Letters to Holly

Thursday, March 24

Let's Talk Cap

The deputy now has six front teeth moving out of his gums. Suddenly, he's very unhappy.

I into the 20s of my comic pages and hope to be done with them by next weekend.

Moving Picture of the Day
Here's the first official trailer for Captain America, one of at least three Marvel movies coming out this year alongside Thor and X-Men: First Class. This and Thor fill out the individual film series with Hulk and Iron Man that will lead to Avengers, the supergroup film coming out next year.




I'm surprised they spend so much time on his origin here. I'm particular about the way superhero origins are done in films, and mostly I'm against turning a film into one long origin story. They all end with our hero finding a resolve to improve at least the world around him with his new powers. That's a given. The second Hulk movie did it right: Show the origin in the opening credits and get on with an actual story. Captain America should work the same way, and the trailer shows his origin can be communicated in about two minutes.

Now, as a longtime reader, I'm happy to see two things with his origin:
1. It follows the comics, except for one new wrinkle, which is
2. It adds Iron Man's dad.

The fight scenes don't get as much attention, and they, so far, look thin. So do the city street scenes. Marvel is happy to make their hero films on the cheap, and it's mostly worked for them. I worry the veneer will be obvious in this film. Still, a WWII superhero movie -- and a big-screen Captain America film -- may be too good a notion to miss.Even if he seems to be fighting someone other than Nazis.

You may wonder just how a WWII hero can find himself alongside heroes in the modern day. I suspect the film will end with that explanation. I hope they maintain that story from the comics too.

Tuesday, March 22

I'll Be Glad to See March Go Away

It's been a harried few days.

Someone I met after I moved up here died Saturday after a very quick hospice set-up at his home. He had been sick off and on for years now, but he was diagnosed with cancer late last year, and his body was weakened from the treatment. Your Sister drove to Asheville numerous times since Friday, and I spent Sunday watching the sidekick so she could visit the family. He was twice surrounded by strangers and shaken from his schedule, and he was miserable. We had horrible nights afterward where he was anxious and inconsolable. We could only fill him full of milk until he passed out. He showed some separation anxiety before all this, but that was mild in comparison. He's exhausted, we're exhausted, and we're on the periphery of another family dealing with another cancer death. It's rattled loose the memories of 2008 and navigating My Mom through two family funerals within a month.

He's settled into two verbal patterns. We all know the traditional baby talk sounds of ba-ba and ga-ga, but his sounds are distinct. He strings together the hard consonants like a mantra or a drum loop.

we bought the beginnings of our garden supplies: potatoes to quarter, seed packets, and ground cover. Your Sister put up black netting on the back deck to keep the sidekick from shoving his head through the bars.

I'm making progress by switching time between inking and lettering. I'm up to page 18 of the 24-pager, including time needed to rewrite entire scenes atop the artwork.

The sketch of page 8.
The artwork with lettering.
I spoke to the father of a student spending time in Japan this semester. Her foreign-study group is bringing everyone back home early seemingly so the dorms can be used by refugees from the areas near the nuclear plants.

I filled out a March Madness bracket on ESPN and correctly picked 9 of the Sweet Sixteen teams. I have UNC winning the whole thing. We also learned a student who requested recommendation letters from Your Sister got into UNC on Friday. She's one of three we know of going there in the fall. I spent many an hour last week drawing the comic while listening to basketball

The time change seems to have dusted off my initiative programming. I'm getting up very early and want to do everything. That may be why I drew and inked the shirt artwork all last night. Check your email.