Houston, we have WATER!

OK, it's more likely, "Pasadena, we have WATER!" but what the heck! Confirmed!

WATER ON MARS!!!

Am I jazzed or what?

LOS ANGELES - The Phoenix spacecraft has tasted Martian water for the first time, scientists reported Thursday.

By melting icy soil in one of its lab instruments, the robot confirmed the presence of frozen water lurking below the Martian permafrost. Until now, evidence of ice in Mars' north pole region has been largely circumstantial.

Comic-Con -- Second Thoughts

Last time out I reported on all the things I missed on Thursday; it was a long list. What I saw on Thursday was actually a very short list.

This year we were staying at the DoubleTree near the freeway and about a mile from the Convention Center. Except for a couple of strange happenstances with room service, we really liked the hotel and it was a lot less expensive than the W where we stayed last year. We actually got into our room earlier than we expected and headed down and waited about 10 minutes for the shuttle to arrive. We were at the convention center in about 10 minutes and amazingly had our badges about 10 minutes after that. The lack of on-site registration really seemed to streamline the whole process.

As we always do, we headed directly to Room 8, home of most of the Mark Evanier-led panels. As we got there he was interviewing letterer Todd Klein. I found it fascinating, wife wife may have found it boring. We sat through it and moved closer to the front when it ended to get a better seat for the Golden/Silver Age of Comics panel that is a yearly highlight of the con for me, and this year was no different.

Mark presided over a panel of comic greats: Al Jaffee, Russ Heath, Larry Lieber, Jerry Robinson and Al Feldstein. Jaffee was the only one I had never seen before, but I could sit and listen to these guys for hours, though we only had an hour and a half. It flew by. I don't remember right now a thing anyone said during the panel, but I do recall that I was surprised at how much work Jaffee and Feldstein had done pre-EC/Mad.

After that, I wanted to hang around for the Dexter panel, but neither of us felt like standing in the outrageously long line. The whole town was plastered with Dexter billboards declaring "Power-Saw To The People." As an aside, I really dislike the way the con now handles the lines for 6A, 6B and the ginormous 6CDEF. The weave them in and out of the hallways in long narrow lines, that does not seem to be much of an improvement to the old days, when you just walked into any door to the room and took a seat. Now all the rooms have designated entrances and exits and it doesn't improve much, if you ask me; but no one is.

Who Dropped a Dime on Stevens?

Who do we have to thank for the indictment of dirtbag Republican Senator Ted Stevens? Some give the credit to the FBI, who has been investigating Stevens for a while now. Some give the credit to the two top executives of the once-powerful contracting firm VECO Corp. who 1) provided the "gifts" that Stevens is accused of accepting, and 2) cooperated with the FBI and provided information about Stevens.

But I beg to differ, I think the person who did in Ted Stevens is Karl Rove. It was Rove's tightly-woven fantasy of a "permanent Republican majority" that gave Stevens the balls to be so blatant in his graft. Since the Republicans in congress had made it clear that they were never going to turn in one of their own and given that Rove made it clear that they would be in power forever, why try to hide your dishonesty?

Thanks Karl, we owe you one.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Action Comics #367

Action Comics #367 (On Sale: July 30, 1968) has a Neal Adams cover.

"Mysteries of the Superman Awards" is by Otto Binder, Curt Swan and George Klein. This is George Klein's final inking effort at DC, a career that began in 1944 inking a Jack Kirby Boy Commandos story in Detective #85. After being pushed out of DC by Carmine Infantino, Klein would move to Marvel where he would produce amazing runs on The Avengers inking John Buscema and Daredevil inking Gene Colan. Klein's final assignment at Marvel was inking Jack Kirby in The Mighty Thor #168-169. There is no telling how long his career at Marvel would have lasted (Klein was the uncredited inker of Fantastic Four #1 in 1961), but tragically, Klein died in 1969, in his fifties, of cirrhosis of the liver, six months after getting married.

In our story, Superman attends an award ceremony in which worthy people receive an achievement award for helping the Man of Steel. This year's winner is Clark Kent, but Superman and Clark cannot appear together. While Lois looks for Clark, Superman tries to dream up a way to cover his secret identity. His robots are unable to respond because his apartment is being painted, and Bruce Wayne is attending the ceremony too, so Batman can't fill in for Clark.

While Superman thinks of a solution, the commissioner tells the audience the stories of the past three award winners which include a baby who disabled a scientist's prediction machine, a hermit who saved Superman from the Revenge Squad, and a forest ranger who died while saving Superman from Kryptonite, then donated his heart to save another life.

Our cover story is "The Evil of Alpha and Beta" by Cary Bates and Kurt Schaffenberger. Continuing from last issue, Supergirl exposes herself to Gold Kryptonite to permanently remove her super powers. She then assumes her Linda Danvers identity and is discovered outside the shield that surrounds Stanhope College. The evil Alpha and Beta capture her and bring her back inside. Had she still possessed her powers, Supergirl would have triggered a bomb that would destroy the school.

Once she gets inside the shield, Linda meets David Carew, a student which Alpha and Beta believe will invent valuable Noricon. David and Linda try to free the students from hypnosis, but David sees the Linda Lee robot. Supergirl then reveals herself and convinces David that the robot is the real Linda.

Before they can find and dismantle the bomb, Supergirl sees Superman returning from a space mission and attempting to break through the shield. Supergirl tries to warn Superman about the bomb before he reaches the shield.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Comic-Con -- First Thoughts

I always have this strange feeling after Comic-Con that I missed most of what I wanted to see. This is usually the result of everything I want to see happening at the same time on Saturday, but that was not the case this time. I think the organizers of this year's Comic-Con spread the goodies out much more evenly over the four days than was done in the past. And yet, I still feel like I missed most of the good stuff.

For the first time that I recall there were lots of "must see" events happening Thursday, like Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly promoting The Day the Earth Stood Still remake, or the entire cast of Torchwood there to promote the best show on BBC America. How about Noel Neill taking about her career and playing Lois Lane on the Superman TV show, or William Katt discussing The Greatest American Hero? Dakota Fanning and Djimon Hounsou discussing Push? Want something more "comic-like?" How about J.G. Jones or Paul Gulacy discussing their artwork? Stan Lee? The Mark (Evanier) and Sergio (Aragones) Show? How about a panel on Modern Masters featuring Frank Cho, Michael Golden and Mark Schultz? All of this happened the first four hours of the convention, before my wife and I even got there. We were still driving down the freeway and checking into our hotel and taking the shuttle to the convention center when all this was going on.

If the Comic-Con organizers have done anything it is make it imperative to arrive on Wednesday for Preview Night, just so you can get your badge and Events Guide and plan out your Thursday morning.

So what did I see? What did I like? I'll tell you next time.

Back From Comic-Con

Got back in this afternoon from Comic-Con International in San Diego. It was an odd sort of con this year; crowded from Thursday on, though it didn't seem as bad on perennial big-day Saturday. I missed most of what I wanted to see, either not really wanting to stand in these enormous lines or just not being on the ball. All in all though I think the "no tickets sold on site" rule left the con with a huge, but manageable crowd. More on my con experiences in the next few days. I have to pack for Florida (leaving on a 6:40 AM flight), pick up my car, drive to my hotel, unpack, get some food and then maybe, maybe I will have some time for blogging.

Maybe.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Showcase #77

Showcase #77 (On Sale: July 25, 1968) has a wonderful Angel and the Ape cover by Bob Oksner and Tex Blaisdell.

"Angel and the Ape" is by John Albano, Bob Oksner and Tex Blaisdell and this is John Albano's first writing for DC. Albano would go on to creat one of the biggest western hits DC ever had in Jonah Hex. Mr. Trumbell hires Angel O'Day, a private investigator, to protect him from men trying to kill him. Angel and her partner Sam Simeon, an intelligent gorilla help fight off several attackers, then Sam leaves to deliver a comic strip to Stan Bragg, editor of Brainpix Comics.

After dropping off the artwork, Sam returns home where he receives a call for help from Angel. She has been kidnapped along with Trumbell. Sam traces them to the local zoo and rescues Angel. Together they locate Trumbell and his captor, the zookeeper. Angel exposes the zookeeper as a spy who was trying to retrieve secret plans hidden inside a cast on Trumbell's foot. While the plans seems to be for a new rocket, they are actually plans for a new ride at Disneyland.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics --Teen Titans #17

Teen Titans #17 (On Sale: July 23, 1968) has a beautiful Nick Cardy cover.

"Holy Thimbles, It's the Mad Mod" is by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy. The Teen Titans travel to London for a Command Performance at which they will meet the Queen. On a sightseeing tour, Robin becomes accidentally locked in the Tower of London, leaving Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl to retrieve the Queen's royal sceptre, stolen by the Mad Mod, without the Boy Wonder's aid. Their costumes gimmicked by the Mod so as to halve their super-powers, the Titans are unable to stop the villain, until the ruse is discovered and they change uniforms. Then Aqualad rescues an escaping Mod from drowning, while Kid Flash and Wonder Girl defeat his henchmen, and the sceptre is returned to the Royal Family.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

"Hey, if anyone would like to shoot Obama..."

"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators..."

-John McCain on Friday

Yet when the press reported that McCain's son was serving in Iraq -- he feared the coverage would make him a target.

"The McCain campaign objects strongly to this intrusion ... The children of presidential candidates in this election cycle should be afforded the same respect for their privacy that the children of President Bush and President and Senator Clinton have been afforded."

I guess if it is the guy you are running against though it is open season. What a disgusting creep.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Batman #205

Batman #205 (On Sale: July 18, 1968) has a pretty cool Irv Novick cover.

"Blind as a... Bat?" is by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick and Joe Giella. Continuing from last issue, the police believe that Batman is dead and have taken him into custody, thinking him to be an impostor. Batman escapes from the police and switches outfits with a member of the Schemer's gang. The police take the man in the Batman costume to jail, while Batman dressed as a blind man meets Robin to prevent an armored car robbery. They succeed in stopping the crooks, but Robin is captured.

The Schemer takes Robin to a camouflaged submarine where he intends to fire missiles to take down an airplane carrying gold. He then plans to salvage the gold from the ocean.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Doom Patrol #121

Doom Patrol #121 (On Sale: July 16, 1968) has a very dramatic Joe Orlando cover that says it all: "Is this the Beginning or the End of the Doom Patrol?" For many years this was the end, as in a startling final issue, Doom Patrol creator Arnold Drake kills them all!

In "The Death of the Doom Patrol?," by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, the Doom Patrol is destroyed. Striking back at all her former allies, Madame Rouge returns and apparently destroys the Brotherhood of Evil. She then launches a series of devastating attacks against the Doom Patrol in their own headquarters. To safeguard innocent bystanders, the team retreats to an island base prepared by the Chief for emergencies, unaware that they are being tracked by Madame Rouge and her new ally, Captain Zahl, an ex-Nazi foe of the Chief.

Immobilizing the three heroes, Zahl issues an ultimatum: either they allow him to blow up the island and destroy them, or he will cause a similar blast to destroy a tiny fishing village of fourteen inhabitants. The Doom Patrol members heroically vote to sacrifice themselves, and Zahl detonates the island over Madame Rouge's protests. The world mourns the loss of the Doom Patrol, and Steve Dayton vows to find and destroy the murderers of his wife.

Talk about an ending! From day one the Doom Patrol was Arnold Drake's baby and when the book ended he took his baby with it. Elasti-Girl, Negative Man and the Chief all die in this issue. Robotman, the Brain and Monsieur Mallah all appear to die as well, but survive as revealed in Showcase #94 (1977) and New Teen Titans #14 (1981). It appears that this ground-breaking issue has never been reprinted.

In a 1999 interview with Katherine Keller (no relation to me), Arnold Drake spoke of his beloved Doom Patrol:

Murray Boltinoff the editor, came to me one day, or I went to him one day and he said, "We're having a lot of trouble with My Greatest Adventure, it's starting to lay an egg. The era of the superhero has taken over completely. My Greatest Adventure has ordinary heroes. We need some kind of superhero to punch it up." So I said okay, went out and came back a couple of hours later with the basic idea about the man in the wheelchair who is the great brain, and runs this group of superheroes who hate being superheroes. That was the new aspect. That was the thing that made Doom Patrol different, these people hated being superheroes. And they were a little bit self-pitying, just a little bit, and the chief was constantly telling them, "Stop crying in your beer." That made them something that wasn't around at the time.

I enjoyed that experience, not only because it was a fresh idea, but also because I did 48 issues, and this gave me a chance to develop the characters and to get into ever more complex relationships, and so on. That's why I really liked it, because I controlled it. I could make it do what I wanted it to do. In most magazine houses, I would write a character for 3-4 issues, then somebody else would come in and write it. And then someone else would come in, and that's grown even worse today, it's even more so today. The result is there's no real continuity, everybody's making up his own little universe. Everybody's got his own Batman or his own Superman. And I think that probably weakened it, made them less real.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

El Tango De...

As I drove to work today I heard a song on the radio and it brought back to mind the time when I saw the most amazing version of the that song, in the movie Moulin Rouge. So here it is, from Moulin Rouge, El Tango De... But that would be telling. Watch and enjoy!

Latest on IndyMac

My wife drove by the headquarters of IndyMac in Pasadena yesterday and said it was so sad that she started to cry. It's hard to explain how we can feel bad about a place we did nothing but complain about for the past three or four years, but we do. I worked at IndyMac longer than I worked at any other company, just beating my 10 years at Information Handling Services/Sogitec Inc./AMTEC Information Services/Electronic Data Services (different company names, but all the same people working on the same things at the same locations).

I have a small checking account there (the free one I got when I was an employee) where my current paycheck is direct-deposited. We also have a HELOC with IndyMac. They froze all HELOCs this morning, so we are having to postpone some home improvements we had planned. Other than that, life goes on.

Is This What is Called Straight-Talk?

God, the amount of important things this asshole no longer remembers could fill a few volumes of the World Book.

IndyMac Bank Siezed By The Feds

From the the Los Angeles Times...

The federal government said it took control of troubled IndyMac Bank today, in what regulators called the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

The Office of Thrift Supervision in Washington, the chief regulator of Pasadena-based IndyMac, said it transferred control of the $32-billion bank to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

As I wrote earlier this week, I was lucky to get out of IndyMac with the exceptional severance package that I did, well over half a year's pay and six months of paid COBRA medical. The people laid off earlier this week got 30 to 60 days severance.

Some of the bosses at IndyMac were real jokes, but for the most part I loved working on the construction lending software there and I like most of the people I interacted with. Most, but not all of them, got out well before now. The few that were there at the beginning of this week were just too damn loyal for their own good.

I first started working at IndyMac when it was called Countrywide Conduit and had 80 employees total. I was the first contract programmer they hired and spent, off and on, 11 years there. Kind of a sad day for me. Oh, and I need to transfer my direct deposit out of the free employee account they let us all keep after we were laid off.

It's as if God created the devil and gave him...

There has been an unconfirmed sighting of a great white shark at South Beach on Martha's Vinyard, the island where "Jaws" was filmed, resulting in the forced closure of two beaches. Chief Brody, where are you when we need you?

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Green Lantern #63

Green Lantern #63 (On Sale: July 11, 1968) features Neal Adams' first Green Lantern cover. In a few years Neal, along with Denny O'Neil, will take over this strip creating some of the most important comics of all time (certainly some of the most reproduced comics of all time).

"This is the Way... the World Ends" is written by, speak of the devil, Denny O'Neil in his first of two Green Lantern stories, and drawn by Jack Sparling and Sid Greene. While visiting his brother Jim Jordan is California, Hal Jordan is suddenly teleported to another planet. He uses his power ring in an attempt to contact other Green Lanterns or the Guardians, but he finds no trace of either. He then has a vision of a little girl telling him to return to Earth.

Green Lantern arrives on Earth which is now a barren wasteland. He finds one living person on the planet, a woman named Teira. After rescuing her from some gaseous yellow cloud creatures, he brings her to her father Gracchus.

Gracchus explains that Earth was destroyed by a recent attack, but Green Lantern doesn't believe him. He then demands the truth. Gracchus tells him that he was a scientist from Ort, a planet consumed in a perpetual state of war. Gracchus wanted to end the war, but his people did not. He then fled to Earth, but found that war was a constant plague there as well.

Now he has brought Green Lantern back in time before life exists on Earth to prevent it from ever developing. Yep, now that is a Denny O'Neil plot! Never reprinted.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

What is the point of going to the Olympics...

...if you can't order the leg of Shih Tzu medium rare?

It's Time To Drag Him There In Chains!

That little piece of shit, Karl Rove, defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama.

Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairman of a House subcommittee, ruled with backing from fellow Democrats on the panel that Rove was breaking the law by refusing to cooperate -- perhaps the first step toward holding him in contempt of Congress.

Bring the fucker in wearing shackles. Enough is enough!

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- House of Mystery #176

House of Mystery #176 (On Sale: July 9, 1968) has another fairly spooky cover by Neal Adams and the Adams' kids are back!

Inside we have "The House of No Return" a reprint from House of Mystery #131 drawn by Sid Greene. That is followed by "The Roots of Evil" by Marv Wolfman and Jack Sparling. This is Wolfman's first full script for DC and was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.