Why is it that every time Mr. Compassionate Conservative is called upon to evince some, he has to ring in Dad and Clinton?

On the other hand, called upon to demonstrate ineptitude, el Proctodento is a true champ. Bagdad, Fallujah, New Orleans, hey, wherever — bring it on! This here Adminisfuckingstration guarantees some more Americans, preferably poor black ones, will die for ya! Don’t thank us — it’s what we do. Yee-hah!

Related note: When lunatics fly airplanes into buildings in New York, it’s because God wants vengeance on lesbians. When hurricanes demolish red states, it’s because He works in mysterious ways.

(It’s lucky I’m only operating at about 30% rage capacity. There would be pixels boiling and popping like zits on your screen if I had the energy…)

I’m down to 193, which puts me just thirteen pounds from what I consider my ideal weight.

Of course, my entire body is comprised of spongiform tissue at the moment, but a few months in the gym, once I can breathe again, will help remedy that.

I need to thank my friend Bret who rushed me to the emergency room eleven days ago and my mother, who (correctly) kept nagging me to go. The two of them probably saved my life — which wasn’t in danger when I arrived, but might have been, one of the E.R. docs intimated, had I delayed very much longer.

In the hospital.

With pneumonia.

I’m home now but still very weak — and tethered to an O₂ machine day and night for at least the next couple of weeks.

Further expectorations to follow as energy permits.

Editor Joan Hilty asked me for a quote to be used for the 10.05 edition of the “DC In Demand” page, which will carry an item about *Hard Time* and will run in all of the DC comics issued that month. I suggested, in part, the following:

“You’ve just experienced a year of changes in the DC Universe. Now experience a comic book that will change *you*.”

I hope they use it, and if they do, all of you blog readers can take some credit for having inspired it.

Speaking of Roshomonics, here’s an interesting article from the *Huffington Post*: Why Bush Believes His Lies.

I’m going back to my break now.

It’s come to my attention that some readers didn’t realize whence the term “Roshomonics” was derived or exactly what it was supposed to mean.

*Roshomon* is a very famous 1951 film by the even more famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (whose other works include *The Seven Samurai*, *Throne of Blood*, *Ran*, and many more).

*Roshomon* is about the subjectivity of truth, hence the term “Roshomonics” — my coinage — to describe the individual’s mental process of restructuring his perception of outer reality to comport with his perception of self in order to alleviate anxiety.

We all do it, to one extent or another.

Taking a quick break from my break to pass this along:

*Hard Time* got a nifty little squib in the October-dated editions of *all* the DC comics, on the “DC In Demand” page. Space on that page is golden — and rarely devoted to a non-DCU, non-superhero title.

But it gets niftier.

We’re getting *another* “In Demand” write-up in the December-dated books, which hit the stores in October, right about the time *Hard Time: Season 2* #1 will be solicited.

DC *is* supporting this book in a major way.

I’m going to take a few days off from blogging. I need a little while to regroup emotionally and focus my concentration entirely on *Hard Time*.

A personal note. Thanks to Bret, Carol, Jennifer, and Harris. You’ve been very good friends at a very difficult time.

Back shortly!

Does anyone happen to know if a comics convention scheduled for September in St. Louis, MO has been cancelled? I was scheduled to be a guest but haven’t heard from the convention promoters in many months.

Oh — and if the show is still on, does anyone know how to contact the promoters?

Thanks.

The one criterion I apply first to judging almost any comic book story — or film or novel or television drama — any story presentation not intended to be taken as parody or farce — is simply this: *Did I believe it?*

While I was reading the story, did I accept unquestioningly that it was actually happening?

Note that I’m *not* talking about what fans used to call “willing suspension of disbelief.” Willing suspension necessarily implies the recognition of some need to suspend belief. My test requires an *unwilling* suspension of disbelief. Either I’m transported by the story into its reality without conscious effort, or I’m not. If not, the story fails the test.

And if it fails the believability test, almost nothing else matters. The writing may be technically excellent and even highly original. The art may be stunning. So what?

A technically excellent, stunningly beautiful artifice is still just a trick.

And that’s the problem I have with many of the crossover series, and a lot of other comic books these days. I just don’t believe them. As stories, they feel constructed, not told. They feel unconvincing…”made up.”

Make any sense?