Back home from going back home - with stuff to do.

It's been a while since I've had time to put something here, as usual. Kristie and I just got back from Thanksgiving in Alabama. It was nice to spend time back home with people I only see twice a year.

While I was at home I was able to drag my dad back around to a few places. This picture was probably the most exciting to get. We had to climb under fences and hike down from the main road to this spot. It's right where Turkey Creek runs into Locust Fork River. Excuse the camera strap...


This is Crooked Creek down in Sardis. I think I've figured out that Sardis Road used to be called Crooked Creek Road and Mt. Olive Road used to be called Buckshort Road.

This is under Buckshort bridge. That's Locust Fork River.

While I was home I was also able to go to one of my favorite book stories: Reed Books. It's a huge loft that filled to the brim with old books. I found a few books while I was there. I found a lot more that I wasn't justified to buy. I'll sneak back one day when I can spend more time digging around. Here's what I got this time:

An old book of recipes from cartoonists, some I've heard of, some not.

A book on cartoonist Rube Goldberg, an artists who's name has become associated with the crazy machines featured in his comic strips. He's one of the few cartoonists who was able to work in every aspect of newpaper cartooning: strips, editorial, panel, etc.

I've become a collector of Comic history books. Writing this course for SCAD has made me even more interested in ths history of comics. If you have any that you want to get rid of, just let me know. I borrowed Bob's copy of Harvey Kurtman's history book and I don't want to give it back until I find one of my own. I love comparing different accounts of the same events. It's impossible to trust any historian.

Reed books also had a perfect stack of old Eclipse comics. In that stack I found:

The first issue of Scott McCloud's Zot! I think it's interesting to see McCloud's early work. I use his Understanding Comics as a required text in my Introduction to Sequential Art class.

Chris Ware's Floyd Farland: Citizen of the Future was my most exciting find. It was published 3 years prior to his inclusion in Art Spiegleman's Raw magazine in 1990. Easily is least recognizable work and, although it's a fun book to read, I doubt that he'll ever let it go back into print. It goes for almost $2oo on eBay for rugged copies. I paid a buck for a mint copy of it. Ha!

I also found a book on successful cartooning by Carl Anderson (creator of Henry). It's by my bedstand right now, though.

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I am currently finishing up the history course for SCAD. As I continue to work on it, I am spending more time working around the house and finally starting my new Gobnobble short story. I also have other paperwork that I'm doing fro SCAD. It never ends. Sometimes I feel like I've sold my life to SCAD. I would feel the same teaching anywhere else and not be anywhere near as happy as I am here.

It's been rainy today.