Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Snow, Man...Snow!

2 storms inside of 4 days. Over a foot of snow and it looks like more in store before the Holiday. We are so glad we bought our new/used snowblower, it's come in quite handy these past few days. My back and the neighbors really appreciate it.

Cheers

Birthday Presents

So here it is a few hours later, I Am Legend is a memory, and a damn good one at that. Go see this movie! So when we returned home, the mail man had a nice package for me. My winning auction for a piece of Steve Bissette history has shown up. Here's a quote from Myrant, the SRB Blog:

This particular page was completed with an assist from Rick Veitch (look like Veitch laid it out and likely pencilled the first panel), who lettered the entire story. This is also one of a handful of pages in this story directly referencing the Marv Wolfman/Neal Adams origin of Dracula story from Marvel's Dracula Lives! black-and-white zine. This was the last Marvel gig I completed before John Totleben and I began work on Saga of the Swamp Thing, and my last wash comics creation for any publisher except Scholastic: the shoddy, inconsistent quality of printing in those days destroyed the work that went into these pages.

What an amazing piece and I'm proud to own it. I also received another wonderful gift from my dear wife Kathy. I'm a huge monkey fan, (animal not the band) and also a longtime fan of Godzilla movies. So she went ahead and created for me, a limited edition Sock Godzilla! Very cool. Order yours now while I can still con her into creating another one.

Thanks honey!

A moment in history

Today is my birthday. I'm a little bit grey'r and maybe a bit more wiser...so I hope the rest of it is OK too.
My birthday movie this year is I Am Legend. I've been a big fan of the original Matheson book and I will watch The Last Man On Earth and The Omega Man and not cringe too much. Will Smith stars in this new vision of the Matheson book and I've always liked everything he's done, but I'm not forgiving him for Wild Wild West. So I hope it's a good day, a good movie and great presents!!

Cheers

2 Words

Zombie Sneakers.

They fit right, they look great, and the price was perfect. What every Zombie fan should be wearing this season.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Converse-Chuck-Taylor-AllStar-World-Skulls-HiTops?sku=411229

Brains! Brains!

Memories

While going through some old artwork, I came across this piece by Ven Yann. Years ago, Ven, John Maruskin and myself made up the Star Press weekend crew doing page and ad design for Star Press in Holyoke. It was easy work and we all got along so it made the time go by fast and it made for a lot of laughs.

Update: As noted in the comments, I have been corrected on the true originator of this beautiful piece of art. It was indeed Mr. John Maruskin, the Curmudgeon himself who created this masterpiece. My truest apologies go out to him.


You can find Ven Yann here: http://www.covertstudio.com/
and read John Maruskins twisted viewpoint here:http://thecurmudgeongrowls.blogspot.com/

Dennis Lehane and the Boston Police Strike

Quite a few years ago, I was in Boston walking on Newbury Street and I stopped by the Spenser's Mystery Bookstore. Andy was there at the time and I asked him who's hot and in his humble opinion...has got it. Andy gave me two books; Darkness Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane and a mystery novel based on old-time radio. Needless to say I have forgotten the title of the radio mystery, and Dennis Lehane and his works have taken up residence in my house.

Recently I was joined by my wife Kathy and my old friend john Maruskin to hear Dennis Lehane present a reading at the Odyssey Bookstore in South Hadley, MA. Dennis is one of the most engaging, funny, totally honest people I've ever met. He's very humble about his work and even a bit shy when readers praise him. He spent the evening talking about his new book that is due out next September. It's about the years 1918 and 1919 and is centered around 2 men and the 1919 Boston Police Strike. A period piece? and yet he made it work. He gave us a long reading and it was well worth the wait since 2001's Shutter Island.

I highly recommend all of Dennis' books with highlights being, in my opinion, Darkness Take My Hand, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island. Run out and buy as much Lehane as you can.

Good reading!