Around the Neighborhood

It’s been a busy few days with a lot to report about recent web activity relating to this site.  But before we get into that, a little good news for the family with the birth of my daughter’s first baby boy on Tuesday morning. Congratulations to Moshe and Oshrat Hefetz for making us twice the grandparents. Things will be a little busy on all fronts for the next couple of weeks as the young couple will be staying by us and adding to an already rigorous home environment.  We wouldn’t have it any other way, actually.

Onto the web-neighborhood news:

• Chuck Wells is the long time blogger/proprietor of Comic Book Catacombs. In a recent post, he described his general misfortune with buying original art and how fate smiled upon him by his winning the Kobra drawing produced for the Jack Kirby Collector during the Inkwell Awards Benefit Auction at the recent Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC.  As a result, Chuck has posted a gracious biographical profile at his blog, mostly derived from my Wikipedia biography, with a few new, nice, personal and subtle nuances. Cheers, Mr. Wells.

• Jim Shelley is one of the participants in Flashback Universe, a delightful blog bridging the Golden and Digital Ages. In a recent post, Today Mars, Tomorrow the Universe! he collects the Martian Manhunter series I drew in 1976 and bridges it to the Campaign to Save J’onn J’onzz from January 2008: “The art in this run was primarily by Mike Netzer (as Mike Nasser) (remember that guy? He often got tagged as a Neal Adams clone, but he was really too good for such a lazy tag as that.) Netzer must have really gotten attached to the Martian Manhunter, because years later, when there were rumors that MM would be killed as the kickoff event of Final Crisis, Netzer posted a very sincere plea to DC to spare the Green Gumshoe.” Much gratitude for the kind sentiment, Mr. Shelley.

• Philippe Theophanidis maintains an “iconographic and text archive related to communication, technology and art“, Aphelis. Not at all related to comics, though the passing of Jeffrey Catherine Jones has apparently fallen under his radar. In a thoughtful presentation of one of the artist’s paintings, Phillipe links to a few obits/tributes, including our own contribution: “Fellow artist Michael Netzer generously shares his memories and thoughts on his website. It certainly is one of the most warm and interesting tributes available online for the moment: “Woman In The Man. The Many Gifts of Jeffrey Catherine Jones”, May 20, 2011.” Thank you for sharing a thought-provoking image and presentation, Mr. Theophanidis.

• Armageddon Diplomacy has received a little coverage, starting with web pioneer and good friend Rik Offenberger at First Comics News. Next up was Rick Veitch and Steve Conley‘s ground breaking Comicon.com: The Pulse, which has been covering a good part of the activity here recently. Many thanks good sirs.

• The most controversial reportage on Armageddon Diplomacy comes from none other than the comics news and rumor wizard, journalist Rich Johnston, who carried an item about it at Bleeding Cool.  Very few writers can use a term like “Cheeky Fucker” as endearingly as Rich does. Cheers, Mr. Johnston.  The item became one of the more viewed stories on the site for that day. The fallout of reader reactions on the article’s forum discussion was expected, but it’s not easy to keep up with it considering the Grand-Central-Station-atmosphere in the house right now. The growing 5 page discussion there is shaping up nicely and it’s a good read for more insight into the 2 page piece, and the effect it has. I think there might be a surprise coming up on this story, so stay tuned.