Ayn, Neal and the world around me...

[dover]

Tomorrow, Jeff Jones went through an interesting change I did not expect in the journey through the Studio members...

[dover]

the Studio

 

 

 

 

 

Bernie Wrightson, Jeff Jones, Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor Smith

 

 

Now the last member, Jeffery Jones took quite a turn after leaving the Studio.

 

http://www.jeffreyjones-art.com/

 

In the late 1990s Jones confronted some personal problems and, after considerable medical tests and consultations, had an operation for sex reassignment surgery.[3] In 2001, she experienced a nervous breakdown and lost her home and workspace. Since 2004, she has her own apartment, and is again producing work.

 

 

 

Born, January 10, 1944, Atlanta, Georgia

 

 

Early one morning, I mean before sunrise, I walked into the Studio I shared at that time with Kaluta, Windsor-Smith and Wrightson. It must have been sometime in 1978, I think, because by that time Michael and I had all but moved into the Studio, visiting our apartments occasionally only to pick up the mail. We would cross paths about this time of day because I slept at night and Michael slept... well in 1978 he was a very important sleeper. On this memorable morning, as I opened the big horizontal steel lock on the big steel door, I found Michael crouched behind his drawing

table, now swung into a vertical position, with a BB gun. A pistol. "Welcome to 'Desolation Row" he said as he peered with one eye over the top of the table.

 

I have to back up a month to say what led up to this seeming desperate situation. From the time we moved into the Studio in June of 1976, Michael came some months later, we heard scurrying noises in the quiet hours of the night. Mice. Well, at first some of us thought they were cute and some of us didn't. By the time the mice added chewing on artwork, stacks of posters and electrical cords to their scurrying, (one mouse was discovered stiff and dead with it's teeth still clamped to an extension cord) we all decided they weren't cute anymore. But we being peaceful children of the sixties, "death to the mice" was not an immediate option. It was decided that the answer was 'Have a Heart' traps that would capture them alive. Then what? Well Michael and I acquired an aquarium to house the mice in, sort of like pets. We couldn't find authentic 'Have a Heart' traps but got some pirated copies at the local hardware store. Needless to say these didn't always work properly. Some mice would get caught, some would get away and a few we would find dead or almost dead with a trap door pinning their rear ends halfway out into the room. The mice we caught Michael and I would put into the aquarium and feed peanut butter. One midnight when we decided the aquarium was full enough, Michael and I took it down the elevator from our 12th floor aerie to the lobby and out into the night. Across the street we went, feeling for all the world like saviors of mice, to an empty parking lot. Buildings rose tall and dark on all sides of us and I guess we wondered where the mice would end up. But that would be somebody else's problem. As we tipped over the aquarium with a stick, all the mice swarmed out into the night. Yes, swarmed. They moved as a herd, a dark mass, back across the street and back into our building.

 

Michael had been sitting for hours behind his drawing board with his pistol, a BB gun, watching as a mouse would creep along the far wall beneath the radiators. "The BBs don't really kill them", he explained. "They just get stunned." "What do you do with them", I asked. "I put them in a paper bag and drop them out the 12th floor window", he smiled.

 

 

[dover]

 

...of, by and for.....

 

 

 

The Declaration of Independence stated that men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Whether one believes that man is the product of a Creator or of nature, the issue of man’s origin does not alter the fact that he is an entity of a specific kind—a rational being—that he cannot function successfully under coercion, and that rights are a necessary condition of his particular mode of survival.

 

“The source of man’s rights is not divine law or congressional law, but the law of identity. A is A—and Man is Man. Rights are conditions of existence required by man’s nature for his proper survival. If man is to live on earth, it is right for him to use his mind, it is right to act on his own free judgment, it is right to work for his values and to keep the product of his work. If life on earth is his purpose, he has a right to live as a rational being: nature forbids him the irrational.” (Atlas Shrugged)

 

To violate man’s rights means to compel him to act against his own judgment, or to expropriate his values. Basically, there is only one way to do it: by the use of physical force. There are two potential violators of man’s rights: the criminals and the government. The great achievement of the United States was to draw a distinction between these two—by forbidding to the second the legalized version of the activities of the first.

 

The Declaration of Independence laid down the principle that “to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.” This provided the only valid justification of a government and defined its only proper purpose: to protect man’s rights by protecting him from physical violence.

 

Thus the government’s function was changed from the role of ruler to the role of servant. The government was set to protect man from criminals—and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government. The Bill of Rights was not directed against private citizens, but against the government—as an explicit declaration that individual rights supersede any public or social power.

 

The result was the pattern of a civilized society which—for the brief span of some hundred and fifty years—America came close to achieving. A civilized society is one in which physical force is banned from human relationships—in which the government, acting as a policeman, may use force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use.

 

This was the essential meaning and intent of America’s political philosophy, implicit in the principle of individual rights. But it was not formulated explicitly, nor fully accepted nor consistently practiced.

 

 

 

Selfish indeed......

[dover]

10:30 PM, Sunday May 1st.

 

 

Listing comics on E-Bay, watched Patton 3D on the History channel, that ened went to Fox News for back ground noise. Geraldo at Large was on and he keeps talking about the President giving a briefing at any moment. Something big, no details, but very important.

 

Announced ahead of time, story leaked: Usama Bin Laden is dead!!!

 

F**K that piece of trash. Thank you to the United States Military.

 

 

[dover]

God bless America!!

 

Goodbye Superman, hello Navy seals!

[dover]

"What a glorious morning this is!"

 

--Samuel Adams

[dover]

Just an update:

 

The Adams collection so far (I think).

 

 

 

Magazines in the theme of Adams...

 

Emergency

 

 

 

 

Epic

 

 

 

 

Savage Tales

 

..

 

 

 

Six Million Dollar Man

 

.

 

 

 

COMIC SECTION:

 

Action Comics

 

......

 

......

 

......

 

..

 

 

 

Adventure Comics

 

......

 

..

 

 

 

All Star Western

 

..

 

 

 

Avengers

 

.

 

 

 

the Batman....

 

......

 

.

 

 

 

from Beyond the Unknown

 

 

 

 

the Brave and the Bold

 

......

 

.....

 

 

 

Challengers of the Unknown

 

 

 

 

Conan the Barbarian

 

 

 

 

DC Specials

 

...

 

 

 

Detective Comics

 

......

 

......

 

......

 

..

 

 

 

the Flash

 

...

 

 

 

Green Lanterns...

 

......

 

...

 

 

 

Hot Stuff

 

 

 

 

House of Mystery

 

......

 

.....

 

 

 

House of Secrets

 

.....

 

 

 

the Justice League of America

 

............

 

.....

 

 

 

 

Marvel Spotlight

 

 

 

 

the Phantom Stranger

 

......

 

.....

 

 

 

Jimmy and Lois

 

......

 

..

 

.....

 

 

 

Six Million Dollar Man

 

 

 

the Spectre

 

...

 

 

 

the Strange Adventures

 

......

 

...

 

 

 

Superboy

 

......

 

......

 

......

 

....

 

 

Superman

 

......

 

......

 

......

 

.....

 

 

 

Superman Family

 

 

 

 

Tales of the Unexpected

 

 

 

 

Tomahawk

 

......

 

....

 

 

 

 

the Unexpected

 

.....

 

 

 

Weird Western Tales

 

 

 

 

the Witching Hour

 

.

 

 

 

the World's Finest

 

......

 

......

 

.

 

 

 

[dover]

 

I have seen it all....

 

We have had equipment reps in town all week at my place of employment. I have been given the task of handling them. Great fun, no problem. Always good to interact with the rest of the world.

 

They are from India. Very nice guys. Well last night we went shopping for gadgets and things for them to take back. We happened to go into Walmart for the shopping experience of their life. I know how to show them a good time, I know. Well they find the jewelry and start looking at watches. One of them picks out three watches that he wants to buy. He says to the lady helping them, "is this your best price?"

 

I had to step in and help the sales person out and tell them that there was no bartering at Walmart, that is their best price. It is the best price any where. I did wonder later where the watches were made......

[Twistty1]

Collection is looking great Dover.

[Twistty1]

I have seen it all....

 

We have had equipment reps in town all week at my place of employment. I have been given the task of handling them. Great fun, no problem. Always good to interact with the rest of the world.

 

They are from India. Very nice guys. Well last night we went shopping for gadgets and things for them to take back. We happened to go into Walmart for the shopping experience of their life. I know how to show them a good time, I know. Well they find the jewelry and start looking at watches. One of them picks out three watches that he wants to buy. He says to the lady helping them, "is this your best price?"

 

I had to step in and help the sales person out and tell them that there was no bartering at Walmart, that is their best price. It is the best price any where. I did wonder later where the watches were made......

 

The bartering system can be a good thing or bad thing. I am terrible at bartering, my wife on the other hand is great at it. On our honeymoon in Turkey she got us all kinds of great deals, where I was quick to just pay the asking.

[dover]

Collection is looking great Dover.

 

Thank you.

 

[dover]

 

 

"Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing."

 

-- Neal Adams, Expanding Earth, 1971

[dover]

 

I am going to Heroes Con this year and it is getting close. Heroes is a nice little show, not the big mega media shows with everything entertainment and some comic books too. It is about the artist and the collector.

 

The artist Alley is unbelievable. The list is long and full of talent of the pencil, ink and color. From the new to the experienced. You can talk to the Master Bernie Writghtson, Herb Trimpe, Terry Moore and Nick Cardy will be there this year. Nick Cardy, talk about living in the shadows. This guy is awesome, beautiful work and amazing covers. His only problem was working at the time of that Neal guy. Cardy's work is under valued and under appreciated.

 

I have made it my mission this year to get sketches. I have already lined up a Terry Moore sketch, working on a Chrissie Zullo sketch and a Mark Brooks sketch, hopefully.

 

Just going down the list of artists and seeing their work is fun. A huge range of talent. My hope is to get some Wonder Womans and Supergirls and Adam Strange. I will really hope to get a recreation in the vain of Strange Adventures 9. I think that would lend itself to some neat interpretations.

 

Here is a Chrissie Zullo sketch:

 

[dover]

 

Happy Mother's Day!!

 

We had the second annual Mother's Day celebration at Carowinds!!

CAROWINDS

 

Hard to beat a day at the amusement park to celebrate mom. The kids really started to get into the roller coasters and the more fun rides. We did not have to go on any of the kiddy rides!

 

Started with breakfast in bed. The kids and I serve what ever the Queen wants in the comforts of bed. Pretty good time.

 

[dover]

 

 

Even managed to incorporate sketches into the trip:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John R]

That's a cool caricature. Are you an artist by trade?

[dover]

That's a cool caricature. Are you an artist by trade?

 

Nope, not me. It was done at Carowinds by a high school student.

[dover]

 

 

 

Neal Adams is coming to Heroes Con!! What to do?? What to wear? What to sign or sketch or ask or.....

 

I might not make it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TeddieMercede]

 

 

Neal Adams is coming to Heroes Con!! What to do?? What to wear? What to sign or sketch or ask or.....

 

I might not make it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bring the wife to snooze up to him !

[dover]

 

New to the fold.....white pages, perfect centering, a pedigree...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

House of Mystery

 

......

 

......

 

.

 

 

 

House of Secrets

 

.....