We’ve mentioned in passing that Ray is in a band, but now we finally get to see them in action. I had some fun designing these guys (there’s one more bandmate we haven’t seen yet) and hopefully we’ll get to know them a little more this next year. And yes, you saw that correctly — there are FEET in two, count ‘em TWO panels today. I’d like to say that it’s because I’m growing as an artist, but really, the only reason I put in extra work on today’s strip was to totally spite this guy, who constantly ribs me about not drawing feet. Maybe eventually I’ll get to the point in my artistic development where I’ll have a character wear something besides Converse All-Stars…

Christmas is coming up, and that means shopping, and I’m excited to say that thanks to my good friend the Internet (we’re on a first-name basis), I am almost totally done with shopping. I have 2 gifts left to get, but I got almost everyone on my list covered with online shopping, no driving, no crowds, no feeling incredibly out of place in the world because no one is marketing twoards your interests… I love the future.

Speaking of winter activities, you know whats great? Hockey. I got to go see the Stars this week thanks to a good friend of mine totally giving me the hook up. The Stars are really struggling right now, but even a bad loss is a fun game to watch. I just love the sport, and I’ll be a Stars fan even when they’re one of the worst teams around… which, right now they kindof are… But I don’t care.

I’d be interested to know if any of you guys are sports fans, and for what teams. Are you die-hard, or fair-weather fans?

So, when “Trinity” first came out (I’m talking about the new comic featuring Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman teamed up) I started picking it up because, well, those are three great characters, Kurt Busiek is usually pretty good writer, and I’ve always been a fan of Mark Bagley’s art since he used to draw Spider-Man when I was a kid. Instead of the epic superhero story I expected, what I got was a very old-school superhero melodrama, that feels like an episode of the Justice League cartoon, but not quite as fun. I wasn’t a big fan, but it certainly wasn’t a bad book, and the good thing is that my dad started liking it, so I keep buying it every week because I think its a good thing that he’s reading comics, and it gives us some sort of connection, even though I stopped reading “Trinity” about 15 issues ago.

But recently, it’s taken a much more ‘new-age’ mystic direction, and we both think thats kindof lame. So, I look around the comic shop, thinking maybe I can find something else for both of us to get into. And you know what? Neither Marvel nor DC offers anything for a casual super-hero fan that I can find. And it’s incredibly frustrating.

I go to read the Justice League book, but it’s full of B-list characters I either don’t care about or haven’t heard of, and even if I wanted to read it, it’s so mired in “Final Crisis” tie-ins that its completely indecipherable. I can’t find a single DC superhero book thats not so tied in to huge events that it could be read on its own an enjoyed. So I either have to buy almost every book DC prints to read a story I’m really not interested in to begin with (and even then, I still wouldn’t understand it because of all the old continuity its pulling from) or just ignore DC heroes altogether, which is really sad. My dads not as much of a Marvel fan as me, but they’re just as bad. The regular Marvel books are all tied into some event (I thinks its ‘Secret Invasion’ right now) and I don’t know whos who, or whats going on, and its not worth the time and money for me to find out at this point. The Ultimate line is a little better, but its getting to the point where it has ridiculous continuity, and they’re starting to do big events with it, too.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that big events can be really cool. But both companies have done nothing but big events for the last several years, and us casual fans that just want to read good superhero stories that are somewhat self-contained are left out in the cold. And all the new readers that might be coming in because of film successes are so confused and turned off that they don’t even want to try it.

To Marvel and DC — all I ask is that you give me something. You can still do your crossovers all the time, but give me something outside of continuity that is good, solid, fun superhero stories that are easy to jump into, that will entertain me even if I haven’t read the last 40 years of books.  Something I can show my dad that he won’t furrow his brow at and ask me what is being referenced. Something to where I don’t have to respond to him saying, “I really don’t know, I think there’s 3 or 4 other series that explain that kindof, but I’m not sure.”

Please, thats all I ask…

To the readers here — if you know of any good superhero stories that aren’t tied into the big events, please toss ‘em my way.

So, while I was working on today’s strip, a friend of mine was at the house, and he leaned over my drawing table and saw the “let’s neck” sign, and just started chuckling, and asked, “Neck? What is this, some sort of 50’s thing?”

Which is course, is pretty much the reaction I wanted. Not the 50’s thing necessarily, but just laughing at how ridiculous that term is. To me, the term “neck” in reference to making out is intrisincally funny. It has always made me laugh, since the first time I heard it used in “Back to the Future.” It will always make me laugh, every time I hear it. Partly because my brain hasn’t evolved past 7th grade, I’ll admit. Neck is just a funny sounding word, and used as a way of describing the sometimes-beautiful-but-more-often-embarrassingly-awkward act of prolonged kissing, it’s just hilarious. I also like the term “going steady” for dating, but that’s another discussion for another day.

Actually, the term “make-out” might make even less sense.  Note to self.