Dog Days of Summer? I Don't Think So...

Everyone keeps yakkin' about the Dog Days of Summer, like its supposed to be a misery. Well, I have a slightly higher opinion after the last couple of days. First off, in just a few weeks, the NFL will be playing pre-season football, with the lockout finally ended and everybody scurrying to get as much practice-time in as they can. And the amazing generosity of Peyton Manning, willing to give a sizeable chunk of a record-setting contract to ensure that key players that were part of his success will be there... that's just too cool.

And then, on August 27th, Doctor Who returns with the final six episodes of the season that will wrap up the search for Melody, the secret mission of the Silence, the return of the Weeping Angels, the Cybermen and their long-lost sidekicks the Cybermats, and what may be the final curtain for Rory Williams. And what about that clown with the balloon?

Much to ponder over as we wrap up this hot, hot summer with cool, refreshing, excitement.

Back from the Un-Dead

Gravy, it's been forever since I've finally got time to punch in around here, but with InConJunction behind me and some downtime before September, it's time for updates, new news, and even some artwork!

For those who've been wondering why the Mark and Dee strip has been gone for so long, your wait is almost over. I've been redrawing many subsequent installments due to my total dissatisfaction with what I was doing, and the strip will be back in the next couple of days.

Another project I've been working on has been a series of watercolor and ink paintings of all 11 Doctor Whos, and without further ado, let's take a look at'em...

The first I completed was the 11th Doctor and Amy last Christmas as a commissioned piece, and I would have stopped right there, except I really enjoyed the work I did on it and decided to do a similar study utilizing the ten others. As you can see, the 11th Doctor and Amy, TARDIS standing at the ready, are flanked (left upper corner going clockwise) by the new Dalek Paradigm, a Weeping Angel, the Dream Lord, a Smiler, Prisoner X, Dr. River Song, the Crack in the Wall, a newly evolved Silurian, Sir Winston Churchill, and Rory Williams.

Appropriately, I decided to head back to the beginning with William Hartnell as the First Doctor, flanked (l-r) by Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and granddauighter Susan Foreman. Surrounding them from upperleft corner and clockwise are two of the Thals from Skaro, two of the War Machines, Koquillion of "The Rescue", a Zarbi, a Menoptra, the Meddling Monk, Marco Polo, a Dalek, Cyberman 1.0, and the sinister Celestial Toymaker.

 

Standing proudly beside the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) are (l-r) Zoe Hariott and highlander Jaime McCrimmon. From upperleft corner and clockwise, we have a Yeti, the Cybermen marching on London, a Dalek and the Emperor Dalek, a rather shouty Dominator, two toy soldiers from "The Mind Robber", Theodore Maxtible from "Evil of the Daleks", former companion Victoria Waterfield, the adjudicating Time Lords, a Quark, a Fish Person from "The Underwater Menace", the War Lord, Salamander from "Enemy of the World", an Ice Warrior, and Colonel Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.

 

Due to referencing issue (and because I love them so much), I decided that my next painting would be the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace. From left corner and clockwise, they are framed by the Chief Caretaker of Paradise Towers, the Master in leopard people mode, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Davros as the Emperor Dalek, the Gods of Ragnorok, the Candy Man, Morgaine Le Fey, a Leopard Person, two converted Hamoevores, former companion Melonie "Mel" Bush, a Bannerman, and a Tetrap.

I'm currently finishing paiting of the Third Doctor, have completed inks on the Fourth, and have started pencils and line work on the Fifth. More to come soon.

InConJunction was once again an off-the-hook blast, though this year we had our own little challenges, particularly with the Mariott undergoing remodeling out front, so hauling everything into the hotel was a bit more work, as we had to take the rear entrance, which was as far away from the ballroom we were going to be in as could be. But everything worked out fine, everyone had a great time, everyone's jazzed for the remainder of the sixth season of Doctor Who, which will begin on August 27th on BBC America!

Gonna take a break, and hopefully have more news about things coming my wife Deena's way.

Crazy Daze

Just when I thought I'd get a Monday of relaxation...

About 4:00 in the morning, Columbus got hit by a wild storm that left just as quickly as it had come, just in time to take Deena into work (we're only two blocks from the hospital, but I didn't want her walking into any freak storms on the way).

After picking up Mom and taking her to dialysis early this morning, I stayed awake long enough to see the terrifying reports about the tornado strikes in Missouri and Minnesota. I'm so sorry for all the pain and suffering that's struck those states and I pray that their recovery will be swift and sure.

I grabbed some Chinese after picking Mom up later this morning and getting her home, then came back to my place for an hour or so to catch up on "The Event" episodes and "Mike and Molly", then headed over to my church to help my minister Hywel figure out how to change the printers in his Epson printer and how to print CDs and DVDs on it. Of course, when I hit a couple of tough spots getting the set-up done, he started giving me a good-natured ribbing: With my brother Tim there also he spouted off, "Your brother here seems to be completely useless."

We did, however, manage to get the set-ups done and that Welsh ninny can print his buttocks off.

I love my minister. He's an old school Doctor Who fan and absolutely adores the new series.

Now, up until now the skies were as clear as bell, the temperatures were super mild, and I thought, damn, what a beautiful day this is

going to be.

No sooner did I get home than the skies grew dark, lightning struck, the rain poured... and, of course, while I

was working on a project for InConJunction on the computer, the power went out.

We were dark for about an hour and a half, without fresh batteries in anything but the mini-flashlight. The C batteries barely stayed strong enough in the radio to let us hear the current weather updates. So first thing tomorrow I'm stocking up on C, AA, and AAA batteries.

And I was in such a great mood this morning....

A Half-Hour to Breathe, The Doctor's Wife (light SPOILERS), Liberty Meadows Returns

A month later... no Mark and Dee? Yep, I'm a big disappointment. But I will be resuming our tale in the next week or so, as soon as I get a little free time. Right now, I'm working hard on getting some commissioned artwork done and preparations for July's InConJunction, as well as dealing with a bit of sleep apnea. Try doing this and holding down a day job that mostly has you showing up at seven in the morning and not going home until four in the afternoon. Plus taking your mother to kidney dialysis three times a week at 5:30 in the morning.

That's why I look forward to days like today, when I have very little commitment during the day and can work on several projects.

Last Saturday's Doctor Who, while not very much tied to the current arc storyline about the Silence, was a truly moving standalone adventure from the powerful pen of fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, and an insight into the relationship between the Doctor and the true love of his life (lives), the TARDIS.

If you haven't seen this epsiode, we're going into a few spoilers, so you might want to skip a bit downward.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Briefly, the Doctor and his friends are lured to a junkyard asteroid in a pocket universe when the Doctor suspects that some Time Lords may still be alive. Unfortunately, the meteor, called "House" (the voice of Michael Sheen) is sentient, and desires to escape the bubble universe before it collapses. Therefore, it manages to possess the TARDIS after drawing out its matrix and placing it in the body of a madwoman named Idris (fabulously played by Coronation Street's Suranne Jones). For the first time, the Doctor is able to talk face-to-face with his beloved time-travel machine and discovers that they were a match made in Heaven over 700 years ago. But their time together is brief, as they have to stop the House-possessed TARDIS with Amy and Rory trapped inside, and her human body is dying...

Dialogue moves very quickly on Doctor Who, and I always have the closed-captioning turned on so I can follow it more easily. I can tell you that I watched this episode at least five times Sunday, absolutely delighted by Gaiman's dialogue and his enthusiasm about exploring a part of the Doctor Who mythos that to now had only been hinted at. The Doctor's final moments with the TARDIS/Idris before things had to go back to normal were simply the most heartbreaking of the season so far. And I felt a great satisfaction in discovering that what I've always said about the TARDIS' wonky steering was absolutely correct: Baby doesn't take where you want, Baby takes you where you need to be.

END OF SPOILERS

Some other great news I got this weekend was that one of my very favortite comic books/comic strips will be back in production and back on the stands at the end of 2011. Liberty Meadows, Frank Cho's hilarious mish mash of soap opera and funny animal antics, has been out of circulation for almost three years now due to its rights being tied up with Sony and the development of a Liberty Meadows cartoon series. The entire enterprise which has certainly put premature grays in Monkeyboy Cho's hair fell through the usual comedy of errors that happens when a studio grabs a potentially valuable property and has no idea what to do with it. I rejoice to hear that all rights have now reverted back to Cho and he can continue to work on the comic book, hopefully starting up from where Brandy broke off her wedding and jumped into Frank Mellish's arms.

I'm currently working on a final draft of the InConJunction schedule for the Doctor Who/Whoosier Network room, which I'm hoping to have something very unique occur on the Saturday afternoon or Sunday schedule. More about it later. Our video programming, besides presenting the original BBC broadcasts of the seven episode half-season this year, will be dedicated to the passing of two beloved Doctor Who actors: the great Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT), and, shockingly, Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith). I'm currently editing music video tributes to both of them, and we'll debut them both at InCon this year.

Well, that's enough updating for now. Gotta get back to the job at hand. I'll be back as soon as I'm able.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon... 'bout time

After a huge, grumpy weekend of work and extra driving around and crap, I'm finally getting a nice, relaxed Sunday afternoon and evening where I can literally get loads of projects off the ground, and do some new entries to my blog.

First up is, of course, my excitement that we'll soon have some brand-new Doctor Who on our screens, with an unparalleled location-shoot in the United States. Many questions will be answered this year, including what the Voice of Silence is really all about and the true nature of Dr./Prof. River Song. Rumor has it that no classic monsters will be part of this season, although the scenes of the Doctor holding what clearly is a Cybermat in a scene in a upcoming episode may have put the lie to that.

The Pacers are preparing to play in just a few minutes against the Knicks at home, and it's been a long, long time since I've felt any kind of excitement about the Pacers. Coach Frank Vogel has elevated what was one of the worst teams in the NBA into a real contender in the playoffs. I've no real illusions about how far they will go in the first round, as they're up against the Bulls, No. 1 in the Eastern Conference, but I saw them beat the Atlanta Hawks for the first time in years the other night, and beat them with impunity. They've laid waste to the Celtics twice this year, so who the heck knows?

Here are the saddest words I'll hear this year on television: "Next week, on the season finale of Justified..."

Back with more later!

Look Who's Getting a Make-Over...

While you folks are all waiting for more Mark and Dee (I'm only a couple of projects away from resuming work on it) you might like this...the new creative team of Dick Tracy!

I'm very excited to be reading Dick Tracy once again, especially after reading the last week of strips leading up to the arrival of writer Mike Curtis and veteran comic artist Joe Staton. Dick Locher has wisely decided to retire from the strip, along with his artist Jim Brozman. While I can't really comment too much on the story, the artwork has been horrendous.

With the Tuesday installment, linked above, a cherished supporting character returns to the Tracy fold, and by tomorrow, two classic villains return to menace the razor-jawed detective. I just can't wait!

It can only go up from here...

Never, ever have I had a week that was as full of darkness as this past week. Deena's stepdad, Gene, passed away after a long illness, my brother Kenny had exploratory surgery for heart disease, Wisconsin public workers lost collective bargaining rights thanks to Republicans totally trashing the First Amendment and Democrats too wimpy to stand up to them in person, the Pacers have been knocked out of the playoff rankings by half a game, the Middle East is a war zone (even more than usual), and, oh, yeah, Tokyo looks like Godzilla and all his buddies from Monster Island had a hoedown.

Is there any way to put a positive spin on any of this?

Well, let's start from the top:

Deena's mom, Donna, has had a really rough time of it all. I got a first hand look at what she had to go through just to get Gene ready to go to dialysis three times a week. It was tough enough to get Gene situated from the house to the adjoining garage and into the car when he still had one good leg and his prosthetic. Just before he passed, Gene's good leg went septic and had to amputated, which placed him in a deep depression which he sadly never recovered from. And I can only imagine in my worst nightmares what managing Gene would be for Donna. I'm quite certain it would have killed her.

So, as tragic as Gene's death has been for the entire family, I think it has been a blessing for everyone involved. Gene is forever free of the pain and misery he has endured for years, and Donna's burden is now off her shoulders. She's even contemplating a trip to Florida for a couple of weeks to visit her son Kent and his wife Rosie and their kids Kent, Jr. and Kiki in Boca Raton. I think now she can finally have a long and deliberate period of fun. More than about time.

The surgery on Kenny went very well and revealed no irregularities in his heart. Which does not mean he can continue smoking and eating crappy McDonalds and Wendy's food. So I can only hope that this is Kenny's wake-up call to make healthier choices.

After a six game losing streak, the Pacers had a great away victory over the Knicks last night, and maybe this is a re-direction to get us back in playoff contention. Tyler Hansborough may be the diamond in the rough.

As for Wisconsin, the Middle East, and Tokyo... not a whole lot of ideas on that.

Yet.