed by the foreshadowing. This is a darker place than the Abadazad of the books, as Kate will soon learn. Other nice aspects of this issue included the lengthy recap of the first issue at the end of the book, the crossword puzzle, information on the Bridges program, including some hints for lesson plans, and the great "Abadazad readers may also enjoy..." bit, which I was delighted to see included Leave It To Chance, Scary Godmother, and The Courageous Princess. Very nice!

by Tegan at 8:17 AM Seattle time

Friday, March 19, 2004

I've updated hubby-Eric's blog to tell you the situation on his job. It's not pretty.

If you haven't read about it elsewhere, go visit Neil's blog and read Alan Moore's eulogy for Julie Schwartz.

Today's must-read editorial on comic books: Brian Hibbs on Comic Book collections. Read it. I think I agree with just about every word. Almost.

Kaja Foglio has an unusual addiction.

Steve Lieber is going to Wizard World L. A. and also linked to my Whiteout reviews.

The Mariners website has put up some Mariners Commercials starring Edgar Martinez, going back a few years. My favorite has to be Edgar and the Rookies from 1998, in which Edgar teaches some international players how to speak like locals. "I took my Geoduck to Puyallup!" All of them are pretty good, though, and help explain why Edgar is such a popular person in Seattle. He also did some commercials for Eagle Hardware, before they were bought out, in which his key line was "I have a little project!" and he made various items related to baseball bats, including the famous (infamous?) "It's a light bat!" - A lamp made out of a baseball bat.

by Tegan at 9:35 PM Seattle time

Newsarama reports on the offerings for this year's Free Comic Book Day. As in years past, this is NOT free for the retailers.

I urge serious comic book fans who have a good relationship with their local stores to offer to pay for a set of free comics for your store. Yeah, you heard me. Offer to pick up some of the tab so the burden isn't on the store itself. In return, ask for a copy of each free comic that the store gets. Make the deal, get more "free" comics, and allow the store to give away more comics. It's a win-win situation.

And, Paige, if you're reading this, I'd like to pay for some of the comics this year. I said I would last year, and I mean to keep my word. I'll pitch in to help you pay for the "free" stuff.

Now, as Johnny B did, here's my thoughts on the offerings this year:

Gold Sponsors:

Archie: I Was a Teenage Comic Book Character: Always good for the kids. Archie always puts out something of interest.

The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty #1: Hmmm, don't know. Looks interesting, from Beckett, which is a company I'm unfamiliar with. We'll have to see.

American Power: Prequel: From CrossGen. A Prequel instead of one of their proven series. Interesting. I'd be more impressed if it didn't seem like Chuck Dixon is single-handedly writing every CrossGen title at the moment.

Star Wars – Clone Wars Adventures: Yeah! I like seeing this. The Clone Wars cartoons were the best Star Wars I've seen since the original trilogy, so it's nice to see a new adventure based on them.

Teen Titans Go! #1: This ought to be popular, if the success of the show is any indication. I have to admit, it's growing on me, and I haven't watched many episodes. Just the Aqualad ones.

Duel Masters #1: No idea on this one. Looks like a standard bit of Manga-ish fare. We'll have to see when it comes out.

Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: It's Mickey, It's good.

IDW Sampler: This will be popular, as it's got a CSI story in it. I seem to recall my little sister responding to the CSI comic with a hurt look of "why didn't you tell me!" at me. In other words, push this one on the TV show fans.

Image Comics Summer Special: This one look like its mostly a pass. No Age of Bronze, no Wildguard. Boring.

Marvel Age: Spider-Man #1: New art from old story? We'll have to see.

Silver Sponsors:

Wild About Comics #1: Hey, it's got Licensable Bear™, how bad can it be? Seriously, About Comics is a good company, so this ought to be a fun one to read.

The AdHouse Books FREE Comic Book Day Comic Book: The word "floppy" in their ad annoys me. I don't know why. Still, this appears to be a collection of 24-hour comics, which ought to be fun.

Alternative Comics #2: MATURE READERS. These anthologies always have at least one cool thing. I hope I get this one.

Arcana Studio Presents #1: Hmmm... This might be the book that finally gets me to look at Ant. With three different stories, this one will offer good value.

Astonish Comics #1: I want this one. Herobear alone makes it worth it, then add in the others and we've got something that should be a lot of fun for lots of people.

Back in Black: Brian Pulido Unleashed at Avatar: Another prequel, this time with three different titles. We'll have to see about this one.

A Bunch of Baboons: Six short stories. Looks like it could be very good.

Del Ray Manga Sampler: Looks like this one also offers a couple of sneak peeks. Retailers take note. Manga is good right now.

Best of Dork Storm Press #2: Me want. This will have a PS238 story, and that's enough to get it.

Dr. Chaos’ Comic Cavalcade: The solicit sounds fun: "Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the rest of the gang aren’t too happy about Free Comic Book Day stealing their holiday thunder". Hope I get it.

Reggie-12: Robot kid fighting giant robots. Humor book. Ok.

Johnny Raygun Classics #1: Another attempt to bring back the Silver Age? We'll have to see how well it succeeds.

Keenspot Spotlight 2004: This is a 100+ pager, which suggests value for money. However, it is Keenspot, which has ... um... slightly lower standards. I would be prepared to be surprised or disappointed in this one.

Sore Thumbs Election Special: Hmmm. A liberal activist and a conservative video game shop owner. Like we need to be reminded of the civil cold war. We'll have to see.

From Pixels To Paper 2004: Keenspace.com's Third Dead-Tree Sampler of Independent Webcomics: Webcomics on dead trees! The title says it all, doesn't it?

The NBM Sampler: Boneyard, Rumble Girls, Dungeon: Another book, another sampler. I can see this year's FCBD taking a LONG time to review if I somehow manage to get everything.

The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius: Secret Crisis Origin Files: MATURE READERS. A reprint of an earlier tale which will let my hubby finally get a good look at Judd Winick's non-Green Lantern work.

Love Fights #1/Everest: Facing the Goddess Preview: MATURE READERS. After reading Whiteout, I'm interested in seeing what Rucka can do. I'd definitely like this one.

Amelia Rules! Special Edition: Must get this. Amelia rocks, and this is a great one for girls. Get lots of this one, retailers!

Delicious Seasons: I almost bought this one when it was solicited in Previews. I would love to check out this preview to see if I made the right choice.

Slave Labor stories #2: Looks like this one is going to be another anthology, and I'm kind of interested in seeing the Pirate Club story. So I hope this one gets into my hands.

Top Shelf Tales: Four of the fascinating creators out in comics today, playing in an anthology. Another one I'd like to get.

Bronze Sponsors: A Fine Line, Arcana Studios, Claypool Comics, Colburn Comics, Little Rocket, Lone Star Press, Mirage Studios, Nite Owl Comics, Strawberry Comics, and Street Legends Ink. I don't usually get much from the Bronze Sponsors, as I'm intent on getting the special books, so I don't know that I'll have anything to say about any of these guys.

You can still read my Rapid Reviews of last year's Free Comics: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI. Because of last year's Free Comics, I hunted down and bought all the Leave it to Chance I could find, which I've been loaning out to people.

So: Offer to help! Get those free comics out there! Promote this sucker! And try something new. That's what this day is for people who already read comics... give something new a chance. After all, it's free.

by Tegan at 9:32 AM Seattle time

DC: The New Frontier #3: Much better. Everything tied in nicely, this time, and there was enough context that I understood a few references I had missed in the last issue. I like the Batman "team-up". There's some really interesting stuff happening in this book. Too bad that Aquaman is unlikely to turn up. That would have been the icing on the cake for me. As it is, I enjoyed this one a lot.

Batman Adventures #12: It's easy to see the appeal of linked stories when they are done as well as this set of Batman stories has been done. While there is lots of backstory, most of it is quickly explained, to the point where you don't need to have read the previous issues to understand the story. And yet, having read the previous issue, I know why the Riddler is working for Batman. This was a strong story, and it seems to be headed for a conclusion now. I'm really enjoying this book.

Still to review: Amazing Spider-Man and Abadazad.

by Tegan at 8:06 AM Seattle time

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Thor #76: Ok, I just noticed that this issue proclaims itself as part two of a multi-part story, even though it's definitely the continuation of a much longer tale. Anyway, I still think Jurgens is moving way too slow on this, being entirely too deliberate on his journey toward whatever final end he's going for, but the cliffhanger of this issue was a relief to see. It's about time!

Superman: Secret Identity #3: He's smart, skilled, and I kept waiting for something horrible to happen to him or his family. I think we've gotten to the point of expecting nasty things to happen, so there was a horrible tension while reading this that I didn't expect to feel. I really like this guy a lot, the character has really grown on me, so I don't want him to suffer. The suspense of waiting for the last issue is going to hurt. I can tell.

Smallville #7: The "internet adventure" is a little bit of a lame tie-in, since it only directed me to an article on the Smallville Ledger that I'd already read. It doesn't further the story all that much, in my opinion. So I'm not sure where this whole Chloe Chronicles thing is going. The story, however, was interesting, and the back-up tale wasn't too bad. So this is about average for this book.

Still to review: Abadazad, Amazing Spider-Man, Batman Adventures, and The New Frontier.

by Tegan at 8:15 PM Seattle time

I opened up a little thread in the hopes of getting Aunty some reading suggestions if she wanted to try out comic books. Here are the rules: Aunty does not like "mature" books. Nothing that would get an "R" rating as a movie. The genres she enjoys are science fiction, spy novels, and historical novels.

Here are the suggestions:

From me: The Interman by Jeff Parker, as it's a spy thriller. Samples are available at the website: here. I also suggested Whiteout, which I'd just finished reading. A free sample of issue #1 is available here (scroll to the bottom of the page). I couldn't think of any Science Fiction, but I also mildly recommended Age of Bronze despite there being a lot of mature stuff in there... none of it is inapropriate to the story, but there's nudity, sex, and violence like you would expect from a story about the Trojan War. The website is here.

Shane came through in a big way, with a pile of suggestions and links: The Ring of the Nibelung adaptation by P Craig Russell. Gorgeous artwork, and you can get it as a ltd. edition hardcover here or as the cheaper individual books here. He also suggested the DC's Big Book Of ___ series, which has a large variety of stories. Those can be found at Amazon here. For science fiction he recommended Jim Starlin's Dreadstar, and The Best of Ray Bradbury: The Graphic Novel. He also recommended Whiteout. In another genre, he recommended Blankets. And lastly, he recommended Hawaiian Dick: Byrd of Paradise as a good Private Eye story.

Jeff had a few suggestions too: Orbiter by Warren Ellis, and The Adventures of Luthor Arkwright by Bryan Talbot. Y The Last Man (at least one of the issues I've read was definitely 'mature reader' material, though). He also suggests the New X-Men by Grant Morrison collections, CrossGen's Negation, and the last few years of Legion by DC Comics. Getting into Manga, he suggests Planetes, Cyborg 009, and comics by Osamu Tezuka: Pheonix, Astro Boy, and Metropolis. In Historical Fiction, he also recommends Age of Bronze. He also mentions Yossel, which I think I reviewed not long ago, and El Cazador (pirates) and Brath from CrossGen. In Manga, he recommends Tezuka's Adolf and a biography called Buddha. For Spy Fiction, Jeff recommends The Interman and Marvel Comics new Mystique series. Greg Rucka's Queen & Country gets a mention although it's R-rated. He also mentions Kiss Kiss Bang Bang from CrossGen.

Chris Brown (who is going to Wizard World LA this weekend and blogging live) suggested the Dark Horse Star Wars books, which pratically make up a whole universe in themselves. He also recommends DC's Camelot 3000, CrossGen's Negation, and Marvel's Mystique.

Elayne made me feel like an idiot for forgetting some great books, posting her suggestions on her blog. She suggests the wonderful Dignifying Science, which I'm still hitting myself over the head for forgetting, as well as Astounding Space Thrills, Xeno's Arrow, Terminal City, and Tales of the Cherokee.

Rose suggests Rachel Hartman's Amy Unbounded, which you can get in mini-comic form from The Amy Unbounded Website or you can get via Amazon. I second this recommendation too. Rose also suggests Vogelein by Jane Irwin, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and True Story, Swear to God by Tom Beland. She also thinks that Hawaiian Dick is good, but isn't sure.

Steven Berg recommends Pam Bliss, particularly Travelling Travelall.

And lastly, Tom Galloway recommends Girl Genius which is a no-brainer that I should have thought of. You can pick up the books at the Girl Genius Website, and even read the first issue for free. I always like free samples. Tom also recommends Will Eisner's non-Spirit work, which fits the Historical Fiction Genre quite nicely.

Anyone have any more suggestions? And, you know Aunty, we expect a report when you've tried something from the list...

by Tegan at 9:33 AM Seattle time

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Aquaman #16: I would be enjoying this a whole lot more if the solicits hadn't already given away most of what happened in this issue. Sure, there is fun in the details, but knowing what's going to happen makes it less enjoyable on the whole. It's a mix, sometimes you want some information about a book before you order it, and sometimes you don't. Anyway, I think this is a pretty cool issue altogether. The art is growing on me even more, and you can't beat an Alan Freakin' Davis cover. It hasn't quite hit 4 and a half starfish yet, but it's close. As it is, I can recommend this one to any and all. Go hook yourself a copy and let me know what you think.

Hellboy Premiere Edition: Got this via Wizard, through Carol (who collects Hellboy regularly). I also got a stuffed Abe Sapien based on the movie Abe who looks a little too alien, but was too cute to turn down. Anyway, this has two stories, "The Penanggalan" set in 1958 and starring Hellboy, and "B.P.R.D. Born Again" featuring Roger, Liz, Abe and Johann. I gotta admit I liked the second story better, mostly because I didn't really "get" the ending to the first one. It took a couple of reads to understand. In addition to the two stories, there's a six page sketchbook of monster drawings by Mike Mignola, done while working on the movie. A pretty nice package, all in all. Complete with a certificate of authenticity.

Wizard: Edge: I got this pretty much entirely for the Powers short story. I wasn't convinced that this would get any further out onto the "edge" of comics than the regular Wizard, so I wasn't really expecting much. I think I got a little more than expected, but much, much less than I would hope for. The 9 page Powers story delivered, but Wizard didn't go very far out on any edges in giving us "indie" press. Akiko? Milk and Cheese? Madman? Ghost World? I didn't think I was that far out myself, but this didn't have much of anything new or interesting to me. Maybe I didn't read closely enough. Or maybe I am that far out on the edge. Anyway, I guess the best audience for this, and probably the target audience, is superhero fans that want to try something new. And you don't want to miss the "Diary of the Hulk" in the back by James Kochalka, even if you don't get the book.

by Tegan at 9:03 PM Seattle time

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Long ago, when I was but a wee little girl, I used to find four-leaf clovers. All the time. I was told they gave luck, and I assumed in my little girl way that because I never had any trouble finding them, that meant I was full o' luck. I have had a very lucky life. That may have run out yesterday, we'll soon learn for sure, but perhaps I ought to go look at some clover today. I think hubby and I could use a little luck.

Over two hundred hits yesterday on my archive page that Neil Gaiman linked to... wow. And he didn't write that post until 4 pm! I still want to compare and contrast Coraline to The Wizard of Oz. There is a really good essay in that, I just don't know if I have it in me to write it.

If you haven't visited it, you need to check out tebeos contra la violencia, a page set up to remember the 11-M victims in Madrid. Via The Paper Jail. Oh yeah: "tebeos" = "comic books/comics"; "contra" = "against"; "la violencia" = "violence". Three years of High School Spanish, some of it sticks with me.

Mark Evanier directs us to this wonderful Map Test. I didn't do well on my first try, but on my second try I got everything but Connecticut in before the time ran out. I'm ashamed to admit I kept messing up Arizona and New Mexico. I was surprised at how well I did on the New England states, though. Living out here in the West, I figured I would completely mess up on those, but I didn't do half bad.

Mercury Studios, home of a great many very cool artists, now has a blog. It's mostly Steve Lieber, but definitely worth checking out. Via Jeff Parker.

by Tegan at 12:14 PM Seattle time

Whiteout by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber.

This is a really good murder mystery/adventure. We've got Carrie Stetko, a U.S. Marshal on the ice, where treaties protect research, but don't make human nature any better. Stetko has to investigate a murder in her jurisdiction, but the ice doesn't forgive mistakes. The story moves along quickly, and the artwork is just incredible, giving you the feeling of the cold. I had to grab a blanket while reading, I kept getting the chills. Stetko is also drawn like a real woman. She doesn't look like a superhero. She doesn't need to. This book is really very good. Check it out.

Whiteout: Melt by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber.

We get to visit Carrie Stetko down in the Ice again, and it isn't pretty. Well, actually, the art is really good and there is one scene that some guys will find very pretty, but for the most part this is a story about death. How difficult it is to survive in an environment that humans aren't made for, and what happens to the underprepared. There's a lot of facts about Antarctica... I particularly like the explanation of crevasses.

by Tegan at 11:28 AM Seattle time

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Elayne mentioned that she had set up an RSS feed, and in the comments section, andante mentioned that he uses Bloglines to read RSS blogs, so I had to check it out.

If you have any curiousity about RSS feeds but are afraid to tackle the various software problems, try this service! It's ridiculously simple to set up, then you just add the blogs you want to check. My RSS feed is here, should you want to add me. And if you have a feed, let me know. I think I'm going to be reading some blogs this way in the future.

And if you are using blogspot to blog, setting up a site feed is really pretty simple. Go to your blog settings, click on the "Site Feed" tab, and set it to "Yes". It'll show you the URL, you just make a link to that somewhere on your site, and you're good to go. Yeah, I should have mentioned this to Elayne back when Johnny showed me how.

by Tegan at 6:44 PM Seattle time

The Mariners commercials are out! The Mariners commercials are out!

There are seven new ads for 2004, featuring a bunch of the players. I really wish the Mariners would put out a nice DVD of all their commercials over the years. As it is, you can only see this year's and last year's on the website. There are a lot of really funny ones from previous years that I would love to see again.

Anyway, this year's batch has some good ones. I particularly like "Translation" in which Shigetoshi Hasegawa translates Ryan Franklin's Oklahoma lingo for some confused reporters. For the record, it took me five listens before I understood what Ryan said for the last comment, but once I understood what he was saying, I understood what he meant immediately.

Other ads include Ichiro delivering an answer to fan mail, Raul Ibanez getting the wrong signal thanks to a latte, Mojo the puppy running rampant, Bret Boone adding to his reputation for ego, the Moose's poker face, and my second favorite: Edgar working on another project related to lights... this time with the help of The Clapper.

I'm not sure I like the Mariner's new catchphrase: "Mariners Baseball. Get all of it." But then, I didn't much like Sodo Mojo or Viva La Mojo, but that didn't detract too much from the season itself.

Ah... baseball is definitely on its way. Soon it will be impossible to escape it... if you are the kind of person who actually would want to escape it.

by Tegan at 2:39 PM Seattle time

Ok, some of you are following the comments thread of my 'Answers' post in which Aunty is asking about comic books. Here's a key quote: Can I assume there are comics for just about everything? She should be able to assume that...

Here's the challenge. Aunty does not like "mature" books. Nothing that would get an "R" rating as a movie. Even "PG-13" is iffy. The genres she enjoys are science fiction, spy novels, and historical novels. She isn't interested in Prince Valiant.

Your challenge - name five comic books that you think would be of interest to Aunty. Bonus points if you can also tell her an easy way to find the book (ie a link to order on-line). Use the comments link to make your suggestions, and if you are feeling bold you can even explain why you think each book would be appropriate to Aunty.

Now, anyone who wants to find a comic book shop, there's a nifty Comic Shop Locator on-line, a service of Diamond (comic book distributors). I've already checked Aunty's zip and she has a shop relatively near, but I'm not sure how likely she is to visit them. Heh. I don't think Spawn is really Aunty's thing.

Why am I challenging you? Because I can't think of five books I would recommend to Aunty. Not off the top of my head. Heck, I can't even think of any good Science Fiction comic book from the last few years. Maybe the comics blogosphere in general can do much better.

by Tegan at 12:13 AM Seattle time

Monday, March 15, 2004

Tonight hubby-Eric and I went out. There's a new restaurant in the neighborhood, and even though it's part of a chain, we were very curious to see what the food was like. Today was the first day the restaurant was open. As far as I know, neither of us had ever eaten at Applebee's before, so we went down and tried it out. The wait was long, as everyone in Bothell seemed to be there to try it out.

Despite the wait, everyone was quite cheerful. Waiters came by and fed the waiting people with cheese stick samplers. The crew of the restaurant was still working on their skills, so they were constantly checking and re-checking the lists. One little girl waiting with us got... impatient. They got her a balloon, then a cup of water. And we learned that one of the employees was actively afraid of balloons, which isn't really that odd when you consider how many people claim to be afraid of clowns.

The restaurant was decorated with lots of pictures, everything from sailboats in the foyer to collages celebrating local high schools to movie posters. We spent a bit of time examining the pictures and the menu, and waited.

We were eventually seated, and I thought it might be a bit of fate that we were put right next to the Wizard of Oz movie poster and memorabilia. I was also right under a picture of the classic Christopher Reeves Superman. Let's just call it a good sign to start the evening's meal.

I ordered up some kiwi lemonade, which is now my favorite flavor of lemonade. Eric got regular lemonade. They also talked us into appetizers, and so we got quesadillas. They were wonderful. And enough. I wasn't particularly hungry when dinner finally arrived. I got salmon and "riblets", while hubby got some steak and shrimp. They made a few flubs, which didn't bother me. They forgot to bring me mashed potatoes, and when the manager brought them over, she told us that we should have seen the restaurant during the "dry run" yesterday. "Of course, the customers weren't paying last night," she said.

There wasn't enough room left in either of us for dessert, but the dulce de leche cheesecake cried out to be eaten. So we ordered it to go. And still haven't eaten it yet. In fact, half my dinner is sitting in the fridge because I couldn't eat it. What I did eat was extremely good, but there was WAY too much of it.

I guess that's a good thing. Two years ago I would've cleaned my plate no matter how stuffed I was.

by Tegan at 9:46 PM Seattle time

About time I did a Random Thoughts post, don't you think?

To start, here's yet another Alan Freakin' Davis cover for Aquaman! I swear, DC couldn't have found a cover artist I liked better if they asked me.

As usual, this will be the cover Aquaman sports in two month, on June 9th. I tried very hard to not actually read the solicitation, as it usually gives away information about the story that's coming up in the next few issues. That's one of the biggest problem with longer story-arcs. One of these days I'd like to see a whole bunch of single issue stories in a row.

Anyway, the rest of DC's solicits for June are up at their website.

Neil's back from vacation and in the snow. I think he kind of wishes he was still on vacation, don't you?

Kaja Foglio reports on the Vashon Island Nerd Herd.

Jeff Parker's Friday entry is about The Children's Museum of Portland, which makes me want to visit the place.

ADD has tons of reviews up as well as an offer to try to raise some money for his blog. Go visit.

DC has a reader survey up. If you read comics, go answer the survey. via The Hurting

And, just for the heck of it, I'll remind you that Aquaman #16 is due out this Wednesday:

That's it for this Random Thoughts... and beware the Ides of March.

by Tegan at 4:17 PM Seattle time

Happy day, and may the pugs be good to you.

by Tegan at 11:32 AM Seattle time

Sunday, March 14, 2004

3.1415926... and so on and so on. Etc. Go eat pie. It's pi day.

by Tegan at 11:42 AM Seattle time