Babbling Point

I almost cried when Ian emailed me this pin-up / cover. Ian Sta. Maria is one of the art directors of the Globe Team. (He's also the inker of Batch72 and former vocalist of the rock band Chocolate Beef.) Despite the fact he's working on a tri-media campaign, as well as several other print ads, he managed to do this art work along with three other pin-ups. Turns out he and Bow started talking about the good old days of COMICS 101 and the Flying Phantom. So Bow brought along some old sketches and character designs and gave them to Ian and the next thing we knew... SHAZAM! Ahem... I mean, FLY PHANTOM! FLY! (Well, that's not really his battle cry. He has none.) Is this a sign from the comic book gods that the Phantom must fly again?! mwahhahahahah!!! Let's see if something takes flight before the year ends. :)

+ CUT-AND-PASTED FROM JOEL'S BLOG Episode: The Eighth Endless A tribute to Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series. For the fans, enjoy. For the non-fans, try to enjoy. And then there is Death. But there is still one more sibling, an eighth Endless who remains a mystery. His name is Dedma. Nobody remembers when he was born. That detail is written in Destiny’s Book, but not even the Eldest of the Endless remembers which page it is on. Dedma has not attended any Family gathering since the beginning, and he barely responds when called upon, if at all. Then again, his brothers and sisters never consciously seek him out anyway. Of all the siblings, it is Desire who fears him the most—so much so that if his name is mentioned, Desire will not even recognize it. His sigil is an expressionless mask, which he wears on his neck. He acts not out of responsibility but out of choice. If you should bump into him, do not pay him any attention. He won’t mind you either. ...

:) L'cOh mio! Sono vagante in italiano! Couple of years ago (around 96 or 97), an Italian professor read my short story in the short-lived anthology “Chimera” and asked if he could include it in an anthology he was compiling. He said it was going to translated into Italian and published in Italy (of course). I said yes to his request. Years later, he sent me a copy of the book, but it was delivered at a friend’s office, which shut down before I could get it. I forgot all about it and thought, why would I need an Italian version of my story anyway. Last night, I Googled myself and found my name in this Italian site. http://www.iccalcinate.it/interc/bibliot_all12.html Turns out, my story got include in the book (for a college course?): “Writings and Languages of the World. Stories for intercultural education. An anthology dedicated to the literature of the South of the world. Every reading is accompanied from integrating proposals of activity and distance...