Dwayne McDuffie, RIP

Multiple sources around the Net have reported that Dwayne McDuffie has shockingly passed on. I say shockingly because no one seems to have even been aware that he might have been ill- he has been active in his writing career, both in comics and in animation, right up until now. No cause of death has been reported as of this writing.

I won't try to BS you and tell you that I've been a lifelong fan of his or anything- I can only think of one series I've read regularly that he scripted. Back in 1993, when my then-11-year-old son wanted me to start getting him comics to read on my weekly Wednesday run, some of the titles he liked were DC's teen heroes- Robin, Impulse, Superboy. One other that caught his eye was the series above, Static. Now, since I was as much a comics geek back then as I ever was, I read not only the titles I bought, but the titles I bought for him (he liked X-Men, Spawn, Gen13, and other hot books back then too- I didn't read them often) as well, and I enjoyed Static. McDuffie only scripted the first four issues, along with the mysterious Robert L. Washington III, but was instrumental in creating the character with artist J.P. Leon, the first place I saw his soon-to-be excellent work as well. He was a driving force behind the whole Milestone imprint company published by DC which was designed to spotlight minority characters. Many years later, I found myself addicted to the animated TV series Justice League Unlimited, as far as I'm concerned one of the high-mark programs of its kind- he was its story editor and a producer, and also scripted many of its best episodes. I may have to go back and look up some of the other comics work he's done, such as the late 80's Marvel series Damage Control and his troubled stint on Justice League of America. He seemed to be a talent whose best work was still ahead of him, whether it was in animation or comics.

Reaction all over the Web has been heartfelt and overwhelmingly sad- he seemed to have been well-liked by everyone whose lives and careers he touched. I never had the pleasure of interacting with him online, but I can see his obvious talent and importance in the industry, and he will be missed by all who care about comics. I just thought I should write a few lines.

So...how's it going?

Having a good new year so far?

This is my first post here of the year 2011. I really hate that I don't update this blog as often as I once did, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Life in the Meat World is hectic and often frustrating, and I often have trouble getting myself in the proper mental place to write. I do still post stuff all over the place at odd times, just not here...and while it's possible that I'm spreading myself too thin, often it's just quicker and easier to post in those places. And those places are:

Twitter, of course. I'm always blathering on about something there. I hope you'll follow me in case I accidentally say something profound in 140 characters or less.

I've been posting mostly images of this and that on my Tumblr blog, called I Come Tumbl'n. That's kinda taken the place of the images I used to post here. Last night, I thought I would start a mini-feature of sorts, in which I'll post a page a day from Thriller, until I decide to stop.

Speaking of Thriller, I'm afraid I'm not going to be upgrading the venerable old website anytime soon; although I did reserve a Wordpress blog a few months ago with the idea that I might recreate it in blog form. Someday, I'll give the series and its creators a proper spotlight.

I'm on Facebook, and post a lot of links and videos there, which probably irritates my friends and family no end but I do get positive feedback as well, so feel free to friend me there if you like. I deleted my MySpace page last week, so don't look for me there.

If you miss my opinions and thoughts on recent comics and graphic novels, please check out my more-or-less weekly column over at Popdose, Confessions of a Comics Shop Junkie. Perhaps someday I'll start capsule reviewing my new comics purchases here again, but it won't be anytime soon.

I've also been invited to participate in a group blog about pop culture called Poplitiko; many, many fine writers have contributed already. I haven't put anything up there just yet, but I plan to do so as soon as I can get some coherent thoughts together. Chances are it won't be about comics; my first post will most likely be about my favorite year in music, 1974.

I still post the odd sketch on the ol' LiveJournal, as well as my DeviantArt page.

Geez, I am spread thin!

OK. How about some personal stuff! Actually, it had crossed my mind to make this blog more diary-like, but I'm not sure how much I want to do that. I din't think my personal life is all that interesting. I'm still working at the small print shop full time, though decreased business has caused the owner to cut us back to 4 days a week instead of 5...this is not a pleasing development, but we've managed to get by OK so far. Needless to say, I am considering my options and have been looking around for other jobs, but let's face it, my age is a handicap now. I've also begun to entertain thoughts of a career change for the first time in my life...but what, I can't say right now. Anyway, I still work part-time at the radio station, and right now, during basketball season, I'm getting enough hours to almost make it worth my time. That will all come to a halt in April, and I'm now considering trying to find a second part-time job to help make ends meet. Busing tables or working in a kitchen doesn't sound as bad to me now at 51 as it did, oh, 20 years ago.

Recent TV and movies I've seen and enjoyed include the Coens' True Grit and of course Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (I know, I haven't done proper movie reviews in ages). I've begun to watch the AMC series Breaking Bad on DVD, and am liking it quite a bit so far. I actually won an autographed copy of the documentary Who is Harry Nilsson...and Why is Everybody Talkin' About Him?- autographed by the director, not by Nilsson, of course. Actually, I have Harry's autograph already, obtained years ago for me by a friend at a Beatle convention. Long story. Anyway, it's fascinating, informative, and often moving- and while I can quibble with this and that and how it is or isn't presented, I recommend it highly if you haven't seen it. As far as currently airing programs go, right now I'm loving the FX series Justified, and am looking forward to the return of HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Treme.

Musically, I took money I got for Christmas and ordered a bunch of recent albums, such as the Black Keys' Brother, Tom Petty's Mojo, Band of Horses' Infinite Arms, Justin Townes Earle's Harlem River Blues, and Paul Simon's self-titled debut. Of all the new ones, I really loved that Band of Horses the most, though they were all very good. Some better than others. My music listening habits are random and varied; I'm liable to start the day in a Prince mood and wind up listening to Jethro Tull by days' end.

I also took some of that Christmas money and ordered the first four volumes of Fantagraphics' Popeye comic strip reprints; while I had read several of them here and there over the years, and liked them a lot, I had never read a sustained run of them. I have to tell you, that is some inspired, wonderful, insane stuff. If you think you know Popeye from today's comics or the cartoons, know that this is a whole 'nother thing, like those comics and films cranked up to ten and dosed with something stronger than spinach. They're quite amazing and very enjoyable, and I haven't really gotten into the acknowledged peak of Elzie Segar's tenure yet. I'm also still getting and reading lots of comics; current favorites include Keith Giffen's Doom Patrol, which is selling poorly and probably won't be around much longer, damn it; Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's Sixth Gun; Jeff Parker's entertaining Thunderbolts; Aaron and Guera's Scalped; David Hine and Moritat's surprisingly good take on The Spirit; and the Hellboy books, with a number of creators including Mike Mignola and Guy Davis, are as solid as always. Invincible Iron Man. Batgirl is intermittently interesting, as is Batman, Inc. and Booster Gold. And I know I'm forgetting some, so I'll stop now.

I'll wind this up. I don't know when I'll post here again, but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. Thanks for reading!