My Latest Comic Book is Out and It Looks Good

THRILLING TALES #1 features art by me and Veronica with help from Greg McKenna

My latest project is out— THRILLING TALES is a throwback to those old comics that featured two characters in one book— this one features the lead DOC SINISTER and the backup feature PERSPEPHONE JONES MYSTIC DETECTIVE — it looks great and you can get your copy through our retailer partners or by emailing me.

CAF PICKS - Original Art

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - delicate piece depicting a classic piece of literature by Jules Verne. It evokes a period style in its rendering that fits the subject perfectly.

BONNIE

These vintage comic strips were often cut up and sent to readers who would write in. Sounds horrible right? Destroying an original? Well its better than throwing the artwork into the trash which was the norm at most publishers. This one is by Camillo Zuffi. For the rest of the art, I’ll let it speak for itself— go over to Comicartfans.com to see more deets.

POWERBOMB by Daniel Warren Johnson

I don’t like wrestling at all— in fact I kind of despise it— but I like Daniel Warren Johnson’s work a whole lot and this page has so much energy it’s great.

Want me to like a piece— it’s pretty simple actually; use a lot of black— I like the weight it creates.

Those are my picks for this week.

The Other World

Yesterday’s post featured an exhibit from THE OTHER WORLD in Ohio— I think its in Columbus but I’m not sure. I’ll wrap up the rest of this week with more from it— it was quite a visit!

TEACHING

An elderly man knows a young man who asks him:

- Remember me?

And the old man tells him that NO.

Then the young man tells him that he was his student.

And the teacher asks him, What are you doing, what are you doing, what are you doing?

The young man replied, "Well, I became a Professor."

- Oh, how good I? (the old man told him)

- Well, yes. In fact,

I became a Teacher because you inspired me to be like you.

The old man, curious, asks the young man what point inspired him to be a professor.

And the young man tells him the following story:

- "One day, a friend of mine, also a student, arrived with a beautiful, new clock, and I decided I wanted it for me and stole it, I pulled it out of pocket. Shortly thereafter, my friend noticed the theft and immediately complained to our Professor, who were you. Then you went to the class:

- Your company's clock has been stolen during today's class.

The one who stole it, please return it...

I did not return it because I did not want to do it.

Then you closed the door and told us all to stand up and that you would go one by one to search our pockets to find the clock.

But he told us to close our eyes, because he would look for it only if we all had our eyes closed.

We did so, and you went pocket in pocket, and when you arrived at mine you found the clock and took it.

You continued to look for everyone's pockets, and when you finished, you said, 'Open your eyes. We already have the clock.'

You didn't tell me anything, and you never mentioned the episode.

Nor did he ever say who was the one who had stolen."

That day, you saved my dignity forever. It was the most shameful day of my life. But it was also the day that my dignity was saved from not becoming a thief, bad person, etc. You never told me anything, and although you did not give me a letter.

And thanks to you I understood that this is what a real educator should do.

Remember that episode, Professor?

And the Professor replies: "I remember the situation, the stolen clock, which I sought in all, but I did not remind you, because I also closed my eyes while looking..."

This is the essence of teaching. If you need to humiliate; you do not know how to teach.

TEABIES

MY REFRIGERATOR 2024 Collage Andy Fish

When I shut down the blog a month or two ago I heard from a lot of regular readers— one said that his daily habit of 14 years was now gone. Another asked if I’d just run out of ideas. But among my favorites was my dear friend CJ Kennedy who she herself runs what I would consider the best blog in the biz— and she expressed her own disappointment. So it was that when I re-launched the blog the first comment came in was hers;

Thanks, Andy, you’re the host with the most. I am surprised that you have hot water for us teabies (I like that expression). You once made a statement that drinking tea was un-American. You said you would write a diatribe, er, blog post, about it. I’m still waiting.

Here it is CJ, I’m afraid it’ll be tamer than it may have been a few years ago.

TEA IS UN-AMERICAN. We didn’t invent coffee the way we (I refer to the royal we of us United Stateseans) invented Jazz and Rock and Roll. We didn’t invent the hamburger either, but I’d argue that’s equally American. Buffalo Wings— well is Buffalo part of the United States? I’ve been there— I’m willing to chip in a few bucks if they plan on seceding. But you can’t argue they didn’t come up with a great wing— although to be fair the wings I had IN Buffalo were nowhere near as good as the wings I had in South Carolina but that’s not the point of this latest digression of nonsense we all know as my blog.

Tea is un-American because a group of patriots on a cold December night in 1773 decided it was and threw it into the Boston Harbor. That’s good enough for me. And note it’s not like the idiots who dumped their own bottles of French Wine down the sewers to protest the French 20 years ago either— this tea didn’t belong to them. It also helped that I didn’t like Tea. Tea was something I drank at Chinese Restaurants (I do like Oolong Tea), when I was sick or when I’m in Japan because they have a really hard time making a decent cup of coffee— but recently I took the same advice I gave someone who came to me and sincerely asked why I felt it’s a silly comment to say “you don’t like coffee or you don’t like wine”— to me either statement displays an ignorance of variety— it shows you have taken one sip and then spat something out and never tried further.

There are certainly wines I don’t like and coffee I find undrinkable, but experience trying new varieties as well as things to accompany it make it far more palatable. A good cheese with a wine changes the bitter taste, cream and sugar can fix almost any cup of coffee (almost).

Well then, I thought quietly to myself, isn’t the same thing true of tea?

My history with tea goes back a long way— cue the Gilligan’s Island wavy flashback screen;

When I worked at the Telegram and Gazette in a 5pm to 2am shift I brought a thermos with me filled with Tea. I found out about a year into my work there that I had gained a reputation as a tea guy— which made me laugh because I hate the stuff— what I was looking for was a hot drink that wasn’t loaded with caffeine or sugar the way regular coffee or cocoa would be and I’ve always hated Decaf Coffee so that was out so Tea fit the bill.

Flash forward to today— I can no longer tell a lie— I often drink tea. I usually have it at night and almost always with either milk and honey or milk and sugar.

I still think its Un-American, but then again so is Sushi, Croissants, School Buns and a whole host of other things I enjoy— and I’m a big enough man to admit when I was wrong.

So welcome tea drinkers— you have a place here with us.

Supermarket Confidential

I’ve got a number of books I’m going to write, and I’m not making that up.

• NEVER BUY BIGGER PANTS - A Self Help Book

• SURVIVING THE SELF EMPLOYED WORLD - Ditto

• SUPERMARKET CONFIDENTIAL - Going to blow the lid off the supermarket business, because I’m surprised at how little people know what actually goes on behind the scenes where they buy groceries. Stuff like…

1- Digging to the back of the canned food section to get a “fresher” date— this one made me laugh out loud— canned foods are coded- do you really think the high school kid that stocks the aisle knows or has time to read the codes and rotate the cans? You are probably getting a ten year old can by digging.

2- Buying seafood from a store that is many miles from an ocean. Especially large chains. They buy in bulk, they then ship back to a sorting warehouse which THEN ships the items out to the stores. Smaller stores or non-chains get direct deliveries from Seafood Trucks. The big stores don’t. How can you ensure you’re getting fresh? Drive around the back every single time you go to the market and look at the trucks backed up to the loading area. Is it ONLY giant trucks with the name of the company on them? If the answer is yes do not buy perishables. Seafood, Fruits and Vegetables and sometimes even MEATS are going to be days old by the time they hit the shelves. You want to see trucks with company names on them back there- smallish trucks— you want to see Gregg’s Fruit Supply and Wally’s Seafood trucks back there. That means it’s coming in fresh.

3- Get to know your butcher— how many people do this? I’ll tell you why— sides of beef often come in with Cancerous Tumors on them— I wish I was making that up. The butcher knows which meats sitting in the case were born of that toxic cow. Get to know him and he’ll steer you towards the cuts he would buy for his family. But you need to put the time in. Bring him a coffee, ask how his day is— put the work in and it’ll pay off in spades.

4- Get to know your store manager— it’s very likely the person you see in charge on the floor all the time is the Operations or Assistant Manager— most store managers are so busy with paperwork they spend only about 1/5 of their time on the floor. This is a valuable person to know. If you like their attitude, I gravitate towards one that consider the store their own, then get their input too. They’ll point you to the best deals and best quality on the floor. If this store manager dismisses your questions find a different place to shop.

There is so much more, but that’s the start.

Bond...JAMES BOND.