Tagged: Michael Davis

Our week in review

This is the week ComicMix went interactive, adding our comments feature and Active Conversation/Latest Comments windows at the right.  Rest assured there’s much more to come, but in the meantime here’s your weekly catch-up on our regular columns:

And I think it’s high time I got caught up myself on Mellifluous Mike Raub‘s latest podcasts:

Listen to ’em as you work on your taxes; that’ll take the edge off!

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What you may have missed

I’m back, and on a personal note I would like to thank everyone for their very kind wishes and condolences on the death of my father, more about which on Wednesday if I can manage to make Dad the focus of my next column. 

In the meantime, things here seem a bit — different, don’t they? So let’s get caught up first before we jump into the newer stuff.  Here’s your one-click guide to the regular columns and podcasts from the past two weeks.  First the columns:

Flip through our pages for the past couple weeks to check out contributions from Martha, Robert, Kai, Matt and others in our extended ComicMix family!  And I hope that you’re as eager as I am to catch up on all our podcasts as Mellifluous Mike Raub marches on:

There you go, lots of reading and listening — and all fodder for much commentary from you, we hope!  Feel free to let fly in our brand-new comments section below, coming shortly!

ComicMix week five

Time again for your one-stop shopping roundup of this week’s regular columns and podcasts!  Here are the columns:

And here are mellifluous Mike Raub‘s podcasts:

See below for the first regular Above and Beyond column from Glenn Hauman.  And don’t forget to check with us on weekends (and occasionally even during the week) for our special Opinion pieces and feature reports!

Michael Davis: Model Behavior

michael-davis100-9812506I have to apologize to my editor Mike Gold for this column upfront. Sorry, Mike, I told you I would write an article about education and empowerment and I will, I promise! But I have to write this article because, well, you will see why…

A few days ago I was at the Sprint store trying to get my cell phone serviced. Some idiot at the Palm Company sent me an email telling me that I needed to download some new software so my smartphone can handle the new daylight saving time.

Well let’s just say my smartphone is as dumb as a brick. When I downloaded the darn software it erased all my information on the phone. By the way, the phone automatically changed the date an hour later.

I went to the Sprint store to get them restore some of what I lost. While I was there a sweet young lady named Azy hooked me up by spending two hours with Palm technical support on my problem. She was cool but I had just wasted two hours of a beautiful day and this was first day in weeks that I had a moment to myself. Need to say I was not happy!

When I left I went to a car dealership across the street. I went there to calm down (hey, nothing calms a dude down like shopping for a new car; ladies – cars are a man’s shoes) When I got to the car dealer there, in all her glory, was a SUPER MODEL! I won’t tell you who it was because this is about to get ugly, but you would know this person. Whenever I see a celebrity, and I see a lot because I work in television, I always ask the same thing, “Can I have some money?”

Well she thought that was funny and we started talking. She was fairly nice until she noticed I had a comic book in my hand. It was the new Blokhedz graphic novel. It’s called Genesis and it’s great! She asked about it and I told her it was really cool, she looked at it for a few seconds and then she said “Comics are for kids, and stupid.”

I tried to explain the rich history of comics; she was having none of this. “Comic books are just silly.” I tried AGAIN to explain about comics. She just gave me a “You stupid” look.

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ComicMix Week 4, 4 U

Have you sprung forward this morning?  Feel like you’ve missed an hour or so?  Well, come spend another one with us catching up on the weekly columns you may have missed!  Here they are all in one place for your convenience:

Yeah, John and I switched days this week, for reasons which you will discover when you read our respective columns.  And of course, Mellifluous Mike Raub is making history thrice weekly with his podcasts:

Lots of surprises in them thar audios!  And as a bonus for our first month online, here are our past roundups:

One other thing.  You may have noticed the site redesign starting, with the addition of more items per page and such.  Trust us, there’s much more to come!

ComicMix linky love

Another week older and deeper in debt — to you, our readers!  Here again is your one-stop shopping post linking to this past week’s regular columns: 

Meanwhile, Mellifluous Mike Raub is making history thrice weekly with his podcasts:

If you’ve only been reading ComicMix and not listening as well, you’ve been missing out on a lot!  And of course, there’s much more to come…

Michael Davis: Brokeback Marvel

michael-davis100-3593198Over the last 30 or so years some comics have tried to bring the "real world" into the medium. One of the first and best examples was written by my fellow ComicMix columnist Denny O’ Neil. His epic story about Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy becoming hooked on drugs is a classic. That story was written over 30 years ago and could have been written today. It still holds up.

I will resist the urge to ask Denny why Speedy had to get hooked… hee hee hee.

Denny may not remember, but I often think back in fondness to a day I gave him a ride home from DC Comics. That, for me, was a good day. Denny most likely was thinking "tuck and roll" as he looked for an opportunity to jump out of the car.

That story Denny wrote was on the forefront of comics that tackled the real world. Since that comic there have been many comics that tried the real world approach — some of the finest have been Marvels, Kingdom Come and of course the granddaddy of them all, Watchmen. Now all of those comics and many others have dealt with the question, "What would happen if superheroes really existed?"

Well, none of those comics dealt with what really would happen if those superheroes existed in the real world… and tried to get a date.

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ComicMix catchup

We at ComicMix are dedicated to bringing you as much stuff as we can, but we also know that means sometimes you miss things.  We know you want tagging and site feed and comments and that’s all coming down the pike real soon, but in the meantime here’s your handy-dandy guide to the second round of entries by our regular columnists. 

Look for Mike every Monday (in fact, his latest should be right below), Denny on Tuesday, me on Wednesday, John on Thursday, and Michael on Friday, and guest features on the weekend.  For those of you who, like me, grew up with the Marvel superhero cartoons in the ’60s, that means Mike = Captain America, Denny = the Hulk, me = Iron Man, John = Thor, and Michael = Namor.  (Hey, don’t knock it, that’s how I first discovered that Thursday was named after Thor!)

We also gave you a special "mother and child reunion" pair of featured columns this past weekend:

And our latest podcasts, hosted by Mellifluous Mike Raub, continue:

Happy reading and listening!

 

Michael Davis: Nut jobs

michael-davis100-5416924I said in my first article that I was a pretty simple guy. I see clear distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, love and hate, and Republican and Democrat. Blah, blah, blah. To that end, I think there are some things that people don’t talk about but should. Clearly in comics there is a subject or fifty that we don’t talk about. Well I’m going to talk about one right now. That subject is… nuts.

Not the nuts that come in a can, but rather people who are nuts… as in crazy.

No, I am NOT talking about people who have a real mental illness. I am talking about those people who have convinced themselves (sometimes with plenty of help from friends and family) that they are entitled to something that nobody else sees. Or their way of doing something is the only way something should be done regardless of any logical reasoning.

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Michael Davis: I’m not that guy

michael-davis200-2365727I’m a pretty simple guy. I see clear distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, love and hate and Republican and Democrat. In this age of political correctness and doing the right thing I don’t make decisions because they’re popular. I make decisions because I think something is right.

Remember the days when someone punched you in the face and you could punch him  (or her) right back without having much to worry about — well, besides getting your ass kicked. After the fight (or, in my case, ass whipping) you and the other party would decide to be friends or continue to hate each other. Either way you knew where you stood with that person. NOW if someone punches you in the face — YOU may get sued — and worst, with the current state of our world you don’t know where you stand. I don’t know about you but I would like to know where I stand after I’m punched in the face.

I grew up in the projects in New York City during the days when a threat sounded like this: "I’m going to kick your ass, Davis." Back then my response was "You will have to find me first, lady." Now I simply call my lawyers.

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