Sunday, September 25, 2011

Another Bank to Fail


I honestly would not trust any of the Thornapples to open a can of beans let alone have another bank account.

Hope she's not opening a college savings account for Wilberforce because we all know that kid is not going to college. At least, not a state-accredited one.

Friday, September 23, 2011

It's a Clown Car


I've seen some pretty bad drivers. People who drive between the lanes, people who drive straight when it is a left-turn only, everyone in Chicago but Gladys deliberately risked hers and other people's lives just so she wouldn't be inconvenienced. If any of you out there do this, risk lives just so your life can be easier, then you can go to Hell!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

I Love Getting Mail, Hate Getting Crap

So I went to check out a library book today and I didn't have my library card so the librarian proceeded to look up my information and found my library account from ten years ago. I have gotten a new account since which makes this even stranger. There are three books on my old account that are lost. I know they are lost because they were in the backseat of a minivan that got repossessed and the dealer refused to let the owners get their stuff out without paying what they owe.

Anyway, so now I owe money on these three books (two of which are out of print) and I can't check any new books until I pay off what I owe. But for the last five, six years I've had another library account I've been using and no one has bothered me at all about those three books. Same name, name social security so I don't know why this hasn't came up until now. I also wonder did my current account even come up with she looked me up?

I hate receiving junk mail and hate getting junk emails. I'd rather get nothing than filled my mailbox and my inbox with useless crap I am going to immediately throw away/delete. I think if the post office quit giving bulk senders discounts, they wouldn't be hurting for money.

Stull #20

Frank York, Detective Edmund Bilko, Katie Anderson, John Garner and Matthew Stull gathered in the field around the old town well with about a dozen and a half other people. They had been out searching for Jen Cramer since her disappearance earlier this afternoon.

“We need to look in the well,” Frank continued to say to Katie, Matt and Detective Bilko whenever he could. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have sent her to do this.”

“Why are blaming yourself? John and I were supposed to look after her,” Matt said.

“That’s true…”Frank sighed. “When is someone going down into the well?”

“No one is going down into the well, Frank,” Detective Bilko said. “It’s too costly and if Jen did fall down the well, there is no way she could’ve survived.”

“That…is the opposite of what I wanted to hear. Thanks, Ed,” Frank said. “I’ll do it. I’ll pay the county back. Just get me a harness.”

“No, Frank. No one is going down the well until authorized by the county,” Detective Bilko said.

“What have you done?” someone shouted. “What happened to Jen?”

Frank turned to see who was shouting then turned back to Detective Bilko. “Oh, God, it’s Jen’s boyfriend, Chris.”

“York! What have you and your gang of Scooby-Doo wannabes done with Jen?” Chris shouted.

Frank turned around to speak to Chris. “We haven’t done anything. She’s disappeared. We think she fell down the well,” Frank said. “Or was dragged down into it by the corpse of Hiram Volland.”

“You better find her or I will kill you,” Chris said.

“I plan to. You have my word that I will find her. No matter what it takes.”




“Secrets”

Frank was sitting at his desk at the Society when Katie came in. “Why are you sending Matt away?” she asked.

“What?” Frank looked up from what he was working on. “He chose to leave. He wanted to get out of Stull for awhile. He’ll be back. He loves you too much.”

“Has the county authorized anyone to go down the well?” she asked.

“Of course not. It’s been two days. I’ve told them that I willing but accept all responsibility by going down myself but they still won’t allow it,” Frank explained. “If she wasn’t dead before it’s possible she is now.”

“Don’t think like that,” Katie sat down. “We’ll find her. Why are you so concerned?”

“Besides it happening to one of my employees that I am responsible for? I like her. I haven’t felt about anyone like this since Lana.”

“What about Chris? He clearly cares for her.”

“But I don’t think he does. Jen’s talked to me about him. She wants to break up with him but she’s living with him and has nowhere else to go,” Frank revealed. “I said she could move in with me but she said Chris has a temper and didn’t want him to do anything rash.”

“A temper? Gee, he didn’t seem like he had a temper the other day at the well,” Katie said sarcastically. “When did you realize that you liked her?”

"A couple weeks ago, when you, Matt and John were speaking at the middle school. We spent all day talking and we just clicked. It was nice.”

“Aww. So when are you just going to climb down the well yourself?” Katie asked with a smile.

“Maybe tomorrow. I’d have to do it at night but you and the others would have to come with me. I’m not going alone.”

“If you actually do plan on going down the well, let me know,” Katie said and stood up. “I’ll help out any way I can.”




The next day, Frank knocked on the front door of where Chris and Jen lived. Chris answered the door. “What are you doing here? Did you find Jen?”

“Does it look like I found Jen? Don’t you think if I found her, I’d bring her here?” Frank questioned. “I want to apologize for not taking care of her. She’s my…employee and I shouldn’t have placed her life in danger like that. I didn’t think anything would happen but something did and I take full responsibility for this,” Frank said.

“Instead of wasting time talking to me, you should be out trying to find her!”

“Do you want to help? You didn’t come to the search party the other day and we could certainly use an extra set of eyes to help look in the wood surrounding the creek.”

“I’m not going to traipse around the woods like an idiot. Besides, if you take full responsibility then you should be walking around looking for her.”

“I am. And I think Jen would want you to help find her,” Frank angrily said.

“And I think Jen would’ve not wanted to fall into a well,” Chris said and slammed the door.

Frank left the porch and walked down to his car. He got in and drove away.




Frank got up at 5 A.M. the next day and spent the next fourteen hours walking the banks of Captain’s Creek between Ohio and 5th Streets. He arrived at the Society, drenched in sweat, mud up to his waist and covered in dirt at around seven in the evening.

“What happened to you?” Matt asked. “We tried calling but your…”

“Phone was off,” Frank finished Matt’s sentence. “I was looking for Jen. I need to find her. I need to get her away from Chris. I need to be with her.”

Monday, September 19, 2011

Worthless TV


Oh, yes that 3-D television is amazing. Especially when you watch.... But you can purchase 3-D movies and..... I hear ESPN has a 3-D channel so...there's that.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

And for S'Mores You Need a Chef's Hat?

SO THERE'S THIS GIRL ON MY FACEBOOK THAT NEARLY ALWAYS TYPES IN CAPITAL LETTERS. I see this a lot and sometimes I do think it is out of anger, especially on sites where politics are involved because american_joe1776 is pretty sure Obama is to blame for the erosion problem happening in Montana.* I just wonder how people type like that. I wrote that first sentence up there holding down the space bar with my pinky finger except for the apostrophe because I just can't force myself to type " when I mean '. Do they just hold down the shift key the whole time (which would explain "!!!1!!" on some posts) or do they use the Caps Lock key? Is the Caps Lock key accidentally on and they don't know it (and upon seeing it, don't care)? Lately, she hasn't been capitalizing which makes me think she's not feeling good.

There's also a part of me that thinks she thinks typing in ALL CAPS means you're happy instead of the true meaning which is you are angry and yelling at someone.

I've been reading <i>The Born Loser</i> all summer and I don't recall Wilberforce going to camp. Hell, the Thornapples couldn't even afford their annual summer vacation. And Brutus, it isn't hard to make S'mores. Cook a marshmallow and crush it between two graham crackers and a chocolate bar. It's not rocket science.





*This is made up but I remember reading an article about anti-American militants in Montana and someone commented about how their distrust in Obama led them to be anti-American and not the fact that all government is pretty messed up and those people probably didn't have all the corn on their cob in the first place. I just changed the word "militant" to "erosion."

Saturday, September 17, 2011

He Also Looks Like Drew Carey

Finally remembered to post at the DCR today. You should go check it out.

 I don't know who this kid in red is (looks like a young Allan Sherman) but I hope we never see him again. Only Hurricane Hattie should be bickering over childish stuff with Wilberforce.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Don't Blame Your Age, Blame Chip for Drawing You Old

Damn it. I forgot to do a DCR post for the third Friday in a row. Tomorrow, I'll do a double post to make up for my forgetfulness. Meanwhile, here's today's comic.

Brutus, you look fine. And I'm not being sarcastic. I mean, technically Brutus is over 80 years old considering he was between 35 and 40 when the strip began in 1965.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Action In a Nutshell

My Action Comics Month sort of went down the crapper. I realized that I don't really have time to scan 24 pages from five comic books. I am glad I got Action Comics #701 posted because it's a really good battle between Superman and Lex Luthor, done in all splash pages. But I am going to post the covers of the next four issues I chose. So...enjoy.

Action Comics #719
Lois has been poisoned by a doll given to her by the Joker. Superman then rushes to Batman to find the Joker, who is locked up in Arkham Asylum. Joker has the antedote for Lois but if Superman uses it, the Joker will die. Superman is willing to let that happen and it's up to Batman to pull Superman back from the brink.

This story is really well executed and really makes sense. Superman sees it as two problems solved: Lois lives and the Joker, a psychotic murderer, dies. Batman says that it is not an equal trade and in the end, Batman is right. Lois is not given the antidote and lives. The story is a pseudo-continuation of Action #714 and a good prelude to Action #720 where Lois and Clark break off their engagement. Between #713 and #721, Kieron Dwyer was the artist and his art is decent, not great and whether his unique Superman-style is the reason for his short run or he just wanted to leave, I don't know.

Action Comics #756
This issue had the potential to be of the same caliber as Action #775 ("What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way") had it been written by a regular writer (for some reason all the Superbooks during the last half of 1999 were awful which is the main reason all new writers and artists were introduced in late 1999). The Doomslayers are making their way across the country killing superheroes such as Emerald Don and Superman is on their trail. Meanwhile, an old supervillain named Diode the Invincible decides to make a comeback and goes after Superman and inadvertantly winds up helping Superman defeat the Doomslayers.

The reason I say this issue could've been better is that the Doomslayers are just randomly killing people and killing heroes for the fun of it. Instead of Emerald Don, if the Doomslayers went around severely injuring or even killing known DC characters, there would've been more at stake for Superman. The villains are tough but badly named and not notable, the hero they kill is clearly just made for this issue to be killed off and you don't really worry about Superman because you know this is just one issue, written and drawn by guests. So why is this issue on this list? Because, despite all of its faults, it is still a good story.

Action Comics #766
Superman is dying of Kryptonite poisoning. Lois is missing. Unable to find her on his own, Superman enlists the help of Batman who just wants Superman to sit back and let him handle this.

Supes and Batman find Lois just in time and then Superman collapses in her arms. What really makes the issue stand out--besides the dynamic of Superman and Batman and Superman's love for Lois, is a scene in a biker bar. Batman tells Superman to wait in the Batmobile while he questions the bikers. The bikers don't want anything to do with Batman but Superman staggers in, glowing green, weaker than a baby and the bikers stumble over themselves to help him. Whether it's because of respect or because he's <i>Super</i>man and not a regular man like Batman, it's never said but this issue shows just how perfect the Superman/Batman team is.

Action Comics #792
Clark Kent befriends a man on a street corner who sells him his daily paper. Valentin is there every day, no matter what, and Clark considers him a friend. One morning, Valentin is not there. And he never comes back. Concerned, Clark decides to find him. Lois and Clark talk with Valentin's daughter, who is expecting her first child. She knew something was wrong when he missed her birthday...and she just wants to bury her father.

They learn that Valentin was gambling in order to make money. Lois and Clark go to his bookie who says that Valentin went back to his country. Clark, using his powers, knows the bookie is lying but can't do anything about it because he has no proof. So using Superman, Clark follows the bookie everywhere he goes. He's a Superman magnet. No one will speak to him, no one will look at him. Valentin won. And the bookie couldn't cover the bet. "He was justa guy working a newspaper shack. Who would miss him? Who would care?"

It's these "human touch" stories in Superman comics that makes those comics stand out. Clark couldn't use his powers to punch or heat vision the truth out of the guy but he was still able to intimidate and ultimately avenge Valentin's death. "Because not a single one of us is background noise. Because when one of us disappears...Someone should notice. Every person is a star. A Life. A Heart. A Voice. And when a voice is silenced by darkness...Another must rise to see that justice is done."

At Least She Is Losing

My son reminded my how my music career came to a screeching halt before I was even in middle school. Back in elementary school, my class was practicing on recorders. I liked the recorder. I tried hard to learn to play and I could...a bit. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get it. I also realized that I can't read music and have no ear even attempting to play free form. And so, at roughly the age of 6 or 7, my music career came to an end.

I do think I can sing but I'm not that desperate for attention.

I'm glad to see Gladys still attempting to stick to her diet. This kind of diet would not please me as I hate cottage cheese. And I'm not a big fan of water either.

Monday, September 12, 2011

A Very Gloomy Born Loser


"Hey, quit copying me."

"Hey, quit copying me."

"I mean it, Wilberforce. I'm not in the mood today."

"I mean it, Wilberforce. I'm not in the mood today."

"Stop it!"

"Stop it!"

"I will murder you."

"I will murder you."

*Brutus begins choking Wilberforce.*

"Try copying me now!"

"Try...>gack<...copying...>ack<...me...."

*Wilberforce's body goes limp. Brutus runs inside.*

"Gladys, we have a problem."

"Gladys, we have a problem."

"Quit it. I'm being serious!"

"Quit it. I'm being seri...."

*Brutus smashes Gladys' skull with a skillet. Brutus picks up the phone and starts dialing.*

"Hello, Chief? I need your help with something...."

No. 27: Hickory Point

Caleb Sullivan, 1994-2011

Had Caleb known his younger sister would come home early from school, he wouldn’t have tried to kill himself. Sarah had come home to a quiet house but heard music coming from her brother’s bedroom. She knocked on the door and got no reply. She slowly opened the door and saw Caleb, laying on his bed, his right wrist gashed open, trickling blood into a large pool of it already on the floor.

When their parents arrived home, a police officer had called them because Sarah was in too much of a shock, Sarah was wrapped in a blanket and shivering despite the nearly ninety degree weather. Ellen, their mom, ran over and hugged her child.

“Oh, Sarah! Are you all right?”

“C…Caleb’s dead,” Sarah said, like a whisper.

“Officer? Is that true? Is my son…dead?” Henry, their father, asked.

The officer lowered his head and brought Henry inside the house. “He is, Mr. Sullivan. Suicide. He slit his wrists. The paramedics attempted to revive him but it was already too late. He’s still in his room if you want to see him.”

Henry nodded. The officer took him back and opened the door. Caleb was still laying in bed but was covered up. The blood that was on the floor was cleaned up. The officer left Henry alone.

“Damn it, Caleb,” Henry sighed.

Ellen came into the room. She started bawling as soon as she saw Caleb’s lifeless body. Henry took her in his arms and held her tightly as she cried into his shoulder.


Sunday, September 11, 2011

This Comic Is Like Girls and Sports Only Without the Girls


Does Veeblefester not have any other friends besides Brutus? Why is Veeblefester even carousing around with the rabble? Shouldn't Veeblefester be watching the big opening game from his luxury box with other powerful tea cozy magnates?

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Was It a Mash-Up?


Years ago, when I worked night shift, there was this woman on my team who stopped showing up for work. Turns out, one night she was heading to work but forgot her door badge and went back to her house to get it. She walked in and discovered her husband, who was getting ready for bed when she left, putting on a suit and tie. Seems that he had a date and didn't expect his wife to come back so early.

I don't know what that story has to do with today's strip but there you go. And now, ladies and gentlemen, Conway Twitty.

Friday, September 09, 2011

A Sundae on Friday? Blasphemy!

Hey, people who read my blog. Between work and family I have absolutely no time to be on the Internet. For those who don't know, you can follow me on Twitter and there is a little known Facebook page that currently has one person on it. And that one person is me. So feel free to follow me or like WTS on Facebook. I have nothing attached to MySpace and neither should you.

I'm glad to see Gladys sticking to her diet. I am more chagrined that she continues to wear berets despite my asking politely for her to stop.

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Thursday Comics will not post today. I've had no time to do any scanning but I will get it done this weekend but the post day will be on Thursday. I will post a link when it is up.

Yay sports! There's nothing I like more than talking about sports. I wonder what team Gladys is rooting for. The Memphis Flowers? Does Memphis have a football team? And if not, can they get one and call themselves the Flowers?

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Know the Problem With Eatin' With Kids?

Holy Hell, I just realized I have to post my second Superman-themed Thursday Comics tomorrow and I don't have anything scanned. My printer/scanner stopped working over the weekend and after I got it fixed, I never went back to scanning. Looks like that's what I will do tomorrow evening and hopefully get that posted before midnight. I probably would've gotten the comic scanned this evening but suddenly I was working 12 hours today and that took up all my time. If you would like to contribute to this blog to help keep me from working, feel free to click the "Donate" button on the side or buy some advertising.

Kids hate vegetables. Rabble, rabble, rabble!! Some kids like vegetables. I was one of them. Although I will admit there are some I didn't--and still don't--like. Cauliflower, to name just one.

Monday, September 05, 2011

Labor Day Game

Are there any sports stadiums out there (especially in the Cleveland area) that do not have the ticket salespeople behind a bulletproof window? Without that window, Brutus could, when he realizes the ticket man and his son are laughing at him, could beat the ticket man to death with, oh, let's say, the velvet rope post.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Justice League

I'm still skeptical. Only one title from DC Comics' New 52 is out and I only plan on reading four titles (<i>Justice League</i>, <i>Action Comics</i>, <i>Superman</i> and <i>Mister Terrific</i>) but the first issue of <i>Justice League</i> really impressed me. Despite the cover featuring seven heroes, only four make an appearance in the book and only two are actually focused on.

The story takes place "Five Years Ago" where superheroes are apparently hated and feared. Batman is being hunted by the Gotham City Police Department when Green Lantern shows up. Batman and GL escape the GCPD and find a creature apparently in cahoots with Darkseid who attempts to blow them up. Feeling this is all alien-related, Batman and GL decide to approach an alien in Metropolis, Superman.  When they arrive, Superman is not at all a welcoming host, knocking out Green Lantern and threatening Batman. Then the book is "To be continued..."

I really liked the first issue and it left me really wishing <i>JL</i> was a weekly series because I want to read #2. While I am still not sure if DC relaunching everything is a good idea, it seems to be off to a good start. I am eagerly waiting for <i>Action Comics</i> and <i>Superman</i> to be released because I've heard good things about <i>Action</i>. Time will tell if this relaunch was a good idea. People will jump on board with the first issues but how many will still be around for the tenth issue, the twenty-fifth, the eighty-fourth? How many of these 52 titles will reach their tenth, twenty-fifth or eighty-fourth issues?

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Some Changes

There will be some changes to WTS over the remaining year. Although nothing as big as the huge look update a while back. LAMNB will return on Labor Day (September 5th). I will also update the links box (with graphics) and probably the "About" pages.

"Stull" will come to an unceremonious end with #21 and come to a full conclusion in Liberty #29. Matt's two part excursion into haunted Wisconsin will still be featured in Liberty #31 and #32 and "Stull" will then become a staple in a new feature "Incredible Comics and Stories" to debut in (hopefully) March. I also hope to start a webcomic next year but I don't want to start posting until I have at a six month backlog.

As you've read, "The Point of Beginning" has ended, with my rants and ramblings now being featured with LAMNB. And that's about it. Hope you are enjoying the site and please tell your friends about this blog.

Superman Vs. Lex Luthor

Well, it's September which means school has started, farmers are concluding all their harvesting and DC Comics is relaunching Action Comics. Seriously, messing up a long, established history with over 900 issues all for publicity is just an ignorant thing to do. I keep hoping that when all of this fails, DC will resume the original numbering (i.e., if relaunch lasts 23 issues, then original numbering will continue with #927) but I would then feel getting to #1,000 would be kind of a bastardization of honor.

I found in an issue shortly after the series reached #700 in the letter column someone saying that they will be here for #1,000 in 2019 and the then-editor was also excited stating that there is no way "we here at DC could even think of restarting Action from scratch". But that's the thing, I don't think DC values its history anymore. Partly because it's too long and convoluted. Over the years they've tried to keep the Justice Society around along with some of the Silver Age characters, all while trying to maintain that the modern-day heroes showed up "about 10 years ago."

The last few years have been crossover after crossover, retcon after retcon to the point I think they lost a lot of their readership. They certainly lost me. So instead of just trying to fix the mess Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns wrote all their characters into, they decided to get rid of what didn't work, stopped working or just didn't want. Next week, I will reveal how I would've handled all the convoluted history DC has and keep Action, along with Detective, Superman and Batman, going.

The first issue in our Action Comics Month is Action Comics #701, part 5 of "The Fall of Metropolis" where Lex Luthor, near death, launches bombs and missiles on Metropolis ultimately destroying about 80% of the city. Metropolis would be restored after DC's Zero Hour event but not because of Zero Hour but because of Superman, Zatanna and Perry White. Action #701 features the last appearance of Lex Luthor until Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #1 in the summer of 1995.

"Final Conflict"
Originally published in Action Comics #701 (July 1994)
Written by Karl Kesel with Louise Simonson
Penciled by Jackson Guice
Inked by Denis Rodier
Lettered by Bill Oakley
Colored by Glenn Whitmore
Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
All stories and characters are (C)1994 DC Comics. All rights reserved.