Gone, But Not Really

February 16 marked my former editor Louie Camino’s first death anniversary. He was a very generous guy who gave me the opportunity to write for the paper almost four years ago. He was a unique, fatherly individual. When I was starting out, I emailed him by my fifth published article to thank him for his continued generosity. He responded, in an email dated May 23, 2002:

“No thanks to me. Your articles are printed here because they deserve to be. In short, you write well.

But that doesn't give you license to nag me about your cheques. Kidding.”

In another message, he wrote:

"Keep on writing. For me."

I’d like to think that I became one of his trusted friends who, while not always around, was someone with whom he can be himself and share his real thoughts about certain things, touchy topics and people. Sir Louie found me “candid”, and once told me in not so many words, that like my parents, he’s also proud of me.

The last time I spoke to him was about a month before his death. He was at the office despite the doctor's advice, working his ass off to the wee hours as usual. He sounded sad but a little hopeful, but it was also apparent that he knew that it wasn’t long before he had to go.

He was a good man, and I miss him sometimes.

Alpha Flight Disassembled

Spoilers!

What the hell? In New Avengers # 16, we're introduced to the Collective, a new cosmic-level threat that, supposedly, effortlessly killed Canadian super-team Alpha Flight off-panel. How unimaginative. Like “Avengers Disassembled”, this first part of a new arc has similarly disposed of (mostly) beloved characters to make the story more meaningful, and to show how bad-ass and kickass the new villain is. Off-panel? Geez. I don’t doubt that they’ll be resurrected in the future, revamped and relaunched, but come on. It’s like the writer’s expecting the uproar that accompanied Hawkeye’s lame “death”. And what’s up with the nine full-page pinup shots? Ah, decompression doesn’t work in this book. It’s a little sad, because the last two issues were good. I was hoping the pace would pick up and improve after that. I also hoped that this incarnation of the team would be a memorable one that redefines the concept. But the characters and distinctly different lineup pose a lot of possibilities that have yet to be tapped into.

By the way, Shaman said “Yeah, right.” Wha--? That doesn’t fit with his normal, more formal speech patterns at all, like Namor yelled “Have at thee!” during the Sentry arc (Atlanteans now speak Asgardian-Shakespearean!). Impostors? Maybe created by Wanda? Huh.

There's a rumored second Avengers title in the works. Hope Grant Morrison's doing that.