Chugging Along At The Speed of Science

This has been one of those weeks where nothing in particular has happened, yet I still feel like I accomplished a lot.

On the Atomic Robo front I was thrilled to turn the corner on Issue 3.4. I don’t know why, but with every book page 17 is an important page. For some reason it represents to me the moment where I stop chugging along at a steady pace and I really pour on the steam as I come into the final leg of the race that is drawing a comic book. I’m working on page 20 right now and, while this is not my favorite issues of the mini-series, drawing Carl Sagan doing all sorts of unlikely stuff has been a LOT of fun.

I was glad to see Robo 3.2 hit stores on time. On time-ish? Even though it means I have to work even faster than I have been. I’ve been forced in the last week to wear these god-awful arm braces because I’ve been overdoing it at the drafting table. But don’t worry, I’ll just pop some more pills and quietly cry my way through the pain, just to bring you folks a few yucks. =P

Speaking of Robo 3.2, where they hell are all those lovely reviews? I realize how tedious it is writing about how refreshing, funny, and visually pleasurable Atomic Robo is, but come on people! Review us! Thank God for Comics Bulletin or I don’t know what my fragile ego would do. Atomic Robo was also the featured item this week over on Comixology. In addition to being featured, we were also interviewed by them.

And speaking of podcasts, there should be a new Atomic Podcast for you guys next week. We would have had it sooner but our first chat with colorist Ronda Pattison and letterer Jeff Powell was a technical nightmare. Bad things happened. And I deleted the files. Before we could try it again, Ronda went on vacation and Jeff got chicken pox! (Hope you’re feeling better Jeff.)

I’m going to start plugging this now in the hopes that someone who cares peeks in on this blog. HeroesCon in in two weeks! This show is reputed to be one of, if not the best show in the country. I will be going for the first time this year, so if you’re going to be there and want some original Atomic Robo, Hexbreakers Inc., Human Torch, or Punisher War Journal art at reduced Con prices, then come find me. The nice folks running the show seem to think I’m going to be a busy guy. I hope they’re right! I’ll also have t-shirts, sketchbooks, and maybe prints as well.

Moving into the more mundane world of real life I finally hit a turning point with my father-in-law. No, he’s still not happy that I stole his favorite daughter away from him. But about a month ago I moved the crazy old bastard into an assisted living home with the help of some friends. He’s 81 years old, he lived alone, and he’s been dealing with the onset of Alzheimer’s for the last year or so. So no, I didn’t do it to get the old coot out of my hair, but because he needs the supervision and care that only a 24hr staff can provide. The place he is in is warm and homey, about ten minutes from my house, and because it only has 11 occupants it feels like a real home, and not an institution. It’s also only a few blocks from his old apartment so it worked out really well for him.

For me, on the other hand, it has felt like Hercules’s Labors.

Anyone who has ever moved knows just what a colossal pain in the ass the process is. And it was. But moving Dad was only the tip of the iceberg. I have since spent the last 4 weekends sorting through 4 rooms packed floor to ceiling with boxes making sure no family heirlooms or envelopes of cash got throw out. Filling a 15 yard dumpster beyond it’s capacity and paying the additional overage bill that goes along with such things. Haggling with Salvation Army, arranging furniture pick-ups with Good Will, selling a ratty old car that a senile old man bought the day after being told he could no longer drive -never mind the fact that I’ve been acting as his personal chauffeur for the last year and a half and had to trick him into giving me the keys to it. And finally spending all of Saturday taking the last of the stuff that no one would take or I couldn’t fit in a dumpster, to the local landfill where I was yelled and screamed at for not knowing the rules for disposing of furniture, major appliance, scrap metal etc -even though you are only likely to do such a thing once or twice in your life so why the FUCK would you know all the rules! Goddamn Dump-Nazis!

It may seem like I’m blowing this out of proportion. But Don was/is a horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE New England packrat. And I am a person who hates owning more stuff than he can fit in the back of a car. Here is a small list of what my equally crazy packrat sister-in-law calls “treasures” that I found in his apartment. Keep in mind that this is a man who lives alone in a small apartment and never ever travels or goes anywhere.

• 2 queen-sized inflatable camping mattresses (one with a fold out aluminum frame).
• 3 telescopes.
• 7 cordless power drills.
• 1 extra bed (disassembled)
• Every picture that my child has ever drawn him, kept neatly in a file box.
• A file box full of partially inflated balloons.
• An “extra” office desk (approx. 300lbs)
• A portable (though broken) apartment dishwasher.
• Report cards for all 4 of his children from kindergarten through 12th grade. With the exception of my wife, all of these “kids” are old enough to be MY parents. Why keep that?
• 4 sets of Cabbage Patch adoption paperwork, all meticulously filled out by my wife when she was 9.
• All the tools needed to start an industrial woodworking shop.
• 103lbs of pennies.
• 3 locked and fireproof safes (none with keys).
• All the tools needed to start an avionics and TV repair shop.
• A metal detector. (never used).
• 7 6-disk CD players.
• 4 portable DVD players.
• 5 stereo receivers.
• More speakers than a Best Buy warehouse.
• 3 turn tables.
• 2 “extra” doors.
• A set of snow tires for a 1973 Cadillac.
• 7 Tupperware “footlockers” full of not-so-collectible glassware.

. . .and so on, and so forth. The point is, don’t be like this. It’s not healthy. And when you are old and/or dead it will create a shit load of work for someone else to deal with.

However, officially as of 6:43pm, Saturday, June 6 (hereby no longer known as D-Day, but instead Done with Don-Day) we locked the door to that old apartment for the last time. It truly was the Longest Day. And I’ve got the 3rd Degree sunburn to prove it.

To celebrate my freedom from weeknights and entire weekends devoted to mindless physical labor at someone else’s house, I got up early-ish on Sunday and went to the gym for the first time since this all started, were I spend two hours running really fast without going anywhere and lifting heavy things for no good reason.  I then came home and watched Dorinda do her Wii Active thing. It’s basically what everyone wanted Wii Fit to be -meaning extremely physically challenging and not a total joke for anyone but the very young or very old. She was sweating like a pig and her muscles were shaking out of control by the time she finished. And let me tell you something gentlemen; Watching your girlfriend or wife in a pair of little gym shorts, sweat and grunt while she does deep lateral squats is quite possibly one of the best PG13 ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.

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