Penultimatrix

Frack, it’s November. That’s about nine weeks left for the year. I need to rush things that had to be completed a long time ago. I must, for the nth time, reorganize and begin doing things that I kept postponing these past few months. I also need to cut down on toys and fast food meals for the nonce—waaahh!—because I really need to, now. I wish money grew on trees.

Adarna has announced that they’ll be publishing new graphic novels again under their Anino imprint, and that they’ll be looking over submissions and proposals. Three friends, really intelligent writers I respect—Oscar, Adam and Benedict—are hoping that I can draw their stories for them. Told them I can’t promise anything yet; I’m really deep in stuff right now. Also, I was thinking that I should also finish the story I began illustrating months ago. I dunno. Maybe. We’ll see. Thank you, guys.

And the Doctor is Out

Doogie’s style (pic from yahooTV)

Theater and television actor Neil Patrick Harris, who portrayed prodigious doctor Doogie Howser in the early ‘90s series of the same name, recently told People Magazine, “I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business that I love.”

Hmm, you know, this gives new meaning to an episode where his character postponed sleeping with the girlfriend character (Wanda?), for the first time. Heehee. That’s the episode I can remember most from that show. They did do it eventually in a later episode, I think, but by then, the sparks, and my interest in their pairing, had waned. It was timely, though, because back then, very few shows were on that tackled the problems and situations of teenagers (he was pretty normal, angst- and lovelife-wise, beneath his medical genius). It’s not that 90210 wasn’t trying, but that show felt alien and unreal to me.

This was pre-cable and pre-‘net, too, so you can imagine that TV viewing back then was, come to think of it, strange and very limited. Doogie was kinda ahead of his time, too, in that he kept a journal in his computer. He’s a pre-blogger blogger, if you will; his thoughts and lessons learned were quietly shared to the literate viewer at the end of every episode.

Well, I’m glad that Mr. Harris is brave and honest about it. Not that celebrities have an obligation to disclose their sexual orientation or preference--forced outings are just not right--but this voluntary revelation sends a message to young and confused gay people, heck, even older ones and those who identify as straight persons that, yes, it’s all right to be different.

This Is It Boys, This Is War

Weeks ago, I bought a copy of the Secret Wars trade paperback, a compilation of one of Marvel’s early crossover events. Back in 1984, I was only able to read a classmate’s random copies, which included the last few issues of the 12-parter. I always wondered how Spidey got his black costume, who Zsaji the alien healer was, and how the big hero-villain battles went. I got the first issue in 1987 for P 25 (at the school's bookstore!), but I think I swapped it for a couple of X-Men issues that a neighbor had.

Reading it now as a whole, well, it was underwhelming. The narrative feels dated; there were repetitive recaps sneaked into dialogue every issue, and the art was uneven. It’s hard to figure out what was happening when the artists, the regular and fill-in pencilers, would compress really tiny figures--indistinct scrawls!--into small panels. That was too bad, because I liked the covers. They were detailed and were, by far, better-looking than the interiors.

As far as the story goes, it was a drawn-out event that had only a few real and memorable slugfests. And come on! It was really unbelievable when Spider-Man and the Wasp each took the X-men by surprise and beat them in quick battles. Also, I don’t get Magneto’s weird abduction of the Wasp and their subsequent makeout session.

But I liked how ex-villain Molecule Man was re-established as someone who was a nice enough guy, and had powers that dwarfed the Marvel Universe’s mightiest cosmic-level characters. The X-Men-Avengers rift was also interesting to see, as well as Dr. Doom’s driven series of attacks against Galactus and the Beyonder.

Its sequel, Secret Wars II, for all its infinite tie-ins and messy art, had more substance and direction. I re-read that again a few months ago, and while the big conflicts in that second series were lacking in oomph, it was philosophical and probing from time to time. I couldn’t really get into it when I was a kid, though, which is understandable. They were two entirely different things altogether. I wonder, though, if kid readers today will find Secret Wars entertaining. Hmm.