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Institute in St. Helena, California, puts it…

…there is a whole “mystique of comics” as well…

But that’s next week’s column.

Get Your Money’s Worth March 9, 2001 So, the other day, I went out to breakfast with my good pal John Lee. You may have seen ol’ John walking around in a space suit at the Alternative Press Expo this year. You may remember him as the Korean ice miner who tells the story of the Fourth Century king in Astronauts in Trouble: One Shot, One Beer. If you’re married, chances are John was in or at yours . The guy’s attended over 300 weddings. And he’s not crashing ‘em. These are the weddings of people he knows . He went to 58 last year. That’s more than one a week. Anyway. Ol’ John is one of those guys who has informed opinions on everything. Why’d Chevrolet only make the hard-top Bel-air in ’57? John knows. Best place to find a hamburger in San Francisco after 2 am on a weeknight? John not only knows, but he’ll drive us. With a pinball machine? John does n’t hesitate; just get in the car, he’ll say. Dick York or Dick Sargent? John could tell you some stories. So over our eggs John says he’d read last week’s column, and wants to know where that wine-tasting I’d gone into was. “Beverages and More, over on Geary, by Kieron and Binky’s studio,” I say. He nods sagely. “Where are you going with that ‘what makes a good comic thing?’, besides your Planet Lar gauntlet-throw?” And it is here I should interject that six years ago I wrote and produced a weekly acetate-covered fanzine called “Planet Lar.” Named after the B 52s song “Planet Claire,” I used the zine as my soapbox to the rest of the world. Part rumination on the comic book industry, part comics review, part oh-my-god-I-can’t-believe-this-guy-does-one-of-these-a-week-and-sends them-to-me, Planet Lar was what I did with my spare time because I did n’t then have a website.

In issue twenty-five, halfway through its fifty-issue run, I wrote this:

There was a concept held in high regard by the ancient Greeks called “arete.” This meant “virtue,” or “excellence.” It was a concept that was associated primarily with victorious athletes, but not exclusively so.

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