Addiction

I've been fortunate in my life to where I've never had to go to rehab. My late, older sister was the same way. My younger sister...well, over the last decade she's been in and out of rehab.

As a nurse. She can't stay there all the time.

First Step...and Next Steps

 "You've taken your first step into a larger world."

-Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that last year I published my first 22-page comic, Stan & Me. I've been selling copies to people in person, in stores (One store actually sold out and bought more!) and done some online sales as well.

But I also knew that eventually, I'd have an opportunity to sell copies at a show. I recently joined Panel One, which is a non-profit group here in Calgary for local comic creators. I was at home early last month informing me that as a member, I would have an opportunity to work the Panel One table at Calgary Expo.

Naturally the first thought that came to me was, "No."

The Notebooks

 This is a different sort of post from what I usually do but...it's my blog and no one's forcing you to read.

2025, Gone At Last(?)

 Another year come and gone. Lately I'm seeing a lot of people expressing quite a lot of negativity towards the last 365 years.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think it was that bad a year. Hell, if anything the last two months alone have been great for me.

Still Going...

 It's been a while since I've updated this old blog and considering I haven't written anything since New Year's Eve, I think I was past due.

The End of the Year (Didn't I Do This Last Year?)

So, here we are, end of the year once again.

This has been a very interesting year; very different but not too much.

Let's go over some highlights (and/or lowlights) of this year.

The Journey

 While the 11th of November of obviously an important day of it year, it also holds another special significance to me.

Two years ago today I woke up feeling slightly invigorated; the day before as I was heading into downtown Calgary, I got an eagerly anticipated phone call.
The job interview I went in for a week previously had been successful and I had the job.

How the Sausage is Made

 It's been almost a year since Marcelo, Carl and I released "The Partner", a fan-comic based off of Batman: The Animated Series. Marcelo and I had done one five months previous as a small tribute to the late Kevin Conroy, but this was the first time we were telling a real story.

For me, the big thrill of this cover was our names at the top

Movie Review: Star Wars

 Last month a good friend picked me up from work with the idea that we'd have a quick bite to eat at a buffet and then catch a movie.

He knew of a theatre in Canyon Meadows that had cheap ticket prices and was even showing classic movies. You can imagine the gasp I made when I saw they were going to be showing Star Wars from 1977.

"Marlon, please," I begged. "We have to see it!"

"But...haven't you seen it before?" Marlon asked me.

"Yes!" I told him. "Many times. I could probably recite the whole movie."

"So...why do you want to see-?"

"Because you haven't seen it," I explained. "And...if you're going to watch Star Wars for the first time, you have to see it on the big screen."

Of "Star Trek", Risks & Rewrites

 Star Trek.

OK, chances are you're sighing and thinking, "This topic again?"
Well, yes, but I want you to hear me out and see where I'm going.

Back in 2020 I was talking about the film franchise with my Tante Kim and explaining that the problem with the current crop of films from JJ Abrams was that unlike the first six Star Trek films, with the exception of the 2009 film, none of them really take any risks, especially Star Trek Into Darkness.

Behind the Scenes

It almost sounds a bit strange for me to actually say it out loud but for the past year, I've been making comics.
Certainly not on a professional level but at the same time, I take it seriously and get a lot of joy out of finishing a script.
Recently I've found that as I get close to the end of a story, my writing becomes a lot more intense; it's almost like the final 100 meters of a marathon.

Ch-Ch-Changes

I've been pretty quiet since I published my last webcomic (The Partner). Right now I'm in a spot where...I honestly never saw myself being.

Schweitzer-Man Meets Susan Eisenberg

Calgary Expo.

Those are two words that mean a lot to me. I buy my tickets almost six months prior to the start of the show; in fact, back in November, shortly after getting a call-back from a job interview, the first thing I did was buy my tickets for the 2023 show.

With each passing week I'd check to see if there were any changes or announcements about guest announcements, more eager about Comic Creators than anything else. 

Project Manager or Enfant Terrible?

January was a huge month for me, writing wise. 

I realized a lifelong dream and teamed up with a great to release our fan-comic/tribute to Kevin Conroy (A Big Fan). I also got to work on writing three other scripts for fan-comics that I'm hoping to get published this year. In fact, I know at least one of them will because right now, Marcelo is hard at work completing the artwork on our next story which is titled...well, I'll leave that part out for now.

A Big Fan

 

A Little Prediction

 I loved That '70s Show's early seasons but it seemed to jump the shark after Eric & Donna broke up.
This week we've got That '90s Show premiering on Netflix. I'll check it out but before I do, I'm gonna make a small prediction about it.

Glen Johnson Interview

This is an interview I did all the way back in 2014. I was writing for a boxing website and desperate to get any sort of material, I would ask any professional boxer who followed me on Twitter if they would be open to an interview.

So imagine my shock and disbelief when I got the opportunity to one day make a phone call to Florida and chat with none other than the former Light-Heavyweight Champion and Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year for 2004, Glen "The Road Warrior" Johnson. 

The "Frasier" Reboot/Relaunch/Revival/Resurgence/Regurgitation/Resurrection/Revamp/Return

I'm gonna let you in on little secret that I feel has been out there for quite a while and some of you probably had assumptions about, if you were paying attention. Now I'm sure there might be some of you who are a bit shocked by this but I'm doing this because times have changed and what might have been a bit taboo when I was a teenager, has become a lot more socially acceptable now.
If this concerns you, I just ask that you understand and try to see past the label but...here we go.

Movie Review: Batman & Bill (2017)

 

Life is unfair and a lot of times, not everyone gets the credit or recognition they deserve. Ask anyone at a comic convention the question, "Who created Spider-Man" most people are going to give the name "Stan Lee" as the only answer. If you prompted them to name anyone else, chances are they would draw a blank, unaware of this brilliant artist named Steve Ditko.

Bill Finger was in his own way very similar to Ditko; there aren't many photographs of him, few interviews and chances are most people are unaware that Bill Finger is co-creator of one of the most iconic heroes in all of fiction: Batman

Animation Observation: Batman: The Animated Series-On Leather Wings

    In September of 1992, I was preparing to enter the first grade. That June I had turned six years old and the one thing I probably asked my parents for the most was their permission to go see one of the biggest movies of the year: Batman Returns. 

    I was pretty Batman crazy as a kid. The first Halloween I can remember, I went as Batman. For my fifth birthday I got two Batman videos on tape (One being the 1989 film and the other being the 1966 movie starring Adam West and Burt Ward) and some Batman toys. However even though I had gotten colouring books, action figures and story books based on the movie I wanted to see, my parents were steadfast in their denial. What made it worse was that at the time, all over my bedroom I had newspaper clippings about the movie all over my room despite the fact I didn't know how to read them.

    But...there was hope. On the local FOX station, their weekday afternoon line-up showed commercials for a new animated series starring none other than Batman. I knew that while my parents wouldn't let me see Keaton, Pffeifer and DeVito, there was no way that they would deny me the chance to see the greatest hero of all time on TV. NO WAY!!!

    Around Labour Day we were visiting my Tante Kim in Toronto. We were watching TV in her apartment when my dad announced that it was time to go. All of a sudden, a cartoon I hadn't seen before had started it's opening theme.

I knew what I was watching and suddenly realized that I could not miss out on this opportunity.
"We have to stay!" I insisted to my folks. 

Looking at the adorable six year old in front of them, they both shrugged and relented.
"But only for a half-hour," my father told me. "Is this a half-hour?"
"Yeah, yeah!" I said, even though I had no idea how to tell time. 

The episode we watched was On Leather Wings.