Monday, November 26, 2007

But I Prattle On

Like most good geeks—and readers of Wil Wheaton’s blog—know, the young, ex-Starfleet-ensign-turned-stepdad-and-author guest-starred on the CBS series “Numb3ers” last Friday as an arrogant comic dealer whose “unique” copy of a rare comic is stolen, resulting in the murder of a security guard on a convention floor.

Although Mr. Wheaton was not in the episode for very long, this past weekend a friend who also saw the show commented: “You know who Wil was playing, right?”

“Um, who?” I said.

“Todd McFarlane,” my friend answered. “Look at the character – a former comic artist who turned to buying rare comics only to turn them out for a profit.”

“Maybe,” I shrugged (at the time).

But now that I think about it, I’ll bet my friend was right. Bloggers on Wil’s site have seconded the motion more than once.

Is this alleged criticism of McFarlane fair, though? Well, sure. It’s not as if the man is above a knock, and despite my feelings that McFarlane is a poor writer and his art-style has declined from “relatively clean” to “more chaotic than Jackson Pollock” in a few short years, making money from comics is hardly illegal.

That’s why they are often called “investments.”

And there’s no doubt that McFarlane is an investor, and has diversified his interests into a decent-sized fortune. So bully for him, even if McFarlane is an arrogant jerk.

Finally, not that any of you were chomping at the bit to find out, but I’ve opted not to make a third consecutive trip to San Diego in 2008 to the big Con. While I enjoyed my two previous visits to the show, last year’s event felt like a carbon copy of ’06. In fact, I spent far more time exploring San Diego itself (and time well spent that was) than hanging at the massive Con Center where this unfortunate incident occurred....


Wally West is such a prick.

No warning at all, the bastard just sucker-punches me as I was browsing the Bud Plant booth and runs off like a little girl. But don't worry, I'll settle his hash but good.

Anyhow I’ll take a break from SoCal in 2008, and perhaps shoot for a few days in Las Vegas (to which I have never gone) instead. Ten bucks says on my first night in town my hands will quiver from the constant overstimulation of blinky lights.

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