More pictures of Mort on vacation in Italy!

If you’ll notice, aside from the Twitter, Digg and StumbleUpon buttons on the page, I’ve added a Facebook link. Now you can link this strip to your Facebook page.

Use the force wisely.

One of the readers of MLS named Denise. (No last name to protect the innocent) recently took her Mort keychain on vacation with her and her family and has been taking pictures of Mort at the various locations.

This is beyond cool. I am having so much fun looking at these and I encourage everyone who gets a Mort to bring him along with you and take some pictures.

My kids had a moving up ceremony in their Taekwondo class. And afterward they were having a demonstration by some black belts.

These folks were amazing. Jumping, leaping, breaking boards and sometimes doing all three at once.

They are talented individuals who have spent years perfecting their craft, sweating weekly trying to get better and better. And this night they showed what all those years of training could do.

In the final amazing feat, one black belt held a board on top of his head like a mohawk while another black belt blindfolded himself. The first black belt faced away while a grand master clicked a pair of nunchucks to guide the blindfolded black belt to his target.

Click.

He moved close.

Click click.

He got closer again.

Click click click.

He bent at his knees, ready to pounce like a mountain lion on an unawares prey.

Years of practice, concentration and time-earned skill came together as he leapt into the air. Almost in slow motion, he jumped, swinging his leg around as he had undoubtedly done thousands of times before. This uncurled spring floated in the air, unfurling towards the man turned away from him. He was picture perfect in form, grace in motion and clear in purpose. His power was unleashed toward the board and…

He kicked the guy right in the head.

Interesting to notice, especially after football on a Sunday, that the use of pronouns gets more…um…pronounced.

For example. If your team wins, you often hear, “We kicked butt today!” or something like it. But thatame person a week later when their team lose will be heard muttering, “They stink. They played awful.”

When a team wins, it’s us and when they lose it’s them.

I’ve also noticed that it happens with kids. When my son gets a 97 on his math test, I can be heard cheering, “My kid did great on his test!” and when he creates a mess in the living room, I can be heard screaming to my wife, “See what your son did!”

It’s all a certain point of view.

So, last night, my sons and I sat quietly watching the Jets game until my wife’s kids started fighting. The Jets? They stink. We were good the first three games, but now they stink.

I recently finished “Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip” by Nevin Martell. I believe I read it over the period of three nights before bed and after long days of work. The narrative was interesting and engaging and keep me wanting to read more, which kept me up later than I should have.

First off, I was a bit dubious to read this book. For one, the subject of the book, Bill Watterson, is a very private man who wants to be left alone and sees no reason anyone should be interested in the man behind the art. All he shared with the world was his comic strip and reading the comic every day probably tells us a lot about the man, so why the need to delve further? Curiosity? Voyeurism? A need to know the person behind something that has given us joy? Or maybe when someone doesn’t want to share themselves, it makes us more interested in finding out about them. Any which way, I feel the man should be left alone. He gave us 10 years of his life and I think we should be grateful and walk away and let him live his life. But, the author, an obvious fan of the work, felt that he and we needed to know more about the cartoonist.

I am a history buff, so I was more interested in the history of the strip—where it started, what was the road like to syndication, what events happened behind the scenes that may have influenced the strip. So, on that basis, I picked up the book.

The author talked to friends and family of Watterson, did research on the man’s background, his early years, all the way up through the ending of the strip and beyond. I was interested in the now somewhat famous story of Watterson’s refusal to license the strip and the repercussions in the strip, in his desire to continue the strip and the syndicate’s reactions. And after seeing what he was offered, I have found myself truly impressed. Many people talk a good game, but in the face of millions of dollars, he kept his scruples.

I learned interesting little things about the history of the man and his creation, but nothing so amazing that I would be totally disinterested if it were any other person. Also, the almost stalker-ish way the author went about certain things—such as going to Watterson’s hometown, made me a little uncomfortable. Based on the knowledge that Watterson did not want to be a part of this book or any other, perhaps should have sent the author on a different direction in this book.

His love of the Calvin and Hobbes strip is obvious and this book was interesting in chronicling his search to find out more about the strip. In fact, I was jealous reading that he got to sit and view the originals at one point–as a cartoonist, I love looking at originals—but there were times where, in a very open way unlike his subject, he admits his frustration and annoyance with Watterson for not agreeing to a conversation. The book could have been just as good without that, and may have been better. I enjoyed reading about Martell’s search for info on the history of the strip, the events surrounding it and even his gushing sentiments about the strip. It was fun to ride shotgun with him as he talked to Lee Salem, the strip’s editor, as well as other cartoonists and authors reveling in their love of the strip. The one major pet peeve I had was the constant need to quote, line by line, a strip. Obviously the author wasn’t given permission to run the strips, but the reinterpretation of the strips was much like someone telling you a funny story that you just had to be there to get.

So, all-in-all, I did find the book enjoyable and interesting. I did find it self-serving at times for the author to wallow in his own annoyance of not getting that interview with Watterson, but the more I read, the more I was on Watterson’s side. I hope he doesn’t give up his belief in staying quiet. I tend to be private myself. I give interviews or go online making obnoxious blog posts about books I’ve read, I Twitter and go on Facebook, but writing is easy for me. Conversations aren’t. I don’t like leaving the house, I don’t like talking on the phone, I wonder why people want to talk about my work and I’m actually embarrassed when I have to do interviews, so I understand Watterson’s feeling. Heck, I wish I could keep it all private myself, but sometimes I don’t have that luxury.

Maybe, the book should have been named differently to reflect that this is a book about the author’s journey to learn more about the strip and the man because that’s what it was. Yes, there was history of the strip, the cartoonist and events surrounding it, but mostly it was about the author’s journey to learn more about something he loved.

That is what made the book interesting.

Until I have a button installed on the site Besides the button to the right, here is the link to the MLS store. We have books and plushes for sale and if you enjoy this strip, head on over and order something. It does a body good!

MISERY LOVES SHERMAN STORE

Today’s strip was originally written by my son. He wrote and drew it at school, so that’s another thing he’s taking after me. I adapted it, but I think his is far better and much funnier. At least I know someone can take over the strip when Mort takes me away.

Sorry. Click HERE to see if full size.

I recently did a guest strip in color and I think it looked good. I wanted to see if I could do that with this strip. The problem is the time factor. I don’t have tons of time and adding coloring the strip seems insane, but I like it. I’m torn. But, I figured I could show you what it would look like.

FULL SIZE

I totally aped Scott’s style on this guest strip I did for him. Check it out.

Guest Strip