Brothers of the Spear

I have an urge to read some old comics.  When I was a little kid I had a handful of randomly acquired comics.  One of them I won at a bingo game at a grade school carnival, another I got over at the flea market that was periodically held at the rec center in Mandan.  I’m not really sure where the few others came from.

One of these comics was an issue of Brothers of the Spear, a series published by Dell and then Gold Key.  It told the story of Natongo and Dan-El and their adventures in a fictional land in Africa.  Another was an issue of the Lone Ranger, a story rendered in dark and moody inks and involving a steamship.  There was  a comic about a family transported to some mythical prehistoric land in which dinosaurs and hominids coexisted.  A favorite and very mysterious one was a coverless copy of an issue from Secret Wars II.  It delved into some of Marvel’s pantheistic history in a way that created such mystery in a child who didn’t know much else about the Marvel universe.  And it asked some interesting philosophical questions.

In a way, the fact that these comics were all from different series and story-lines, and read out-of-joint, made them that much more intriguing and mysterious.  All the plots and points of departure were wide open, and my imagination could take them as a starting point from which to leap into the unknown.   The characters, situations, and motifs could populate new stories, while my imagination connected them together with elements picked up elsewhere…all of it weaving together into some sort of labyrinthine daydream.

Upon beginning this post, I was only going to mention Brothers of the Spear, because of this odd urge to read one, but now I find myself waxing poetic about the beautiful mysteries of imagination.  That's one of the coolest things about being a parent, I think...taking part in and witnessing your child's explorations of the imagination.  It is truly wonderful, and one of the beautiful joys of children.

watch out!

a few thoughts in february

The more infrequently I post something here, the easier it becomes to forget this little space exists on the internet.  It is kind of ridiculous, anyway.  What kind of a world do we live in when something like a blog constitutes communication?

I guess we all know what kind of a world we live in, don't we?  I hope so.  And I mean that both in a positive and a negative sense.

My hands and fingers are dried out from the dry, dry Colorado weather.  I had many dreams last night, and can't remember most of them.

I read a few comic books recently.  Old comic books afford me a wonderful paradise that I can slip into for a little while.  It's really like nothing else.  And I am thankful.

If you stop and slow down for a minute, lots of things come crowding in....or move away...depending, I suppose, on your experiences and frame of mind.

the only decent part of the papes

Francis is sitting on my lap. She’s warm.

Remember that comic strip Cathy? I’m pretty sure that Cathy said something about how good a warm cat sitting in your lap is.

I tried to be very thorough when reading the comics page when I was a kid. My family got the Tribune, and I’d read every strip in the funnies, even the ones I didn’t particularly like. I’d give them a chance, anyway. My favorites were probably Alley Oop (remember the time-traveling caveman?) and the Peanuts. I also liked Hagar the Horrible, The Wizard of Id, B.C., Shoe, and, when the Tribune started carrying it a bit later, Calvin and Hobbes. But I read Rex Morgan M.D., Cathy, and a couple others just out of an anti-prejudicial attitude…or more likely it was something along the lines of wanting to be complete and leaving nothing undone. You know, being a bit obsessional. Is that a word?

As I got a little bit older, I remember understanding Cathy a little bit better, and I think in retrospect I actually kinda like it.

How do we get out of here?

well

"Very well, then, let us live while we live, and enjoy to the fullest whatever of adventure or pleasure each new day brings, since any day may be our last, and we shall be dead for a considerable while."

Well, as is usual, it's been sometime. Not only that, it's been a long time for some things...the cold water of the Missouri, a snowy night in a sleeping bag with toes cold and not much sleep, my friend teaching me how to not be scared witless by a horror movie...

Anyway, here I am now--in front a screen (it seems like there's a hell of a lot of screens most everywhere) with a window just above it letting in the lowering light of evening, of a spring evening when the days lengthen as the sun warms.

I had surgery on my leg a few weeks ago. I could say that's one reason why it's been awhile here, and I suppose it's true but maybe I wouldn't have written anything anyway. The surgery went well and now I'm recovering. The first couple of weeks I was pretty much reclined in a chair with my leg elevated. After I was over being nauseated, I read books and old comics and watched a couple of terrible--terrible--movies from some 50-movie-dvd-set that some friends passed off on me.

Speaking of books, I've been on a bit of a pulp sci-fi kick recently. I read some Edgar Rice Burroughs (the first couple of books in his Martian stories--publishing beginning in 1912, and Beyond Thirty, written around 1915)--he seems like a crazy nationalist, but if I get around that (and some of the -isms that bleed from the prose) I enjoy some of his books, or at least parts of them. And I read another old science fiction book--Triplanetary--by E.E. Doc Smith, most of which was first published in 1934. So, yeah--old school science fiction, comics, and other stuff, too.

I started writing here with a bit of an idea about something; then I got a phone call, and now I don't really remember what that less than half-formed thought was.

I've been listening to music the last couple of days. That sounds less than mentionable, I am sure, but it's really kinda different for me, recently. I just haven't listened to much music for some time. But I've really been enjoying doing so lately.

So, now I am quite a bit more mobile than the last couple of weeks. I'm still using crutches, but it's getting better every day. I started going to physical therapy, to help address this nerve thing I've gotten as a reaction to the surgery and to work on basic range of motion stuff. I think it's helping and, like I said, it's getting better and better. So, I'm pretty happy about that.

It was a crazy warm day here--very, very springish, indeed. I guess it's that time and all.

kreegah!

...incredible, isn't it?

Warning!

Watch out for this character and his devious tricks! He may try to waylay you on your way to school, work, or wherever you might be headed this morning. For all you people up north--snow doesn't bother him in the least; that cape is warmer than it looks!