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adventure. I’m gonna go over that hill there and try to get back to that old neighborhood where I used to live. That place where I had all that fun; see my old pals; get in to trouble and ride off into that kitty sunset on One. Last. Adventure.” And it sure does seem to me that that’s what the comic book industry is doing. Creatively, the comic book industry seems like an old cat on its last legs. Lost a couple of incisors; maybe can’t close the deal on those field mice like we used to. Seems to me that some comics are constantly returning to the familiar, like ol’ Tom I’ve just told you about. You liked “relevant” comics in 1970? OUR comics are relevant, NOW ! Look! Drugs, swearing, and everything! Hey, you liked “bad girls” in 1995? We’ve got Bad Girls for you NOW ! We’re trying to co-opt your interest in the dis-affected youth… our characters have pale skin, and love eyeliner just like you ! What the comic book industry needs to understand is a simple thing ol’ Tom didn’t get: you can’t go home again. There’s no WAY that a rickety old cat is going to return to those days of greatness, and there’s no way comics is going to be able to recreate those thrilling days of yesteryear. That’s why some of us are trying to do something new.

That’s why some of us are trying a new thing. We’re getting another cat.

I Love Comics February 23, 2001

I love comics. I love comics so much, I have to do my own.

A couple things happened last week that made me realize just how and why I love comics so much. Settle in, and I’ll tell you:

In the summer of 1973, our family moved from Dallas, Texas to rural Vermont. To say that it was a culture shock would be understating the sit uation. In public school in Texas, for example, we had etiquette lessons; the correct way to answer the phone, the respectful way to address your elders, that sort of thing. The first day of school in Vermont, however, both my sister and I ended up at the principal’s office for being extremely sarcastic to our teachers. Our crime? In answer to a direct question, I had said, “No, sir” to my teacher, and my sister had said “Yes, ma’am” to hers.

We got in trouble for that.

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