DC’s doing ‘Hard Time’ – again by Examiner staff writer Scott Rosenberg.

“Doing More *Hard Time* with Steve Gerber” by George Tramountanas on the Comic Book Resources site. George asked a couple of questions that other interviewers didn’t. You may find them interesting.

Is it just me, or is anybody else suddenly missing comic book letters pages?

…from the Scripps-Howard News Service and The Fourth Rail.

If you’ve read your own copy and enjoyed it, *please* tell your friends. Post about it on any Usenet or AOL or Yahoo or kinky sex forum where you think potential readers might be lurking. I’d love to see this issue go back for a second printing.

And, yes, folks — people *do* listen. You really *can* help.

Thanks.

Oh, and please continue to post your comments here. Mary and I need all the encouragement — and/or brutal honesty — we can get.

I received word this morning that Jane Aruns, my first serious girlfriend, died last night of a massive heart attack. Jane was planning to move to Las Vegas in the next month or so — no, not because of me; she just liked the town — but we had been looking forward to seeing each other and spending some time together. We’d become good friends again over the past year.

I really don’t know what else to say. I miss her already.

*Hard Time Season 2* #1 will hit the stores this week.

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Please feel free to post comments here.

Incidentally, *Hard Time* artist Brian Hurtt has a new blog that’s worth checking out.

Last night, I received this comment from reader KShane:

Just a comment from another fan of your work that enjoys your blog.

Thought you might want to see this Howard-related news article. Right comic, wrong cover. …

That’s some heavy company.

Thanks, K.

Aside: I’m always flabbergasted when an article refers to me as a “Silver Age” comics writer. To me, “Silver Age” means people like Gardner Fox, John Broome, Bob Haney, Arnold Drake, and, just barely, early-’60s Stan Lee. As I reckon time, another “age” altogether started when the Fantastic Four first put on costumes (or with the publication of Amazing Fantasy #15; take your pick), and yet another era began when my generation of artists and writers swarmed over the medium in the early ’70s.

There’s a chasm of sixteen years between Showcase #4 and my first published comic book story. Comic book “ages” don’t last that long.

Just a note to wish everyone well for this week’s holiday.

I’m still dealing with some health issues which, obviously, have limited my energy for blogging (to almost nothing). Nevertheless, I cling stubbornly to life — or it to me, I’m not sure — and work on *Hard Time: Season 2* continues to progress.

The rest of you stay well — please! Eat some solid food for me on Thursday.

In the spirit of holiday snarkism and apropos of current film fare, herewith a mini-parody (authorship unknown) that dates back to my high school days:

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine.
I keep my pants up with a piece of twine.
I’d love to hug and kiss you, dear divine.
Please say you’re mine.
And pull the twine.

May your sacrificial fowl be hot, juicy, stuffed, and loaded with tryptophan — and nothing viral.

Just a quick note to let all of you know I’m still alive.

I’ve been bogged down with work and with some continuing health issues, which is why I haven’t been posting to the blog. I hope to get back to this soon. I miss it, and I miss the interaction with you folks.

…but I wanted to thank everyone for their comments on the “focus group” post and let you know that work on *Hard Time Season 2* is, despite a barrage of distractions, continuing apace.

Mary and I finished the plot for #6 a few days ago, and it turned out to be every bit as bizarre as we anticipated. Also a lot of fun, as you’ll see.

No further word on the other DC project yet.

Thanks for being patient with my relative reticence. It has been, and continues to be, a strange, strange time.

My friend Taylor Grant sent me the following email this afternoon:

Go to Google.com.

Type in the word “failure.”

Instead of clicking “Google search,” click “I’m feeling lucky.”

Somebody deserves a medal at Google.

Try this quick. I doubt it’ll be working much longer.