First of all, right off the bat, Happy Birthday Mom! G'wan, you thought I'd forgotten! Didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?

I won't embarrass her by giving out her age, but I will say she's easily the sweetest lady ever born in 1955.

(Just did some quick mental-math... apparently, Mom became pregnant for me about a week or two after her 20th birthday. Great Scott! Who knows what she might have sacrificed, in terms of sanity, had I not been such a little angel.)
...

The Kyle Baker Story:

As I mentioned a couple evenings ago, I've been a fan of writer/artist Kyle Baker for about half my life or so. His irreverent wit (have you noticed how wit is always "irreverent"? When's the last time you heard someone's wit described as "respectful and traditional"? As in, "boy that comedian is hilarious... he really manages to avoid shaking things up!") and superb cartooning has inspired a lot of my own material.

Unfortunately, his newest stuff hasn't exactly bowled me over. His art is as strong as ever, but his humor has become slightly milquetoast in recent years. No biggie. He's a family man these days, so I imagine some of the cynical, urban edge is bound to wear away a little.

Case in point, his graphic novel that hit the stands about a year ago, King David (an accurate, Biblical retelling of the story of David from the Old Testament). While I've terrific respect for Kyle's talent (and the subject matter of this book), I didn't care much for this particular piece of work. I felt that Kyle let me down, frankly. So, I logged onto Amazon.com and wrote a less-than-favorable review.

Here's the review:



Fast-forward a year. Kyle produced a special comic specifically for San Diego Comic-Con attendees. I bought the comic when I visited the Kyle Baker booth (he was even good enough to write a note to me and do a little doodle on the cover). The comic was called The New Baker (a spoof on The New Yorker magazine) and I have to say: the old wit and cynicism is back. It's the Kyle Baker I remember... funny, biting, sarcastic, clever. I was delighted.

Then I got to the "letters" section of the comic.

Kyle Baker being Kyle Baker, he manufactured his own "fan mail" (with responses from himself) to print on his letters page. I was especially taken aback by the first letter.

Here's what I saw:



Yeah, that's right. He'd peeled my review off Amazon.com to make fun of it and gave me a geeky Dungeons-and-Dragons name for added oomph. Apparently, what I'd written had pissed him off a bit. It's probably a good thing he didn't know who I was when I met him.

Anyhow, I think I might have almost been offended if I hadn't been laughing hysterically.

Darn it, now I'm a bigger fan than ever.
...

Well, I'm headed to Ohio tomorrow for Papa Bear's wedding. It's plane rides all day long and the wedding in the evening. My swell buddy Kris Fowler is being kind enough to lend me his laptop for the plane ride so that I can attempt to catch up on the writing of this musical (on which I'm painfully, painfully behind).

So I'm excited. I love plane rides. I love taking off and spending hours up there with a book or a sketchpad while the Earth whizzes past below me at about 400 mph or so. I love setting my ginger ale on the little trays that fold out. I love looking out the window at the clouds and the wee little city lights at night. Man, I even love those little plane magazines and catalogues filled with over-priced crap that no sane person will ever buy (a karaoke machine that fits in your shower? A bookmark with a clock at the top? A travel-fruit-dehydrator? Come on! Seriously!).

But, besides all that, it's been a year and I have to admit that I miss home. I've gotten used to palm trees and low humidity and ridiculous traffic/parking and unreasonable property values, though. I wonder if I'm in for some culture shock.