Pic Dump: Fall 2017 Edition

It's been awhile so here are the best of random pics I have saved at work. Savor them and love them or at least enjoy them.

 

 

 

This is maybe the best photo ever taken.

 

 

 

BONUS GIFS (free at no additional cost):

Return of the Poet

Between the years of 1995-2005 I wrote thousands of poems. Mainly, terrible poems but that's besides the point....poetry was an important part of my life. I wouldn't have advertised it to my friends or family at the time, but I thought of myself as a poet.

I wrote poems about forlorn love, feeling lost, poems about the meaning in life, figuring out my identity, love poems, silly poems, poems about how life didn't have a meaning, political poems, religious poems, weird poems, poems, poems, poems. Between 1999-2002 I wrote almost every day, sometimes for over an hour of me just typing away.  Basically, poetry was my daily therapy session. 

Somewhere between getting married and having our first child, I lost touch with my inner poet. I wasn't an angsty, aimless, regret-filled young person any more. I was fulfilled emotionally and professionally (in surprisingly short order). Life was busy and great and I turned to other artistic endeavors.

Over the last ten years plus, I painted abstract paintings, did some collage work, painted art from comic books or children's books, created a fake band on MySpace (collage/cut and paste) and even tried to write a novel (well that still might happen someday).

From time to time I would write a poem for my beautiful and understanding wife. And even less frequently, I would find myself inspired to write a random poem down. But the truth was I wasn't a poet anymore.

Something's been welling up inside of me over the past few months and I've been writing poetry again. Not as frequently as in the past and definitely not consistently but there's been a change. It started back in Northern Ireland at Corrymeela and it's continued in part by teaching my Introduction to Peace & Conflict class.

 In Lederach & Lederach's excellent When Blood and Bones Call Out, it is revealed that poetry is more discovery than creation.

 “In the everyday poetry is in and around us, but becoming poetry requires noticing….People begin to take notice of things that have been there all along and then rise from the noticing towards something that takes shape”  (Lederach & Lederach 175).

This helps re-frame the whole idea of "writing" poetry.  If we're doing it right, poetry is really just articulating what's already there. The pressure is off "to create" and the mind and heart is open to describe what is there. All this is to say I am excited to discover the poetry that's been swimming inside my head and heart the last few years, months, weeks, etc.

So, as you might imagine, this post is about building up to more poems.

I decided to show the documentary, The Interrupters to my Peace & Conflict class a few weeks back. The day before I showed the film, I was writing my notes down as I watched the film. Something screwy happened with the closed captions. The captions became stuck on just one phrase:

"a stake that they can hold onto"

I believe the context was one of the interrupters was speaking about a group of young people who needed something to hold onto (in place of violence).  I turned the CC tab off and then back on again and that seemed to do the trick but sure enough a few seconds later, the old phrase, "a stake that they can hold onto" popped back up.  Every few minutes I would have to turn the captions on and off to get the phrase to disappear. 

Eventually, I just got used to it and watched the film with out captions. But that phrase was still just sitting there, seeming to weasel its way into my brain.

"a stake that they can hold onto"

What do we hold onto exactly? Aren't we all trying to hold onto something? That's where this poem came from, it was already there. 

A stake that they can hold onto

It seems all humans need

is something to hold onto

A something to hope for.

Something to be.

How can we find our voice?

Where is our place?

Some will

Endeavor and discover

Fight and bleed

Dying for their place

Dying for their voice

Others will read, hope and dream.

Where will you find the place where you can

just be?

Let the dead bury their dead and find that stake to hold onto.

A week later I wrote another poem at my desk. Inspired by some piano music on Youtube as I graded. It just came to me. My only comment is that sometimes I'm the artist but most of the time, I'm the drop.

Drip 
Drip 
Drip

I paint some abstract bullshit

I watch a drop of paint as it drips down the canvas.

It falls, unaware of its existence

unaware it is drawing ever closer to the end...

It’s journey ends with a thud

Off the canvas

to the floor.

A stain,nothing more.

Quote of the Day

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” - Kurt Vonnegut

Ireland Fragments - Part I: Dublin

This past June I traveled to Northern Ireland (UK) as part of a graduate certificate program capstone class in conflict transformation. My wife went with me my first week to visit Dublin, NI and London.

Here are the fragments.


In December, I started scouring for a good deal. After about 3-4 weeks, I found a "deal", one that I couldn't pass up.  As you might imagine, the "deal" was better on paper than in the good ol' real lived-in world So it was SAT to Ft. Lauderdale (3 hour flight, 5 hour layover), to Stockholm (9 hour flight, 5.5 hour layover) and finally to Dublin (2ish hour flight). This meant it was over 24 hours of traveling. I mean, it was still "worth it" but it was still tough.

Oh yeah, the Stockholm airport bathroom was BOSS.

We arrived around 8:30 PM in Dublin tired but excited.  We had an Airbnb lined up and our host had given us directions on a bus-line, but finding the right bus was a bit of an adventure. We were to pick up the key at a bar named "The Red Parrot".  It felt a little like a spy movie, so that was a little fun. 

After we got the key, my phone was dying (that meant our map was dying) and the flat was harder to find than you might think. It was getting dark and a few sprinkles fell on us. While not quite panicking, I wasn't having fun anymore.  I should point out addresses in Ireland and generally in the UK as well can be very difficult to find. I could bore you with the insane details but here's a photo of me putting my key into the wrong flat....

Thankfully, I think the no one was home or they were asleep. After 35 minutes of traveling in circles, in courtyards and streets with almost exactly the same name, we unpacked and felt good.

The only restaurant still open in the area was a Middle Eastern place called Pasha (which was great, because one of our favorite places back home is called Pasha as well). We were hungry and we devoured our plates.

I had previously made tentative plans for us to hike south of Dublin (Wicklow area) but for a variety of reasons, at the last mintue we decided to stick to Dublin. I felt fancy free as we had no real plans other than to walk downtown and just see where our feet would take us. And boy did we walk on this first day. We walked everywhere and my-way-too-young-to-be-arthritic knee was acting up by the end of the day! I have no idea how much we walked but Google estimated I walked 55 miles in June (which after I looked into it, is still too low).

We stopped at a small coffee shop for scones and coffee at the Roasted Bean Coffee Company (right across from the Connolly Train Station). Although there were a few "average" cups along our travels, the coffee in Ireland and the UK were far and away much better than in the coffee in the US.

Dublin Street Art near Connolly Station

We eventually found ourselves outside Trinity College and went in for the tour. I had read that the Book of Kells was overrated so I wasn't thrilled with going but the college tour was great and the admission to the library and Book of Kells was included, so why not?

My favorite detail about the tour was about this library. Apparently this insane librarians organized the collection by SIZE. Yeah, not by topic, or alphabetical, the SIZE of the book. Was the purpose to make the library so un-usable to students that it would remain quiet and free of students? If so, librarians 1, students 0. Good game, chaps.  Also, the smell of this place was old book smell heaven. Ahh...the smell of rotting books.

From Trinity we went on to St. Patrick's hoping to hear a rehearsal of a choir but the choir never showed up. Then we went on the Chester Beatty Library. I have to say, if you love history and old stuff, then the Chester Beatty Library MUST be checked out. So awesome. Chester Beatty collected tons of books but not just any books, the oldest and most important books, scrolls and book fragments he could get his hands on. Amazing stuff. The earliest collection of the four gospels together resides here. But my favorite part of the collection was an ancient copy of a Qur'an, (I forgot how many centuries old it was) with an inscription from his wife that said (I am paraphrasing here)..."Happy Anniversary, honey! I knew you would love this!" So funny.

I cannot recommend this place enough if you give a fig about history and/or religion. We grabbed a late lunch at the cafe as well and it was very good (again, it was Indian food).

Then it was on the a few more churches that day, I mean it was a hell of a day for churches. As the day wore on, we started to realize how tired we were. That said, we weren't gonna back down. On our way to another Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, we ran into a a choir from Arizona that was going to perform at 5:30 or 6:00 PM. So, we decided to stick around for that. We stopped at Leo Burdock's for some fried fish that was right across the way from the church. It was okay, but nothing to go crazy about.

This guy (much larger than the seagulls here in South Texas) waited so long for single chip, but maybe it was something in his eyes, but I denied him. I was like, "Naw, man, naw". Also, can we take a second to talk about ketchup in the UK? Terrible, horrible, gross. It's sickly sweet and actually made me forgo even eating it and yet, I would forget and start using it again. Also, the "chips" in Ireland were utterly forgettable. Almost every single time, they were limp and disappointing. Give me some crunch and some good ol' American ketchup. Also, say no to the "Brown Sauce" - never even figured out what that crap was.

The concert was pretty okay, K really enjoyed it more than me and really that was the whole point. The setting was beautiful, what more could you ask for. At Christ Church Cathedral, you can go to the catacombs and that was the highlight for me personally as it was cleared out at this time in the early evening.

This was a mummified cat and rat that had been found stuck in the organ years ago. It was too cool not take a photo.

This was the burial of a knight named Strong Bow (the child or smaller body was not marked). I thought the name was something out of She-ra, so for the rest of the day I would say "Strong Bow, look out" or "Sir Strong Bow, how mighty you are!". Turns out he was pretty important.

After the concert we walked the 100 million miles back to our Airbnb, stopping at a pub on the way home for some drinks and music (pretty good). When we got back it was well after 10:00 and we had been walking around Dublin for 13 hours straight, with a few breaks sitting in old churches.

It was an amazing day, one that I won't forget!

Day 2-4 coming up next.....

Fragments, ya know, just good ol' fragments

Random Fragments

Been pondering the Fermi Paradox lately. Just been swirling in my head a lot. It's the darnest thing really. Maybe I'll write about it someday....(yeah, right).

Nationalism is a disease.

Trump is a child, a bully, an asshole, a sexist, a racist, a sexual predator but when I think of him most of the time, I think of him as an empty-headed fool. The most dangerous of fools, who believe they are actually smart.

Story Time

Two nights ago I had a dream that my wife and I were in a minor accident (K backed into a truck that careered into another truck and a Frogger arcade cabinet that just happened to be on the street corner at the time). No big deal, just a typical weird dream.

I woke up, went pee and went back to sleep. Later, early in the morning, our son got up and asked us for breakfast, because he was "really hungry". He settled for a small banana (of which he ate 3 small bites) and side note, didn't eat his breakfast until 9:00 AM because he told me he didn't feel like eating at that point in time.

Ok, so after H had woken us up (around 6:00 AM), I was in a different dream...in this dream, I was at our oldest child's school when K called me to tell me our van had somehow been totaled in the accident. I was sad because we just paid off our van in real life (and apparently in the dream as well). After I woke up, I realized that time-line of the old dream bled into the new dream, several hours later, even after I had woken up. Very weird, but very cool.



Work Fragments

I am a part of a Study Abroad to India and I am so upset because they basically took my program, changed it, made me team up with another faculty member, screwed up our budget, etc. so, I just don't care. I may be fulfilling one of my life-long dreams and when I think about it, it just pisses me off. What a world. But maybe it will all turn out in the end....?

Excited about the possibility of running a program at the school. If it goes my way, it will be really, really exciting.  As it, it could make an actual difference in the world. If not, I will be, uh, sad.


Stuff I'm Trying To Do Lately (followed by my measurement of success based on 1-5 Stars, five stars being awesome, one star being terrible. 

Trying to be mindful as much as possible ***
Eating more fruit, cutting crap ***
Eating more vegetables *
Being organized at work ***
Reading Actual Books (not comic books) **
Not Watching Football ****

Side note: Note watching football because of CTE's, nothing to do with the taking of the knee stuff, which, I support 110%. 

Kid Fragment Updates

C (6th grade) impressed me with her balance and creative spirit. She's doing great on he grades. She's got a good head on her shoulders and she's coming around on the Beatles! She's always loved them but seems to be "getting them" now.

Trying to always keep the middle child, E (3rd grade) in mind. All of my kids are amazing but today I felt as though E will definitely change this world with her passion and unique vision. She's such a snuggle bug. We've been loving reading from a Peanuts Treasury in bed together a lot lately. Making nice memories together. :)

H was sick today. Vomited in the van so I cleaned vomit out of his clothes, the van floor, stuff on the van floor and (my favorite) the car seat!!! Oh boy. He's been doing well in Kinder after a rough start of being bored. He started basketball two weeks ago and I love his attitude to keep practicing and get better. Still can't shoot at the six-foot basket worth a darn, but he can dribble pretty well.

Well, that's life...it's up and down and overall, relentless. Oh yeah, I should be grading. !!

That's all folks, don't forget to pick up milk on the way home and kiss your loved ones when you get home.

School Daze Fragments

It's almost school time and fragment time here at HF (that's Hopeful Fragment for those scoring at home).

My oldest, C, starts 6th grade, which is middle school here and that means tears, drama and humiliation...but it's all part of growing up. E starts third grade and so that feels pretty normal but our youngest, H, starts Kinder. Kinda crazy. I am 40 and all my kids are finally in school.

Hey now, I'm happy to be alive. 

I went to the grocery store the other night and I noticed how quickly time felt at the store. I feel like time at the grocery store moves at 3 times normal speed. I get home and think, "How did that take 45 minutes?"

POETRY UPDATE 

I wrote some poetry again, it was cool. Also, I found an old short story of a Komodo dragon that was about to be executed by firing squad when a solider breaks rank and tries to convince everyone to save the animal's life. I think I will post it here soon. (WOW).

WORK UPDATE 

Teaching an intro to peace and conflict class in the fall and getting excited. India is a go (for study abroad) but the budget is a MESS. Too complicated to get into.

CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS UPDATE

Take them all down, take every last one of those damn statues down. Also, I am a trained historian, so that gives me all the creditability I need, posers.

Entertainment UPDATE


Hey man, I started watching Arrested Development. Pretty good, man, pretty good.

Also still on my MST3K kick. Love the show, Love it. LOVE IT.

Because it's being brought up I should say I am TEAM JOEL and the first four and a half seasons. I just don't like the Mike.... I have tried, I really have tried and it hasn't yet sunk in. Here is how I rank 'em.

Joel
-
Jonah
-
-
-
Mike Nelson

Also, I prefer Picard to Kirk by MILES.

I have a sinking feeling about the Spurs this year, haven't felt this way since 2010ish.

I started my big Ireland post but got bogged down by details, all the crazy details...it is a HUGE post and it's the first two days... geez.

NINTENDO UPDATE
Got the NES Classic, back in Jan, so far I have passed Super Mario 1,2, 3, Mega Man 2, was obsessed with Mario Brothers and Balloon Fight for weeks at a time, almost passed Zelda 1 but got distracted and I am about to fight Mother Brain on Metriod. MEMORIES.

FOOD UPDATE

I sometimes get sick of eating. As in, everything I think about possibly eating I just don't want.....Either that or it's unrealsitc, like I want a huge burger or cheesecake but other than that everything else seems sick or boring. It happens to me once every few weeks. Blah.

Okay, ladies and gents I think I have had it. Treat yourself to a late night snack but don't forget to do the dishes before bed, it will make you feel better in the morning.

My Five Favorite Comic Book Cliffhangers: A Post In Which I Ramble On About All Sorts of 80's Suff

As we age we tend to look back on our youth with rose-tinted glasses. We long for a "simpler time" when things like blogs didn't exist and an elderly stupid television star was president (Wait - nevermind).

Even if the past is "objectively" worse in many ways (and wow, it was). The past represents a siren call of a past that never was. For example, I HATED the fact that if I missed a Muppets show or a Saturday morning cartoon there was a good chance I would NEVER see it again. And yet I find myself longing for those days. Everything seemed to matter more. There was no "undo" button on typewriters after all.

Dungeons & Dragons was the "Moby Dick" of my Saturday mornings. I loved the show but there were two problems. One issue was that it came on late in the morning (10:30-11:00) when my Mom started to pry me away from the TV (I was usually parked in front of the TV by 6:30 AM on Saturdays). The second problem was my Mom hated this show, I am sure she thought it was evil. So, it was with a little excitement and pride that I watched this show with my kids the last few years (usually when my wife was not home as she thinks it's a little evil too).

I've blogged about the past A LOT and I recently (kinda) wrote about how a technologically backwards time could be kinda cool (in my ode to mix-tapes). But the truth of it all is that it could be a real bummer being a comic-book-collecting kid in the 1980's.

Just an excuse to post this photo from Unbreakable. I haven't seen the movie in years and although it is slow, I think it has to be my favorite movie about comics. Wait, are there other movies about actual comic books anyway??

It was hard collecting comics when I had an inconsistent cash flow coming in. I was a lazy kid and frequently went months at time without earning an allowance. Even if I did earn my  allowance, I often blew through my money on toys or baseball cards. I see this all the time with my kids, they will happily spend their money on the wasteful, Dollar-Store happiness....over actually waiting for something or saving just a little more money to get what they've been dreaming about.

Secondly, I couldn't always control when I went to the store.  This meant when I bought a comic book that ended on a cliff-hanger, I was going to cross my fingers and hope I would see it on the newsstand the next month. But I also had to hope that no one else would buy that particular issue either because the drug store and my grocery store usually had no more than 2-3 copies of the most popular titles. Then, if I did see the next issue in the wild, I would pray I had the money or I had to beg my mom to buy it for me.

There was no internet, so if I missed an issue, I would never know what happened.

So, because no one asked me...here are my top five cliff-hanger comics that I read as a kid.

Disclaimer: I am not stating these particular comics are objectively the best cliff hangers. They're not. These are just a few of my favorite comics that I bought as a child and I was unable to track down the next month's comic. In many cases, I would re-read these comics for years and I had no idea what happened.

#5 - Fantastic Four #294 - "Hero Worship"

 

This is a great comic book. It has everything that I love about comics; a nice mix of character, action and mystery. It also dabbles a little in alternate universe/time travel stuff, which I have always loved. 

The main gist of the plot is the team steps into a "world" (it's a long story) that worships the Fantastic Four (as when they first appeared in the early 1960's). The population has even been genetically modified to mimic the powers of the team. The team is seen as "heretics" and they are attacked by the entire city's population. 

The comic ends with the apparent death of the team (the leader of the city zaps the team with a Ray-Gun and they turn to skeletons...so cool). I think I bought this issue in one of those comic "three packs". The customer could see two of the issues but the third issue was behind one of the others. My used bookstore frequently has mid-to-late 80's FF and I kept waiting to see #295 but after several years of waiting, I finally ended up buying issue #295 on Amazon a few years ago and I finally found out the rest of the story. 

SPOILER: They didn't really die but it's a satisfying conclusion to this story.  

#4 - Mickey Mouse # 219 (the first Gladstone) 

The first part of Floyd Gottfredson's "The Seven Ghosts".

I loved going to the mall as a kid. My favorite stores at the mall was the video game store (EB?) and Walden's Books. I can still remember the smell of a good ol' Walden Books. Once inside a Walden's I would head straight for the magazine section and the comic rack. In 1986 (there's that year again) I saw something I had never seen on a comic rack, Disney comics. I was nine, so I was definitely intrigued. I loved cartoons but because we didn't have the Disney channel, I couldn't get enough of Disney cartoons or Disney characters. I could tell they were reprints of older comics and this piqued my interest as well. I already loved old stuff.

It turns out this was the first month's collection of of the Gladstone company. Apparently, it had been several years since Disney comics had been available. I remember not being sure if I should buy this particular comic or a Spider-Man comic and that says a lot about how impressed I was with this comic. At nine-years-old I was a little embarrassed that I would buy a "Micky Mouse" comic because it might be considered for "younger readers". However, I got over it and got the issue.

This is "part one" of Gottfredson's "The Seven Ghosts" (originally the storyline ran in the Sunday comics in the 1930's).  Gottfredson had been given a peek at the early production of the cartoon "Lonesome Ghosts" and he loosely based "The Seven Ghosts" on what he saw.

"Lonesome Ghosts" is quite delightful but the only thing they really have in common is that  Micky, Donald and Goofy are running a detective agency and there are ghosts involved. That said, it's basically completely different from what Gottfredson created. Here it is if you're into old cartoons (and really, who isn't?):




Incidentally, I had "Lonesome Ghosts" on my Fisher-Price Movie Viewer, which is basically a hand-powered film projector. I used to watch "Lonesome Ghosts" in slow motion, backwards and forwards, etc. over and over (and over) again.  Of course there was no audio, but it was still pretty cool. Alas, we only had the "Lonesome Ghosts" and "Cinderella" cartridges. I still have this and my kids enjoy it from time to time as well.

Anyway, this is getting off subject.....

"The Seven Ghosts" comic starts with Mickey creating a detective agency with Donald and Goofy. Their first case surrounds a rich "man's" house that is seemingly haunted. It has humor, action and of course, mystery. Mickey is street-smart and plays the cynic to the supernatural occurrences. Goofy plays the believer and whole heartily believes the ghosts to be his friend. Finally, Donald puts on a brave face but is frightened at the slightest noise. The cliffhanger of this particular issue ends on Goofy seemingly proving that the ghosts are in fact, real.

It was a great cliffhanger and I never was able to find the next issue. I was finally able to read the end of story 15-16 years later in graduate school. I ended up winning a bid on eBay of a giant collection of Gottfredson's Mickey comics (printed in the late 70's).  Gottfredson and Barks (Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge) really were the masters. If you like a old comics that tell a mystery, check out the storyline (there are multiple re-prints available). 


#3 Amazing Spider-Man 280 - "Introducing the Sinister Syndicate"

I think I was obsessed with this issue, I would just remember staring at this cover forever.

This is just classic 80's Marvel. Spider-Man has his black suit on (my favorite Spider-Man costume), Silver Sable's in it and it's full of great action. Sure, it's basically a trope (super-villains team up on the super-hero or a duo and the hero(s) fight back against all odds), but it works.

The plot line has Spider-Man helping Silver Sable track down the Jack O' Lantern for cash (Peter Parker is in need of cash to help Flash Thompson's legal defense). Instead of tracking down Jack O' Lantern (or maybe because they are set-up) they end up being trapped at Coney Island fighting for their lives against the new "Sinister Syndicate". The issue ends with Spidey and the Silver Sable injured and surrounded by the evil squad of villains.

Let me be frank, it's a pretty basic comic but the cliffhanger made me obsess over it. See, that's the cool thing about cliffhangers...while I was waiting I imagined what would happen next. Sure, it was a given Spider-Man would come out on top, that's not the point. It was fun to try to figure out just how he would do it.  I never was able to track down #281 but maybe someday on one of comic-book runs (usually at used book stores around town). I know it's available digitally but somehow, I think it will feel a lot better if I find it in the wild.



 #2 Marvel Team-Up # 59 - ”Some Say Spidey Will Die By Fire...Some Say By Ice!" 

 

I think I picked this issue up in "Free Comic" promotion somewhere down the line. It was first published in 1974 and for a long time, this was the oldest comic that I owned. Heck, it's likely still in my top 10 or 15 oldest comics I own. It's one of the Chris Claremont issues (before he went on to X-Men fame) and the art is top-notch as well. For a Marvel Team-Up, its downright abnormally good (usually MTU are pretty generic and lame).

This was the first issue I had seen or heard about Yellow Jacket and I thought he just looked so darn cool. Anyway, the bad guy known as Equinox appears and is ready to kill Spider-Man.

As I kid I found this villain a little scary. Something about his eyes and crazy violent dialogue.

Spidey ,Wasp and Yellow Jacket take on Equinox and in the last few pages, Equinox blows up a tanker that was behind the Yellow Jacket. The last page reveals that Yellow Jacket has been seemingly killed.  

Keep in mind I was probably 10 (or under) when I read this and I had never seen or heard of the Yellow Jacket before. I was unaware that comic book characters literally CANNOT STAY DEAD (there's a law or something)...and being I had never heard or seen him in the 80s' I thought this was his actual death. I was blown away and I wanted to know what happened the next issue. I still had no idea. Also, there was this really seductive scene with Yellow Jacket and the Wasp in the first few pages that I remember being really fascinated with at the time. 

# 1 Transformers #79 - "The Last Autobot" 

I loved Transformers. I loved the cartoon, I loved the toys, so of course I loved the comics. By the time I started collecting (1984-1985) the comic has been out out for a few months. I somehow traded my way into one of my favorite comic cross-overs (and cover) of all-time in Transformers #3

The size proportions are terrible but you can't NOT be pumped when you see this cover. It was a dream come true for my 9 year-old self. Also, check out Gears in the corner box. Gears actually had a major role in this issue (and at least in the Marvel line, never again).

Bob Budniksy wrote the first 55 issues of Transformers. The first 35 are mixed with a third of the issues being duds, another third being decent and another third being quite well done. Some of my personal faves are when the Dinobots take on Megatron (#8), the Blaster - Cybertron Saga (#17-#18 - shoulda been longer), the Scraplets Epic with Blaster and Goldbug (#29-#30).  

Somewhere in the mid-30's the series started to get pretty lame and stayed bad for the next twenty issues or so. The art got much worse and it seemed Hasbro pushed for more story lines introducing an endless amount of characters that no one cared about. So somewhere after #35 or so I dropped out of keeping up with the Transformers (I remember thinking the Headmasters were really stupid).  I checked back in at the comics rack and I even bought the issue when a "Powermaster" Optimus Prime was back, but even I though it was pretty disappointing.

So, while I was stepped away from my Transformers fandom, something pretty amazing happened. Budniksy brought in the UK writer Simon Furman and Furman helped right the ship. I didn't catch on until issue# 67 (which despite the art, was a terrific alternate future story that tied back in to the main storyline).

If Budniksy is the father of Transformers (he actually created most of the toy names and personalities), then Furman is the soul of Transformers. Furman created more than just a backstory, but a mythos that was much deeper than just a simple toy line. Characters were more flawed, more conflicted...basically more human.

Here's the cover of #70. I saw this at a gas station and it got my attention. I was instantly back to being hooked on the Transformers comic.

From this point on, Furman was working with some great artists like Wildman and Senior (who's work I had obviously missed in the strong "Matrix Quest" storyline). Furman's work in the last two years of the Transformers' comic is simply outstanding (especially the storyline from #67-#75).  If you are a fan at ALL of Transformers and great storytelling, start with Furman's run at #55 and finish up with #80. 

Anyway, most of action peaks with issue #75 (Unicron!!)  however, Furman was still weaving quite a web when Transformers got the axe. You see while #79 is a pretty typical comic, I knew #80 would be the last issue of Transformers. At this point in time, the toys were off the shelves and I assumed this was the last I would ever read of the Transformers. 

No one knew that there would be re-boot after re-boot and re-boots of reboots from all the crap from the 80's and 90's. 

So, #79, while an okay comic was only a "real" cliffhanger because I could NEVER find #80. There is an actual cliffhanger, but it's complicated to explain....the larger point is that it was a cliffhanger for me. I always wondered how the comic storyline would end.

I went looking almost everywhere a kid without a car could look but I never did find #80. In the early 2000's I started picking up used comics again and I could always find Transformer comics here and there. I managed to pick up about a third of the total series. I think I have about 50-60 of the total comics. However, after the movie series came out, I have never seen one Generation 1 Marvel comics in the wild again (at used bookstores, etc.). I ended up reading a scan of #80 in the early 2000's and it was okay...but it could have never lived up to all the hype and mystery.  Still, all that interest led me to check out reprints of the UK story lines (which feature Furman and Senior). Those are also highly recommended. 

So, I have finally finished my blog post here and I've just read this massive blog post of crap. I have no idea why it happened but it was kinda fun and I hope it finds someone, somewhere a little joy out there as well. Go read a comic and forget your problems for the day.