Thursday, December 21, 2006

Obi-Wan was Right After All

My best friend's son Sean is six years old. As the son of a former comic book reader and gamer, he has quite the active imagination. Whether his attention is occupied by video games, cartoons, movies, books, or just running around the house, Sean is always in another world in another guise.

Last year when Sean was five, his parents took him to see Star Wars Episode III despite warnings that it was too dark for young children. A seasoned veteran of Star Wars: Battlefronts,
Sean had never been able to comprehend in video games that Anakin and Darth Vader were the same person. He was convinced that Anakin was good and Darth Vader was bad and that was that. His parents tried to resist taking him to see the movie, but Sean was not to be denied.

He sat enthralled for the first half of the movie, but when Anakin Skywalker was brought over to the dark side of the force and attacked the Jedi temple, it was too much for young Sean. During the scene where Anakin locks himself in a room full of Padawan younglings with his lightsaber activated, Sean jumped up on his seat, shouting to the screen, "STOP THAT! I WILL KILL YOU!" His mother had to rush him out of the theater because he was so upset.

One of my contentions with the Star Wars series is that most of the other films flat-out contradict things that were stated in the 1977 movie. But that day, to a five-year old, Obi-Wan was right. Darth Vader had betrayed and murdered Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Spectre #2



I’ve always loved Neal Adams’ artwork. When I bought this copy of Spectre #2 I couldn’t believe how bright the colors were for a comic book that was printed so long ago. When I briefly tried out CGC’s grading service, this was one of the three books I submitted.

Goodbye, Old Friends

Selling my comic book collection closes the door on my youth. I'm only 41 years old, but I have new priorities. We are adopting a baby girl from China, and my desire to be a father is greater than my need to keep hold of my childhood. It's an expensive process, and this collection is how we're going to pay for it. Follow my stories as I say goodbye to each set of books. You might even find something you'd like to buy!