"Constant"ly Great

Now that it’s over, I think we can all look back with a little more clarity and perspective. In doing so I still end up with the same favorite Lost episode of all time, season 4’s “The Constant”.

This Desmond centric episode takes us on an intense journey as Desmond’s consciousness goes back and forth between his past and present. This episode is Lost in a nutshell. It’s trippy, scientific, full of love and forgiveness, but also full of hope. If there was ever any one episode that got right to the essence of the show this was it.

When the copter that Frank, Sayid and Desmond are on gets struck off course Desmond begins experiencing flashes. These flashes have him re-experiencing key moments of his life. With the fear that he’ll get lost in the timestream and die in the present, Desmond meets with a pre-Island Daniel Faraday who tells him about the importance of a constant. Desmond basically then uses his love for Penny as a constant (emotional tether) to keep him grounded and able to find his way back to his proper place in time.

This story proved to be such a hit, that it’s impact is undeniable. Major comic characters Captain America and Batman have recently seemingly perished, but were both simply trapped in time trying to get back to their proper place in present time. A coincidence, I think not. It’s more like the re-use of the best Lost episode ever.

*This was the first episode that contained neither flashback nor flashforward. Its completely told in first person as Desmond travels his way back in time. We see the full arc of the story as it’s actually happening.

Crappy Crackers

(From ADW 52)
Because the crew at my new job doesn't seem to snack, I've resorted to buying snacks and stashing them at my desk. While at Target last weekend, I figured why not be economical while buying snacks. Instead of the Keebler Peanut Butter crackers I bought the Market Pantry version. It'll be the same, I thought... I was wrong.

In need of a snack, I ripped open the package and went to pull out the first cracker sandwich. Instead of getting a sandwich, I got two crackers. There was no peanut butter holding them together. No biggie, it's just a one-time mistake. Nope, there was one other non-sandwich in that pack, and two more in the pack I ate today. I guess cheaper is not always better.

Getting LOST, one last time

Last night was the finale of Lost, and I simply have one word... WOW! It was amazing. I'm still trying to make sense of it all, but wanted to sign on and say I loved it. I'll sign back on at some point this week and write a much larger piece.

I know there have been lots of naysayers on the web today, but I just want to plant my flag firmly against them. I loved the finale. I think it ranks amongst the best finales of all-time. I think it was the perfect end to one of the most original shows in the history of television. Simply amazing. If you invested 6 years of time (as I did) to the show, I think you were left with some classic moments that you'll carry with you for a long time.

Happy Birthday Empire

To celebrates my favorite movie turning 30, I wrote the following piece for ADW #55.

Empire Strikes Back is my favorite movie of all-time. It takes and expands on ideas introduced in Star Wars. The same message of hope against all odds is the present, but the villains really beat the snot out of the main characters for the duration of the film. In the end, seeing that they survived the day (and all the odds), all you’re really left with is hope. Kind of. It might be the best movie ever where the bad guys win.

As in Star Wars, the rebel alliance struggles to overthrow the evil empire. At the onset of the film—on frozen and barren Hoth—we see just how out matched the rebels are. As the rebels flee the planet, the main characters split up. There is room for multiple characters to make a journey of self-discovery—though Luke Skywalker’s is still at the forefront.
Jedi-wannabe Skywalker travels to Dagobah where he meets and learns from Jedi Master Yoda. No character grows more than Luke. He goes from rebel pilot to Jedi-in-training to battling Darth Vader in a light saber duel that culminates with the greatest twist ever: “No, I am your father.”

In a separate part of the galaxy, Princess Leia and rebel pilot Han Solo try to escape Empire capture. Along the way, their characters grow in leaps and bounds from the first film and fall in love with each other, making Han’s innevitable capture all that much more emotional for us, the audience.

Even though the overall outlook of the film is bleak, the message is hope, never giving up. Just when we think Luke’s ship will stay at the bottom of the lagoon forever, Yoda is able to easily raise it through his faith in the Force.

This is my favorite movie of all-time, and I highly recommend it to everyone. It’s a movie that crosses multiple genres—action, science fiction, drama, romance—and pulls it off successfully. It is inspirational, overcoming insurmountable odds and never saying, “I can’t.”

Supergirl & Streaky

My daughter loves Streaky our cat. Whenever she's over, Streaky is generally with her.

I wanted to put together a Supergirl and Streaky piece for her to be able to color and play around with. The lines had to be open and clean. Not a lot of shading (again, a departure for me as I love my shading). I came up with the above piece. The pencils on this piece were pretty quick. About 30 minutes or so. Inks about the same. After drawing these months ago, I just got around to printing a few for her to color. I'll post what she comes up with next week.

The Super Family

I haven't drawn as much as I've liked in 2010. It's been a pretty busy year so far (as I noted two posts ago). With that said, I haven't been completely un-artistic. I've done a few pieces. One of which is the Super Family which I drew for my daughter in the style of Art Baltazar's Tiny Titans.

That book is amazing. If you ever want to forget about Seige and Zombie Lanterns and simply enjoy comics like a kid again grab an issue the next time you hit a comic store. The best part is they are completely age appropriate for the little kiddies as well. Art's simplistic art take is brilliant. He gets right down to the essence of these characters with round heads and simple bodies. Pure genius.

My Super Family contains Superboy, Supergirl, Streaky the Supercat, the mysterious Cupid, with Superman and Wonder Woman in the background. Pencils on this piece took about 30 minutes with inks taking maybe another 40 or so (you have to be careful not to break the line on really long lines). All in all a piece I had a blast creating.

Reading Time

(originally published in ADW #46)
We read a lot in Casa Vega. Not only comics and weekly magazines, but lots and lots of books. We make bi-weekly trips to the library where we check out multiple books as well as utilize the wonderful public library online system to request books that our tiny branch doesn’t carry.

One of the books I recently checked out was the Pulitzer Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay written by Michael Chabon. This is, simply put, the best book I’ve ever read.

The story is a great tale of a Jewish family in Brooklyn that opens their doors to a cousin whose gone through quite the ordeal to flee Nazi-invaded Prague. Josef Kavalier (the recent immigrant) finds a kindred spirit in his cousin Sam Klayman (the Brooklyn native), and they quickly strike up a lucrative partnership in the burdgeoning comic book scene.

Love, family, friendship, loss and war all follow in this beautifully written yarn. This is a book for everyone, and hands down the greatest book I’ve ever read. Chabon has crafted an absolute masterpiece. I love the book so much that I’ve decided I have to buy a copy and keep it on Kal’s shelf so he can discover it himself when he gets older.

Another book, this one I actually own, is quite possibly the most important book in my collection. Year’s Best Comic Stories: 1981 was the very first comic book my oldest brother ever gave to me. It was Spring 1982, and this book changed the course of my life.

I read the very first story “To Kill A Legend,” an alternate Earth Batman tale where the Phantom Stranger comes to Batman and tells him that his parents will be killed the next evening on an alternate Earth. Batman decides against Robin’s urgings to go to this alternate Earth and stop the murder of his parents. Absolute brilliance ensues.

As a child I loved it. Every inch of this book. The great stories, the amazing art. It all sealed the deal. I had to be an artist. Without this book, Lord knows what my career path might have been. As mathematically gifted as I was, this book was the guiding light of my career. This book let me know that a perfect marriage between words and images was truly a work of art. It’s because of this book I am here today. I owe it and my brother so much. It really did help open my eyes to a whole new medium, and a whole new way of expressing myself.

Zoinks

OK, I apologize. This is the longest I've ever stayed away from this site. It's been almost 6 weeks. I hope you accept my apology.

With that out of the way I just want to say I have been writing very regularly in ADW. I'll post some of those pieces over the next few days. I've seen some comic films, which I'll write reviews of. I've drawn a few pictures (not nearly as many as I'd like) which I'll post. I've bought a few toys and comics. My son is now 8 months old, a paid child model, has two teeth and is sleeping in his own crib. My daughter just took her state wide english and math tests (fingers are crossed) and is getting ready for her dance recital. My wife is still amazing, she astounds daily. Plus I started a new job that I'm extremely excited about and keeps me plenty busy.

So check back over the next few days for plenty of updates... who knows, I just may break my record for consecutive days posted.