With the arrival of May comes the conclusion of my second semester at MICA. Boy, did that rush by. It’s fascinating to witness the collective journey of our cohort. They start off slowly, gradually building momentum, and by Spring Break, find themselves complaining of exhaustion. They then gear back up, sometimes falling short of our […]
Growing up, Robbie had a small number of close male friends, but he had a ton of female friends. Maybe because he had an older sister, or he took after his father, but he was incredibly comfortable with girls from an early age. While Brooke and Marianne were his two closest companions, he and Kira […]
We managed to hit the end of the third quarter on Thursday, and suddenly, it feels as if the 2023-24 is flying by. Normally, the third quarter feels like a slog, but not this year. I love that the administration gives us the day after each quarter for grading, so this was a welcome three-day […]
Here comes the first con of 2024! Farpoint marks the first regular con that I attend to start afresh. With the Hunt Valley Inn now a cherished memory, the show relocates to the DoubleTree by Hilton in Pikesville, MD. I’ll be hustling there right after school because I have my first programming item in the […]
I am a child of the Silver Age. My touchstones and reference points are the DC and Marvel Comics of the era and the myriad of smaller publishers who populated the Bronze Age. When I lectured this past week on writing dialogue, all my visuals came from those eras, which was fresh to the students. […]
By now, we should be talking about Above the Ground 2. After all, I wrote it during the summer of 2022, which was due in late 2023. So, what happened? My co-writer, Matthew Medney, separated from Heavy Metal as 2023 opened, and he spent the last year working on various projects as a writer and […]
Adding Making Graphic Novels at MICA definitely made for some tiring weeks, but I was genuinely energized as I worked with the students on their 30-page stories. Only two flamed out, which is not a surprise. But, those who finished the work delivered some strong stories or chapters in their larger works. We were blessed […]
I’ve thought about this column long before the “How long have you been in comics” meme began circulating on social media. After all, today is a very special day for me. It was 40 years ago that I officially joined the staff at DC Comics, where I would stay for 16 wonderful years (returning a […]
According to Goodreads, I read 229 books this calendar year, slightly over my goal of 215. The official breakdown is: Audiobook – 17 Paper – 18 eBook – 11 Graphic Novel – 181 Was it an exceptionally good year for my reading? Reviewing the list showed the usual highlights but not as many as in […]
My 2023 New Year’s Resolution was to write at least one blog a week, and I failed at that miserably with just 30 out of the hoped-for-52. Looking back, 2023 wasn’t a bad year. There were certainly highlights and, thankfully, a few low points. So, I guess you could call it a good one. Turning […]