Friday Fish Fry

November 3rd, 2023 by

It’s the simple things that can make your day. I tend to stay away from fast food. It used to be a quick way to have a meal, even inexpensive. Yet, due to inflation and supply chain issues, staffing issues, etc. It has become expensive. So I will make going to a fast food place, a treat or an emergency.

I decided the past Saturday to go to a new Wendy’s that opened near me. I prefer Wendy’s to McDonald’s, and Wendy’s is slightly more expensive. I ordered the Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit combo, with Medium Coffee. This was over $7, where McDonald’s is usually a dollar less. I came home, ate the buiscuit sandwich, and the breakfast potatoes that accompanied. It was all very good, and fitting for me. I felt a happiness in doing this.

Again, sometimes it is just a simple thing that makes the day.

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Friday Fish Fry

October 13th, 2023 by

Going through old files on my backup harddrive, I found a ton of work I previously have done. Some of it good, some of it not so good. I also began piecing together my history with webcomics. Information I had forgotten, thoughts written by me while working on other ideas. Memories are very fungible, so this breadcrumb trail through my own past is interesting.

When I started my website in 2006, it was to promote my artwork, and story ideas. I tried various formats, and concepts, but nothing worked well. I finally produced a webcomic, Bagboy, in 2008. The standard newspaper comic format lended itself to above the fold, quick readablity to potential readers. The comic lasted until 2010. I actually typed into a text file that I was going to post in my blog part about why I was taking down the webcomic. Buy then I was posting four comics a week, and burning out. I was also running out of ideas and becoming stressed out trying to draw comics for four times a week. Then scanning, coloring, lettering, everything involved was being done in a weekend. It was more like work, and less like fun.

Interestingly enough, it is much easier to produce a video than produce a comic. For all the steps outlined in the previous paragraph, producing a comic takes three to four times more time than a video. For that very reason I stopped producing my Kid Spider/Teen Spider comic. Even at the leisurely pace of once a week, it became tedious to produce a comic.

After Bagboy was down, I launched a comic called Shots. It was a once a week production, and to be honest the artwork was much more beautiful and concise than Bagboy. After Shots was stopped. I posted a webcomic called “Real Fans”. The idea was everyone in the future were cosplayers and went to conventions most of the time. They were lucky they worked a few hours a day at a job, and lived a Jetsons type life.

Then there is some of my original comic work. It is fun to find all the old files. I am debating about posting more files and comics on my website. I will sort it out, and maybe work out a schedule like I have for my videos.

Thanks for stopping by.

Special New Year Video on YouTube

January 1st, 2021 by

Happy New Year! Wish all of you a safer, saner, happier New Year.



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Popularity Destroys All Good Things

August 16th, 2020 by

A teacher once said to me “just because something is popular, does not make it right.” This teacher was referring to opinions and ideas.

It is a trope in the 1980s angsty teenage movies that the outcast kid wants to be popular. It was good to be the geek, good to be the freak. Yeah, pretty girls would shun you, jocks and face men maybe put you down, but you did not have to conform. Popular people had to conform to certain ways of doing things, and had to hang out with only popular people. Geeks hung out with other geeks, but did not have to stick with the narrow group. In the old 1980s movie once the outcast became popular, their life actually becomes miserable. The outcast never knew how good they had it until the outcast became popular.

Popularity has with it certain requirements. When it comes to being a teenager, if you are popular, you are expected to associate with only certain people. If you stray from the popular crowd, you are ostracized and shamed publicly. Falling from popular to nothing. The people you shunned, the nerds, geeks and outcasts, come back and pick you back up.

Unfortunately, popularity not only destroys people, it destroys culture. When I was a young geek, there were things to escape the world and enjoy the company of other geeks. Comic books, science fiction, fantasy, roleplaying games, it was all part of geek culture. Then it all became popular.

Then Iron Man came out, introducing a bunch of people to what was really cool to the Geek Set. CGI, and special effects caught up to the needs a superhero movie required. Hollywood realized it could stick true to the character origin, and actual costume, with only a few modifications, and have an awesome action movie. This launched the whole Avengers series. Avengers was the most awesome movie. Everyone whom would have shunned geeks were pumping geeks for information. Attractive women were sitting and talking about how awesome the movies were, and watching superhero movies. People became more interested in what was geeky. Science fiction, fantasy and other things became very much en vogue. Suddenly those cute cube dwelling women whom would slap a sexual harassment claim on the geek for looking at her tits by accident, was now dressing up at comic cons in skimpy superhero costumes and giving Joe Geek a photo op.

But, popularity destroys. Suddenly movies had to follow certain guidelines and adhere to the cool kids popular dogma. The fun was sucked out of all the movies. Statements had to be made, virtue had to be signaled. Comics, the origin of all things superheroes became the throw stuff at the wall, see what sticks, then make a movie. Things fell apart.

Stranger Things brought Dungeons and Dragons to the popular forefront. Suddenly all the people whom would have not sniffed at the players of the game, were interested. Tabletop gaming, roleplaying games were taken over by popular kids. Suddenly the games had to conform to the popular concepts.

Video games grew to become major money makers, and popular. There were great games developed. Interesting stories and themes. Then the games soon had to cater to what is the popular mantra. Now video games are starting to become boring saturated concepts.

Yeah, it sucked not being popular, but when one realizes one has to sell their soul, and destroy their individuality to be popular, it ain’t worth it. The same goes for culture. Geeks loved comic books, roleplaying games, and video games, once the stuff was viewed as unclean, became cool, it lost its soul.

Popularity destroys. It was a lesson that was being taught in the angsty teen movies of the 1980s, and it is a lesson people should have learned. Now all the fun that was part of being a geek, is gone. One needs to worry about what is next. What will the popular kids want to make popular?

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Done With Star Wars

November 3rd, 2019 by


In a previous post, I explained I was done with comics. After forty years enjoying comic books, my heart was no longer into the whole hobby. Sadly the same goes for a hobby I had invested more time and effort. Star Wars is over for me. After nearly fifty years of being a fan, I cannot go to the movie theater and see a Star Wars movie. The new “Star Wars Holiday Special”, i.e. “The Last Jedi” almost killed the love for the brand. It would not have been as hard or bad, I could forgive Disney for making a bad Star Wars movie, except, reaction to the angst by fans really killed things for me.

Calling Star Wars fans racist, misogynistic, and all sorts of nasty things for not appreciating what had been done to the beloved franchise was bad karma. Lando Calrissian was black. Star Wars fans loved him. Princess Leia was a strong woman, fans adored her. Throughout the entire four decades of Star Wars lore, there was plenty of none white, human characters fans loved. Now suddenly, the new Star Wars movies were introducing black and female characters, people not liking the story were doing so because of race or sex? Did a “Back To The Future” time travel happen, and all the past movies were not valid. Actually, that is how Disney does view the past movies. When a company spends 4.2 Billion to acquire a built in fan base, and franchise, that company will want to take control and start making the money back. Look at the ambitious plans to have two Star Wars movies a year? At least one a year.

When I saw “Force Awakens”, I was excited and happy. Star Wars has returned! Yes, the movie was a deviation, some say rip off, of “A New Hope”. New Empire, the First Order. New Rebels, The Resistance. New Death Star, Star Killer Base. Essentially the “Force Awakens” was sort of like the New Coke of Star Wars. I did not care. The original cast was coming back, how would the original cast fit into the movie?

I had a new hope, Star Wars was going to be revised a bit, new characters added, and the old characters would pass the torch. Luke would train Rey, then become a force ghost. The new villain, Kylo Ren or Ben Solo, would die being redeemed. The New Emperor, Snoke, would die. The First Order would fail, and then a New Star Wars setting would be established. One problem. Star Wars needs bad guys to exist. Rehashing the old tropes would not do after the current rehashing. What new dangers were going to be brought forward from the furthest reaches of the Star Wars galaxy?


In “Force Awakens”, my heart stopped and I wanted to cry, but cheered, when Han Solo entered the Millennium Falcon, and stated “Chewie, We’re Home.” OK. My first thoughts were Han would bring Rey to Luke for training. When the First Order tries to kill or arrest Han, Chewie, Finn and Rey, then the Resistance saves the day. It was great. Everyone knew Leia would be arriving. Leia shows up and hugs Han, and seems to have some affection for Rey. That implied that there might have been familiarity. Rey was rumored to be of possible Skywalker lineage. Maybe Luke’s unknown child. Maybe Leia had met Rey when she was a young child. Leia realized Rey had the same force potential as her son, even more so, understood somehow Ben was being corrupted by Snoke. Leia informs Rey’s mother about her daughter’s potential, and tried to get Rey to be sent to Luke’s Jedi training school. “She needs to be with her father.” Rey’s mother knew what could happen, and did not want her daughter being a Jedi or potential Sith. Rather than take Rey to be trained, Rey is abandoned on Jakuu.

When Han was killed, I was fine with the situation. Harrison Ford made it one hundred percent clear, he was not going to do another Star Wars movie after “Force Awakens”. Killing Han set up several potential plot points. Ben Solo killed his father, and thus became Kylo Ren. Anakin die to save his son. Han died hoping to save his son. Which made the movie somewhat antithesis to the other Star Wars movies.

There were several valid points made by YouTube channels revolving around Star Wars. With Han dead, why did Rey get the Falcon, and not Chewie? This could be a reenforcement of the concept that Rey was Luke’s daughter. Han’s niece get’s the ship.

The disappointment was Luke did not show up until the end of the movie. Mark Hamill talked about how he expected Luke to show up during the battle in the forest. The lightsaber flying into Luke’s hand. Luke faces down Ben, whom flees, to fight another day. Luke sees his daughter, now a young woman. Though the cliff hanger ending of Rey holding out the lightsaber wanting to learn about the force was brilliant.


Then along came “The Last Jedi”. The first moments were the whole foreshadowing of what Disney intended to do with the old Star Wars. Toss it aside. Maybe Han being killed was foreshadowing? Rian Johnson essentially created his own strong female leads, sent the strongest, most developed female lead in science fiction, into space, like trash. Instead of a Poe and Finn team up. Rose Tico went with Finn to Space Vegas, trashed the place with bunny-lama hybrids, then ended up being sold out to the First Order.

Meanwhile Rey had to make her own way and train herself. When Luke finally decided to train Rey, he boiled things down to three steps. Congratulations, Rey is a Jedi. Luke astral projects himself to the planet where the Resistance was hold up, and confronts his nephew. Big lightsaber battle, Luke dies. It sucked. One of the most powerful, well developed characters, Luke Skywalker, turned into a bitter old man who yells at kids to stay off his lawn. Rey saves the day. The handful of Resistance survivors party on the Falcon.

From the trailers put out for “Rise of Skywalker” so far, it is a MUST NOT SEE, until Blu-Ray movie for me. Space Horses? What the fuck? Did the guys from “Game of Thrones” get some early input? Guys on horses with lances charging tanks are not going to win. Then again, a bunch of teddy bears with primitive weapons beat the empire.

Thanks for stopping by.

PS: I went to Walmart before I posted this. It is less than two months before Christmas. Normally the toy aisles would be packed with Star Wars merchandise, especially before a new movie. There was not even a half a dozen pegs full of Star Wars figures. There were the “retro” figures, all of which were Lando as Jabba Palace Guard or whatever. Out of the half dozen black figures, none really tickled my Star Wars fancy. The glee is gone. Apparently Hasbro is not putting any effort, nor is Walmart to even push the toys for Christmas. Looks like there is no more Star Wars Holiday Special of sorts.

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