That's a good question... Where HAVE I been?
Here, there, perhaps nowhere... eating honey with a bear...
Reading comics, some like these...
Reading others that feature cheese...
Or kicking back with DVDs!
Go ask LOBO... He might know...
...But here's one place... I DIDN'T GO!
Not in '20... or '21...
...Since COVID had me... on the RUN!
Okay, everyone... we all know why I didn't go in 2020... because there was NO con!
I didn't expect to one to happen in 2021 either - but somehow it is doing exactly that as I write this! And, as much as I LOVE New York Comic Con, in this time of Delta and likely heretofore unknown additional variants, I just can't see myself confined to any indoor space that could possibly look like THIS!
I'm sad about it, to be sure... but better safe (at home) than sorry!
I'd be wearing a mask, was double-vaccinated in 2020 - and, within the last thirty days, have received a COVID vaccine booster. But, I'm still not ready to face this... or even a scaled-down version of anything like it.
So, for the first time in I-Forget-How-Many-Years, there will be a New York Comic Con without me! Maybe next year...
Oh, but WHERE HAVE I BEEN?
Does the answer "Horrifically Busy" count as a "where"?
Lately, I've been deeper "underwater" than THESE GUYS!
The Blog and my personal communications, in particular, have gone to hell, and, I'm sorry about that!
But, now as I begin to surface once again, and life begins working its way back to normalcy, I hope to begin regular posting very soon! ...I also hope you all find your way back, because it's all of you that make this thing fun!
...And what good is anything without FUN!
8 comments:
I'm relieved to hear you're doing well, Joe. Not only did I miss your blog, I was starting to worry about you! In fact, the only reason I didn't reach out via email is that I was (and remain, actually) horrifically busy myself! I don't blame you for skipping New York Comic Con. I, too, avoid public places as much as possible these days. I'm often shocked at how nonchalant many people in my neck of the woods seem to be about Covid. You'd think the pandemic was over with all the merry-making this past summer. I'm glad to hear you've been vaccinated and have gotten a booster shot. They say Covid will never go away, which horrifies me. On the positive side, I did see a recent news story that quoted experts as predicting that Delta is Covid's last big wave. Let's hope so. Looking forward to some more fun here at TIAH.
Welcome back, Joe! A remarkable thing--in your absence I just happened to be taking a stroll through the year 2012 in your Blog Archives, and amazingly, most of the images you posted above just now were similar or identical to images you posted back then! It's like a trip through the earlier years of the Blog in one posting!
I especially delighted in the Gold Key Comics tribute, which is as commemorative, significant, and relevant today as it was then. 90 comments! Wow! Them were the days!
It was really fun visiting those older posts. Wonderful stuff, and now wonderful memories!
That said, I am hugely glad you are back in person (so to speak) and I look forward to more delights!
Sergio:
Thanks for the kind words, and for your concern.
No, nothing is wrong… but both Esther and I find ourselves spending a LOT of time “keeping things right”! There hasn’t been a week in the last few months where we didn’t have one or more doctor’s appointments, or some other health related matter to tend to. But all of it thus far (thankfully) has been corrective or preventative, rather than curative.
I’m also afraid that, thanks to the actions of way too many of our fellow Americans, COVID will remain a lingering (or forever-type) threat in this country, when it could have been dealt with and largely knocked-out during the past year and a half. Ignorance or deliberate stupidity comes with a price – but I resent having to pay that price for the actions (or inactions) of others! As I’m fond of saying these days… “Freedom has somehow decoupled itself from responsibility!”, and the result of that unfortunate untwining is with us every day.
BUT, I’ve said more than enough about that!
I’m also “looking forward to some more fun here at TIAH”, and so shall I soon deliver!
Scarecrow:
Thank you too for the kind words and the “back-welcoming”!
I’m not surprised that you found all of those images in prior posts, because I keep a large number of “stock images” that can be useful in a number of different posts – comic covers, comic panels, DVD box covers, images from TV and movies, and the like. Though, it stems more from a lack of maintenance than any deliberate effort at curation.
Sometimes, I even challenge myself to prepare a post with only existing images – though this cannot apply to the “Adventures in Comics Boxing” and “Separated at Mirth” type of posts, by their very nature – and this was such a post. A comeback and a small self-challenge rolled into one.
I should add that life for Esther and me is not all doctors… We are now in a situation where we must now care for Averi (4 in November) and Cici (1 last month), staying with us about three days per week. Everything comes to a joyous halt when they are here – but even a “joyous halt” is still a halt, and lots of things don’t get done. …As was the case with the Blog and lots of my personal communications.
But things are lightning up a bit, and here I am again! And, if I can promise Sergio “more fun”, I can certainly promise you “more delights”! Stick around…
And, yes… that Gold Key post may very well be this Blog’s crowning achievement – though it was still very far from complete, as I view it. So much more I could have done. So many things I left out. And I didn’t have a scanner back then and had to rely on cover images from here there and everywhere.
But that’s as close as I’m ever going to come to writing a book on the subject, so let it stand!
Well, caring for your delightful granddaughters three days a week is definitely enough of a reason to be behind on everything else! I'm glad to hear that your main distraction has been a happy one. And that the medical appointments are all preventative or corrective.
I took my annual leafing trip to Vermont on the sunny days at the end of last week, and spent some time in a small, maple-graced cemetery in northern Vermont. Interesting to see the headstones of not only men who served or died in the Civil War (fairly common in Vermont cemeteries) but also of one who served in the Revolutionary War! But man, I really wished we could take all the anti-vaxxers and set them to counting the graves of children in pre-1900 cemeteries. Is this the outcome you want to be free to reinstate? It's such a deep irony that it is precisely the sterling effectiveness of vaccines which has allowed many people to contest their necessity. OK, now I too have said enough about that!
Elaine:
Yes, we are currently in the throes of that happy distraction as I write this – only because Cici has just gone to bed, and Averi is presently in the bath! You grab your moments when you can!
In a way, it’s a shame that we don’t have a national cemetery for COVID deaths – with separate sections for the unfortunate pre-vaccine deaths and for the self-invited post-vaccine unvaccinated deaths! Maybe THAT image might change some minds! I’ll just say this… there isn’t ANY current political figure or entrenched philosophy that I would be willing to die for – especially when such a death is so easily preventable or made much less likely! …And I will NEVER, for as long as I live, understand those who would!
But we’ll get back to our usual fun stuff in just a few more days – and will hopefully maintain it as its pre-summer levels!
Wise call on the con.
Speaking of that Vincent Price set, I watched The Raven with some friends online a couple of weeks ago to kickstart October, a sequel to our same event with Comedy of Terrors last year. Price, Karloff, *and* Lorre together in a couple movies-- what more could you want?
Glad to see you back!
Glad to see YOU back too, Abe!
Well, the Con has come-and-gone, and I (who neither came nor went) am none the worse for wear… and I can only hope the same applies to all those that did go!
Kickstarting October with Vincent Price? What a wonderful idea!
My film group chose to do so with “The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake” (1959) and “The Skull” (1965), the latter starring Peter Cushing (with some amazing wordless acting by Cushing) and Christopher Lee! I’d say, time well spent for both of us!
To “The Raven”, another longtime favorite of mine, is there anything better than Peter Lorre in that raven suit?! …Yeah, maybe… but not very much!
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