Comics Can Save The World!

Saturday, May 1st marks my favorite holiday of the year, Free Comic Book Day! I encourage y'all to go to Green Brain Comics to get your three free comic books. While you're there, you can check out my picture which is up for auction benefitting the Kids Read Comics Convention.

What is Free Comic Book Day, or FCBD as we call it in geekspeak? To raise awareness of comics, major and independent publishers produce comic books to be given away on that day. The catch? You have to put down your Wiimote, get off the couch and head into a local comic book shop. If you go to Green Brain, they even have a slew of great artists signing their work, including my pal, Chris Houghton.

In the Headspace Gallery at Green Brain, you have the Kids Read Comics benefit auction, featuring lots of great artists including Heather Hansma, Chris Houghton and yours truly. You can place a bid on my picture, but don't forget yer wallet, 'cuz it's already up to $300. Wowzers! The Kids Read Comics Convention itself is June 12 & 13, 2010 at the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn.

Now, how can comics save the world? Well, if we can get more kids into reading comics, we just might be able to get them interested in reading. If we can get them into reading as opposed to only subsisting on video games, we might end up with a few more smarties and a few less slack-jawed dullards. And if we get a few more smarties, who knows what they might be able to do: Create world peace? Cure cancer? Carry on an interesting conversation? The sky's the limit!

Milton May Refuses To Take Off His Sunglasses Until The Hulkster Regains The Title!

I created "Milton May..." for the "Almost True" show at Lulubell Toy Bodega in Tucson, Arizona, opening April 10th. It was a true labor of love, based on an actual dude I knew in middle school in the 80s, who really wore his sunglasses all the time in school for a week or two until Hulk Hogan won his title back.

Back then, anyone who did anything slightly different from the norm would be the source of immediate scorn and ridicule from a bunch nasty little middle schoolers. So it was outrageous for someone to take a stand like this, especially for something so ridiculous. But Milton defiantly lived in his own world and didn't give a rat's ass what people thought of him, so I have total respect for him doing it.

The other two kids in the picture are a composite of several of the douchey Berkshire Middle School students that I hated back then, and still hate to this day. On the left, you have the squeaky-voiced, smart-assed preppy kid; sort of a Corey Haim type (RIP); and on the right, the fat, moronic, jockish bully. To remain true to the time period, both have a freshly appied Sun-IN™ treatment to their hair.

Like Milton May, I was a bit of a geek back then also, (who am I kidding?--a big geek), who also liked pro wrestling, but since I weak-mindedly yearned for the popular kids' acceptance, I never would've dreamed of outing my geekiness the way Milton did. Just drawing the two little f#ckers behind Milton brought back my resentment. Another sure sign I need counseling.

As far as the "Almost True" part, I asked several friends about the Sunglasses incident, and everyone's memory was a little different. Some said it was definitely Hulk Hogan he was supporting, but one said that he hated Hulk Hogan and only liked the bad guys, which messes everything up. Not to mention, I researched Hulk Hogan's title reigns and had trouble finding when he lost the belt while I was in middle school, but I wasn't going to let a little factual inaccuracy stop me.

The bottom line is Milton May was a maverick, and worthy of such a tribute. So here's to you Milton May, and to all the little Hulkamaniacs everywhere!

PS: Milton May wasn't his real name, so if you know it, please don't post it here. For all I know he could be a lawyer, and with my luck, he would sue me for slander.