Haunting GrimJack
Is one body better than none? Find out in this week’s all-new, full-color episode of GrimJack: The Manx Cat, by John Ostrander and Timothy Truman.
Author: Martha Thomases
Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves
In today’s free, full-color episode of Demons of Sherwood, by Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley, Robin and Marian fall back to their own habits. All the arguments of marriage, with the promise of some sweet making up.
Ballad of a Thin Man, by Martha Thomases
Last weekend, we finally caught up with I’m Not There, the brilliant Todd Haynes movie about the myths of Bob Dylan. The director intertwines the lives of six men, each symbolizing a stage of Dylan’s artistic development and public persona. They include a wide range: a young black boy, played by Marcus Carl Franklin; the protest singer, played by Christian Bale; the walking, talking enigma played by Cate Blanchett; the egomaniacal prick, played by Heath Ledger; the romantic, Ben Winshaw; and the lonesome recluse, played by Richard Gere. I don’t know if you’d like it if you aren’t a Dylan fan, but, if you are, it’s an amazing narrative.On Monday, Brian Williams reported on the NBC Nightly News that the Monday of the last full week of January is known as “Blue Monday,” because it’s the single day that the most people are depressed, and has the highest suicide rate.
On Tuesday, Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment.
I don’t mean to imply that he committed suicide. His body was found by a masseuse, with whom he had an appointment, and people planning suicide don’t usually get a massage first. As I write this, there’s not a lot of information about what caused his death. The autopsy didn’t reveal anything, nor was there a suicide note. Police found prescription drugs in the apartment, but they’d find prescription drugs in my apartment, too. There was no evidence that these drugs had been taken in anything other than the prescribed dose.
He was only 28 years old, and he had a daughter, Matilda, age two. And now he’s gone.
We know and grieve over Heath Ledger because he was famous. We knew his face. We sat in the dark of movie theaters, and projected our own emotions into his eyes. He was young and handsome and talented, and it’s a loss for all of us.
Those of us who love comics felt a special kinship, because he was playing The Joker in The Dark Knight. The trailers and the early teasers indicate that he gave a brilliant performance, one that understands the complicated character created by Jerry Robinson and further sculpted by dozens of writers and artists over the past 50 years.
Diamond, diamond, who has the diamond?
In today’s brand-new episode of Mike Grell’s Jon Sable: Freelance: Ashes of Eden, Jon and Maggie the Cat alibi each other for the theft of the McGuffin. The wealthy socialites at the party where it was stolen? They need to be frisked.
Timothy Truman Saves Walt Whitman’s Brain
Today, there’s a full, free issue of Black Lamb, featuring splattered body parts, intrigue, mobs and the void of space.
Good stuff from Timothy Truman, in full color, on ComicMix.
Quit Your Day Job?
Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley illustrate the classic conundrum in today’s brand-new episode of EZ Street: How do you support yourself when you’re doing what you were born to do? Can you create art and still have a job? Is it worth it?
Heath Ledger Found Dead – Updated
MSNBC and TMZ.com are reporting that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in a Manhattan apartment today. Prescription pills were found at the scene of his death.
Ledger, who was scheduled to appear in this summer’s Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight, was also nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Brokeback Mountain.
He had a two-year old daughter with actress Michelle Williams, with whom he co-starred in Brokeback Mountain.
UPDATE: Police are now stating that the actor’s death appears to be a suicide. While media sources originally reported that the apartment in which Ledger was found belonged to actress Mary-Kate Olsen, a spokesperson for Olsen has now denied this report.
Giant, Flying Mushrooms in GrimJack
In today’s all-new, full-color and FREE episode of GrimJack, John Ostrander and Timothy Truman reveal the secret behind the theft of the Manx Cat. Find out why it must be returned — or the universes will collapse upon themselves!
Special preview illustration this week if you vote! Be the first to see… but that would be telling!
Robin and Marian, together again
In today’s all-new episode of Demons of Sherwood, Bo Hampton and Robert Tinnell continue their rolicking tale of love, legend, and witchcraft in Nottingham.
Can you go home again?
Every Man a King, by Martha Thomases
In the kind of coincidence that seems manufactured for this campaign season, Dr. Martin Luther King is in the news during the same week that we celebrate his birth and life. In a speech last week, Senator Hillary Clinton said (among other things), “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act… It took a president to get it done.” The media pounced on this as an attack on Senator Barack Obama and his alleged lack of experience in politics.They got it wrong.
Oh, sure, that may be what she meant to imply. And it’s certainly easier to cover a news story that’s nothing more than a war of words, a clash of personalities, a spat among gladiators in the electoral arena. It’s an easy narrative, one that pundits can discuss without having to do much actual studying or other work.
It is true that Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. It’s true that he, and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party at the time, along with liberal Republicans (yes, there were such people), were the parts of the government that worked towards this end.
