With SO much information and misinformation and those that prefer “Ms Information” floating around, I thought maybe I’d attempt to debunk the things I actually know are false and confirm what I know to be true.

1. COVID-19 is *not* hiding in your closet wearing a hockey mask.
2. That’s someone else and I’d really worry more about him. 
3. COVID-19 is *not* the shape you see standing in front of your window.
4. That is the ghost of Alfalfa, from the Little Rascals tv show from 100 years ago.
5. If Spanky McFarlane shows up, *then* you have a problem.
6. Bad news: COVID-19 *IS* under your bed right now, waiting. 
7. Good news: disinfectant spray will neutralize that one.
8. Good news: they have a new test for COVID-19.
9. Bad news: they’ve created blood goblins that test you by eating your face.
10. Worse news: they only eat your face if you *don’t* have it.

So that one’s *kind* of a lose-lose. I believe they’ve already discontinued it.

But yes, if you go into groups of people in public, unprotected, you’re playing a dangerous game of Russian Roulette with your health and people you love, especially the elderly and the immunocompromised.

That pretty much covers what I can and cannot debunk and/or confirm.

Enjoy your board game. 

A few years ago, we lost our Dominick’s store as had so many other people. In its place opened a Mariano’s. I’d heard good things from people, as I’d never stepped into one before. They had a big grand opening weekend with someone playing a piano (haven’t seen that since, yet the piano’s still there), cool purple flood lights illuminating the exterior at night (ditto, long gone), and state of the art self-check-out, which is far more trouble than it’s worth, and is hated or annoyed by many, even when it’s working properly. If they have a dedicated person who watches over the self check out, which they do, since they have to ask if you need help or monitor liquor purchases, etc, seems like a huge waste of space, time and resources. But, I guess if you’re just getting one thing, are in a hurry, don’t screw up the chip vs swipe CC protocols, the machine’s working fine and the one item isn’t booze, you’re golden.

It became readily apparent that even with all the latest grocery store conventions, innovations, and endless choices of olive oil (it’s their thing), it wasn’t enough. The end product of the store as a whole was less impressive than the Dominick’s before it, the Jewel a mile away, or the nearby Tony’s or Aldi’s which opened recently. My wife prefers the shopping and selections at all those places over Mariano’s but it’s close enough to be within walking distance, which at times comes in handy. 

Recently, Mariano’s got a make over of sorts. Although, a make over usually tends to make one look better. This was, I guess, either a change supposedly for the better, corporate had a brainstorm (seems more like a stroke) or maybe they just didn’t care anymore. I’m not sure. They basically moved everything around and reorganized, tearing off all the flooring in the process. They just left the cracked, stained cement floor underneath on display. The resulting disheveled, “under construction” look prompts one to think “I wonder when all this disorganized mess will get cleaned up and they’ll be back up, presentable and ready for business?” 

Sadly, this IS them “cleaned up, presentable and ready for business.” This is their look. It must be by design. I can only guess that the powers the be wanted to go with the atmosphere of a grimy warehouse or simulate a war torn Walmart or maybe an extreme level blue collar Sam’s Club of some sort. I don’t know the thought process behind this. It’s not a welcoming atmosphere. Even the shopping carts are all new, thick, black, industrial looking. More of a Home Depot feel. Which is great for Home Depot. A grocery store? Maybe not so much. They even reinstalled a Starbucks inside to replace Vero, their old in store coffee shop. I even think *that’s* a mistake. A) the Vero prices were cheaper and B) there is , I kid you not, a full blown, bigger Starbucks less than 200 feet away. This whole “upgrade”(?) is kind of a disaster.

They even busted down the giant, endless selection of olive oil. Their thing!

Now they have a new one: “We need to sweep this shit up.”

Because the Thing IS.

I awoke and assessed all things. 

After the morning cleanse, I descended.

They were asleep.

I stood in the great room. 

I listened.

The refrigerator and furnace were between cycles.

The cable DVR was in sleep mode.

Outside, the streets were empty.

No squirrels scrambled on the roof.

No wind.

It was a complete silence.

A rare silence.

A mime silence.

I begin the dance.

When I decided to do this blog every single day for 2020, I could not have predicted COVID-19 and the different world we now live in. Nor can I predict the very different world we will be living in in another two months, and of course the drastically different  setting by year’s end. 

On my end, life is hardly different from normal during lockdown but we seem to have three distinct groups of people that are at play right now in society.

A) The general populace that has hunkered down to do what they can to aid in slowing down the spread of the virus. These are more or less rational, intelligent human beings.

B) The gun folk who are buying more and more arms and ammo, thinking the time of war approaches. Some say it’s for defensive measures against those who would try and take what’s theirs. The ones that would try to take what’s theirs will undoubtedly also be armed to the teeth as well. I can understand people having the dark thoughts. I’m just hoping the ones with the *really* dark thoughts, those who would presume to roam the streets like a self appointed peace keeping force will continue to play out their dark fantasies only in their heads and in their basements. 

C) The rebellious and oblivious members of society who continue to make everything worse. The oblivious ones flitter about, thinking that because they feel fine, they’re not infected, they can’t imagine being sick. The insidious 14 day incubation period of the virus is tailor made for these oblivious, stupid, irresponsible, jack-asses. They could each be infected, spreading it around to anyone and everyone for those two weeks, including their kids, parents, the elderly, the immunocompromised, friends and coworkers. 

The rebellious ones defy the the virus, steadfastly refusing to alter their lives because of the bug. They’re not gonna let it win! One genius and future leader of the free world –if he isn’t dead at 21 due to rampant stupidity– said that “if I get it, so be it, but no way is it gonna stop me partying!”. Frankly, if this argument in favor of “thinning the herd” were to die due to COVID-19, I wouldn’t shed a tear, because his brainless activities put a lot of other people in danger. 

Groups B and C will also be the loudest when it comes to not letting “authority” stomp all over Their Freedom while “authority” tries to save heir lives.

So yeah, I have no idea where my thoughts will take this thing each day. I do have about a month’s worth of entries on different topics already in the queue that I want to get in here. I think I’ll need them just to break things up. I think we’ll need some distraction, some occasional fiction and I think we’ll need some occasional silly and absurd, too. 

Silly and absurd, I’ve got.

Many people love to take naps. My wife, daughter and mother all excel at the practice. That’s great for them. I’m not a huge fan of naps because usually, I’m never quite tired enough to drift off. And on that rare occasion when I *am* tired enough and fall asleep, whether it’s five minutes or an hour, I’m utterly useless the rest of the day. Just a dopey lump. 

The worst is being awakened by the phone ringing. Being sprung so violently from the hug of Morpheus, there’s a five second period where I don’t know what’s going on, who I am, who’s on the phone, what day it is, where I am — and if it’s someone *returning* your call, I have to hope I can somehow snap out of it quick. Of course then the problem is that after the five seconds, I am fully cognizant and the absurdity of the situation floods in and I want to start laughing. I have to hope the person on the other end of the line has a good sense of humor as well. Thankfully, this has really only happened to me a handful of times in my life. Still, it’s unnerving.

But coming out of a nap and just being a zombie for the rest of the night has happened plenty if there’s nothing going on. If I’m in the middle of a job, that doesn’t happen, as I’m perched and in a constant mid leap of action. But a lazy, beautiful Sunday afternoon after a long walk taking in a lot of fresh air? Oh, it can happen.

Just don’t call me.

What’s that ya say? You’re pleading, begging, grasping for the answer to the question, maybe the biggest, most important question that CAN be asked, considering the topic of this entry: “Rick, oh venerable one… what IS your favorite comic ever?” Finally, he asked me. 

JLA/Avengers by Busiek and Perez. Four, 48 page issues. The epitome of a fan boy’s dream. 

There have been some earth shattering comic stories over the decades. A couple with *maybe* a tiny bit better art, or a better script, or maybe even a technically better structured or stronger story. Maybe. But this was a complete package of top notch words and pictures, coupled with every Justice Leaguer and Avenger in all of history, together in the most epic storyline ever. FAR superior to the slap dash crap known as Secret Wars. Gobs and gobs and gobs better than Crisis on Infinite Earths. Heads, shoulders, knees and toes above and beyond any crossover that has ever been attempted. It. Did. Not. Disappoint.

What made it especially satisfying for me was the fact that unlike a lot of fans who have usually been committed DC fans OR Marvel fans, I’ve always been a fan of both, right down the middle since day one. The day I picked up a Batman vs Ras al Ghul treasury edition by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams and Fantastic Four #112 by Stan Lee and John Buscema – Hulk vs Thing.

Back in the early ’80’s, there was an early attempt to do this cross over. George Perez had even penciled the first 20 page issue. But various forces at DC and Marvel either didn’t play ball or let their egos get in the way and the project died, leaving George very disappointed, along with millions of fans. 

You know what? I’m glad it worked out the way it did. Sure, back then, I was ACHING to see this happen too. Thanks to the first issue, we even got a glimpse of how things were going to play out. Three or four person teams from both sides would duke it out in different historical settings. The first match up was set in a WWI battlefield where Batman, Hawkman and Zatanna battled Captain America, Scarlet Witch and Eros. The two villains who were calling the shots for all this were Kang and the Lord of Time, thus, the varied settings spread across time. And I’m sure it would have been a good crossover, with the heroes finally setting aside their differences and uniting to win the day. But as good as it would have been, there was a good chance that once this crossover project was completed, it would probably never be done again, for a variety of reasons, both financial and creative. In waiting, we eventually got a superior product. Of this I know. 

The story we got was more layered and sophisticated than the basic format presented back then. At least the Grandmaster, Metron and Krona were known cosmic entities that propelled the narrative. I’m not even sure who the Lord of Time was and don’t know why on earth they wouldn’t have used the more well known Time Trapper. The original project was to be four, 20-24 page issues. Here, we had twice that. Another factor was the maturing of Perez as an artist as the millennium approached and he started work on this. With the additional 20 years under his belt, George was truly at the very top of his game. It would be another 10 to 15 years before his health would finally force him to lose a step or two with his art. 

Finally, waiting also gave us all that much more history, characters and events to be included within the epic story. Just think about all the various changes that all these heroes went through between the beginning of the ’80’s and the beginning of the 2,000’s. All the more fodder for the story. And what a story.

Heroes from two universes racing to collect various cosmic, all powerful MacGuffins from around the universe, all on directions from duplicitous cosmic entities to stop the destruction of their own universe, allegedly from actions of the opposing team. The dimensional shifts adversely affected some of the characters such as Cap and Supes, making them a bit more aggressive and antagonistic, especially when the two core teams finally faced off against each other.

When you’re a kid reading comics, you inevitably want to know who’d win in a fight. Superman vs Thor. Batman vs Captain America. Green Lantern vs Iron man. This was it, the battle to end all battles. And the execution. Oh, the execution was wonderful. 

I think THE battle most people wanted to see was Cap vs Bats. Wisely, instead of going all out with these two, they went small. Personal. A face off. The shield was already on the ground, so Batman stayed away from the belt. Dukes up. Maneuvering around each other. Testing each other. Jab. Block. Feint. Parry. And each slight movement was communicated and accentuated by the light rain shower that was falling. It was one of the most brilliant pieces of visual communication ever. 

There were other quiet moments, giant moments between all these characters (and properly IN character) I’d loved for decades. Ultimate fanboy moments — this  really had everything and if you do like the mainstream big guns or comics in general, I whole heartily recommend you get the collection or individual issues — if you can afford them. 

Because of all the red tape involved in splitting up profits, the books have not been reissued, much to the dismay of many a retailer. As I suspected, 20 years down the line, there’s not much chance of this crossover happening again. 

Last bit — since they featured everyone who’d ever been part of the teams, I had an extra special treat when in one scene, Cap is working with Batman in the Batcave when in teleports the Thing on a specially designed craft for that type of duty, with Reed and the FF on the monitor explaining some things to Bats and Cap. Batman and the Fantastic Four. All on one page. 

Yeah, that was good. 

I gotta dig that out again. 

This shows you how important it is to NOT SKIM messages or emails. (In fact, you should all of this carefully). You’d think we’d all know how to read, access, understand and absorb emails but no. We don’t. If you run three sentences together to make a short paragraph, you’ve got 50/50 odds on someone not reading it all, misunderstanding it, or completely missing the intended point to such an extreme that they might declare war on your kingdom.

This is where emoji’s come in. Those stupid little graphic ambassadors that are overly used and abused. The only emoji that is really needed though is the makeshift smiley face :). It does help convey a lighter or more humorous meaning and you may need it more than you think. You may think you’re the greatest wit on the continent or just being clever but tone is lost and invisible in emails and messages. Your witty bon mot may do anything from receive a chuckle, raise an eyebrow, or incur the wrath of a now former friend. All because you didn’t take the extra two seconds to add a :).  Some people abhor them so much they refuse to use the smiley, thinking everyone should always automatically know when they’re simply having a laugh. Which makes it difficult when they say more serious things very close to the humor and etc., etc. I know someone, good friend, wonderful guy, who’s had to point out a few times in the past after some minor misunderstandings, that everyone should always consider his posts to automatically come with a wink and a laugh. Eh, I just add a smiley to be sure. Then of course I screw up in other ways but that is not the point of this blog post! No, no, no.                   NO!

Always carefully read your messages, a couple times if necessary, because you will often find a different meaning if even one word is spotted the second time around. Sometimes, I find it helps to lay out separate bullet points headed by asterisks for important sentences, set aside from the smothering nature of the paragraph. It can help get certain messages across a bit more clearly, since it’s not swimming in the middle of said overbearing paragraph.

*Anyway, with all the fun virus crap happening, I wanted to check in with my doctors as to where I’m at with my immune system just to be on the safe side. I figured that since I had the stem cell transplant, I should be brimming with explosively healthily immunity with impunity. But what I failed to fully consider was that I was still undergoing maintenance therapy once every two months for the next couple years. I sent off a message via MyChart to my stem cell doctor. When I got the response, a quick glance told me that because of the maintenance therapy, I was still at “an extremely high risk”, which pissed me off because holy crap, how can it be that bad, and, it’ll be that bad for another three years?!?!? I was relating this to Theresa and even pulled up the message to read it to her, AT WHICH TIME I TOOK THE TIME TO CAREFULLY READ THE ACTUAL SENTENCE languishing in the middle of the paragraph. 

It *actually* read that due to the ongoing therapy, I “*could* be considered at higher than normal risk”, which is a HUGE difference from “extremely high risk”. So, instead of me being at a scary 2 of 10 on the immunity scale, I might be closer to 7 or 8. Maybe. I’m neither diagnostician, doctor, immunologist, or mathematician. 

But that’s the kind of thing that can happen when you don’t read things carefully. So I hope you read all that carefully, because if you rushed through it, you might think it’s  time to fit me for a coffin, when in reality, my immune factor might just be a tad bit lower than normal for the duration of therapy. And since what they’re giving me is an immunotherapy drug to actually reenforce or enhance things, all the better. 

So to sum up for those who still skimmed, I’m fine but I misread something that made me think I wasn’t. Oops. 

Today is the day that Mickey & Maj: “Grounded” comes on on Comixology — (LINK HERE). So I’m proclaiming this MICKEY & MAJ DAY. I’m fairly sure this is official now. The mayor’s busy.

To date, produced three stories for M&M. The first two were collected together by Action Lab comics and came out in January. (same link) “Grounded” is the last in this particular trilogy. 

“Mickey is marooned on an alien planet, looking after an injured Maj. But enemies know where they are…and they’re coming.”

The last story in this opening trilogy, “Grounded” further explores the M&M universe and is Mickey’s baptism of fire. We see more of the Tapestry and the threat level has never been higher. So on this most exciting of days, pass the word, share the wealth and shout from the rooftops that “MICKEY’S IN TROUBLE! SEND HELP!” and download the adventure.

Note: for the time being, “Grounded” will only be available in digital format. 

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the story and here are some shots of just *some* of the Riders and Carpets from the Tapestry.

I’ve always had a problem with the fact that inIllinois, when voting in the primaries, you have to go straight Dem or Rep. This caused a problem for me one time years ago when I desperately wanted to get rid of a certain Democrat and vote for the Republican opposition but at the same time, I had a friend, Jim Bailey, who was running on the Dem side for Judge. Either way, one was going to be a write in. The whole system is ridiculous. I could go on but why descend into politics when we’ve got so much COVID-19 to talk about? Variety really is the spice of life. 

I did go vote and there were about 3 people there. This wasn’t unusual though as depending when you go in the morning, it’s usually dead. This year, probably more so. When I went in, staring at the empty gymnasium, save for three lonely booths spread out, there was no one in front of me. Three people walked in behind me though. In the past, there were usually a half dozen people manning the check in line, this time, two. Got my sharpie pen, my big ballot, went to my little hutch, filled in the ovals—careful not to go out of the lines, watched how the sharpie bled through the card to the opposite side, wondering if that’s going to obscure any of the votes on the flip side and decided that would be their problem. 

There were no sniffles, no coughs, no tissues, no masks, no gloves, no shade of doom and really, no people, so allegedly, no problem. We’ll see in 14 days.

i got my sticker and left.

Tomorrow, is Mickey & Maj day….

(a very short story)

As he and Penny finished cleaning up so they could rejoin the party, Jack surveyed his extended family spread across the back yard.

Everyone seemed to be having fun, enjoying the sunshine, the long summer day and each other’s company. At one of the few  card tables set up for the get-together, Uncle Lou and aunt Denise spent most of their time yakking it up with mom and dad, as to be expected. All four kept an eye on the clock, as they leaned in for more talk. Another generational cluster was breaking up as Jenny, Tom and the kids had to take off. They said they had another party and they promised to make an appearance. Jack wondered if that was true. Jenny was undoubtedly keeping track of the time too and she’d always been the least comfortable with the situation. He wasn’t surprised she was making an early escape. 

After kisses, hugs and their departure, Mike and Jess sat back down at their table, only now, turned around and talking with the older group. The kids emerged from the house asking where the croquet set was, having ended the gaming in the basement. Jack’s daughter Kelly, and son Mark were well aware of the time and moved the fun with their cousins up into the back yard with the old farts. Having put away everything they needed to and leaving the rest for whenever, Penny and Jack joined the adults and on it went.

The sun started to get low. Penny started to give Jack The Look. He silently nodded his head in the direction of their guests with a “What do you want me to do?” look of his own. This appeared to mystify Penny. But as the sun sank lower, the conversation quieted down a bit, until finally, made the effort to pull Jack aside.

“Don’t you think you’d better get down in the basement?” his father asked quietly, “The sun’s down!” 

“Yeah, I know dad.” said Jack at normal volume “I don’t think I’m going down there tonight.”

All conversation stopped dead.

Mike was frozen. Jess looked like a deer in the headlights. When their fight or flight instincts kicked in, the quietly announced they should probably get going. 

“No,” interrupted Jack “Don’t be silly. Stay. It’ll be fine. What do you have to worry about?”

This stopped them in their tracks. They didn’t know how to react. Penny waltzed past Jack grabbing his arm as she went. “What’s the matter with you?” she uttered calmly but forcefully, “Say goodnight and go downstairs!” He stopped.

“No,” again, his regular volume, “Not tonight. Maybe not ever again.” 

Penny reacted as if he’d slapped her. Not sure of what to do, she sat down and poured another glass of wine. She wasn’t alone. As the sun fell, the glasses had been raised. Tom had had his usual allotment of beer and dad had already finished off his fourth Manhattan. The girls were on their third bottle of wine between the three of them. All that just to be able to forget where Jack had to go every night. What happened every night. The booze made it a bit easier to ignore the reality of the situation.

Suddenly, it was apparently going get a lot more real than usual. Exponentially more real than any of them could imagine. 

“The hell with this,” Tom slurred, “c’mon Jess, get the kids, we’re leaving. NOW.” Everyone started to get up, –this time, with a purpose– when Jack doubled over with a grunt. He was cradling his now seemingly helpless right arm, with its veins popping, muscles violently contracting.

“Too late…” Jack hissed. 

And now they were all transfixed. Too scared to move, to talk, to do anything but be scared. Jack tried to hold onto his convulsing right arm, to steady it with his left hand but it was no use. It never was. His arm shook violently, shifting the cheap plastic table cloth back and forth, knocking over bottles and glasses. Jack slammed himself down in a folding chair in front of the table, watching the twisting, warping mass of flesh that was his right arm. Watched as he had every day around this time of night for most of his life. 

Mom had buried her head against dad’s chest. Jess stared. Mike trembled. Penny was still. Tears ran down her cheeks. The kids had stopped playing their game and stood there, watching, clutching their croquet mallets, mouths agape.

Jack watched with horrified interest as the writhing flesh started to form other shapes which sprouted from the limb. Two shapes extended until they could bend, then smaller bits began to extend from the end. A bulbous growth pushed out at the very end of Jack’s arm, wriggling then as the blob morphed and grew. The head was nearly formed. Small fingers wriggled at the end of the stumpy arms. The nearly completed head was now swaying back and forth gently on its new neck. Tom threw up on himself. Mom had fainted. Half the kids were crying, half were screaming. The fabric then started to form, growing and weaving out of the fleshy substance, as the features started to take shape on the face. Jack was now relaxed, watching the little green tweed suit wrap around the little body, the red bow tie dot the top of the white shirt. A straw hat now sat askew atop the newly formed mop of hair around jug ears. The head stopped its swaying as its full lips stretched into a broad smile, the button nose settled in amongst the freckles on the flush cheeks and the big, blue, glistening eyes emerged from under the long lashed, rising lids. Finally, the new jaw tested it’s hinges as the mouth opened and closed with a Click. Click. Click. 

The bright blue eyes shifted.

I looked Jack. His expression was unreadable but I knew he was ready. I slowly turned my head, around and around again, then stopped, facing the quivering, crying meat puppets. This was going to be fun.

I spoke.