Timing Issues

I am blessed with a great appreciation for timing and yet cursed with my own. This has caused a number of issues over the years but perhaps most ironically today. As I've been kicking myself over the last 24 hours about the timing of my car's breakdown yesterday, just before the first time in two decades that I've been able to get off the weekend of the Mid-Ohio Con off work, now we find the problem. The mechanic just called. It's the TIMING belt!!!! Sadly, reparing it takes up pretty much my whole paycheck that was direct deposited this morning!! And that's assuming they don't find something else as they work on it! On top of that, they still aren't sure they can have it done by tomorrow!!! A friend stayed with us last night for the holiday and she lives in Columbus. She's offered to drive us but I don't know. Let's see how today plays out!

UPDATE-11AM-Assuming that the nice folks at Car-X are correct in their diagnosis and estimate, a generous relative has agreed to cover the repair bill! A million thanks to her and to those of you who tippewd the blog over the last day. Now if they can just get it done today maybe we can get back to some pop culturey goodness around here instead of me whining! My stomach would appreciate that, also!

Car Troubles

Well, I had planned on getting an oil change tomorrow before driving to Columbus for Mid-Ohio Con this weekend BUT...on my way in to work this morning my car died! Going 60 on the interstate and it suddenly felt like a large wind hit it, then I started losing speed. It continued for nearly a mile before stopping cold going uphill on an exit ramp. Have no idea what it was as of yet since it happens to be Thanksgiving and the garage where I had to have it towed (for $110.00!) was, of course, closed. Sigh. I keep telling myself it would have been worse if this had happened halfway between here and Columbus on Saturday! As it is, I won't know until tomorrow how this affects our plans to attend Mid-Ohio Con but I'm hoping for the best. Payment for all of this, however, is coming out of my weekend gas and food money as well as the late bills money! Double sigh!

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Badly Costumed Super Hero of the Week

Here's a little extra turkey for you today. This gentleman is Fireball as I'm sure you could surmise by his appropriate costume. What is it with all of the bare legs? I love MLJ heroes from the forties. I really do and yet they all seemed to do business with a really bad tailor! This page is from Fireball's mercifully brief revival in the legendarily kitschy 1966 MIGHTY CRUSADERS story "Too Many Super Heroes" .

Kids' Letters to President Kennedy

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US. Today is also, however, the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 44 years ago. As a child, my mother said that Kennedy was my favorite TV star with the Nixon-Kennedy debates an early favorite show.

Kennedy was the young peoples' president and writer Bill Adler picked up on that early on. His book, KIDS' LETTERS TO PRESIDENT KENNEDY, came out in 1961 and featured a potpourri of actual old fashioned snail mail letters from kids to their new leader. The book is disarmingly cute in the beginning as it presents page after page of letters requesting autographs, pictures or visits. There's a section of folks offereing JFK kittens and puppies, too. Toward the end, however, the tone changes and there are a number of missives about war and the Russians and bombs.

Although the book itself offers no responses from the president, it notes that Kennedy instructed his mailroom clerks to make sure that out of the thousands recieved, he personally saw every fiftieth letter daily.

For his part, compiler Adler made a career out of the concept, packaging kids' letters from camp and to other celebs including Santa Claus. Many of these, like the Kennedy book, actually hit the bestseller lists! More recently, credited to Bill Adler Jr, there was a collection of letters to Harry Potter.

Pogo Christmas Card

The coming of Thanksgiving tomorrow marks the beginning of the holiday season and I wanted to be the first to send you all a holiday card this year! Here we have a card featuring Walt Kelly's POGO cast. As this is signed by Doyle and Sternecky of the delightful revival of the strip, I believe this dates from the late eighties'early nineties.

As a child, my mother dutifully read me POGO every single day in the CINCINNATI POST along with THE RYATTS, FRECKLES and PEANUTS. I didn't "get" POGO, though. The mid-sixties was a time when Kelly was being perhaps overly political in the strip and it all went right over my head. In fact, it wasn't until Chuck Jones 1970POGO SPECIAL BIRTHDAY SPECIAL that I could even tell you the characters' names! I re-discovered the strip in the late seventies as paperback reprints abounded and the fan movement was building. Suddenly it became my favorite thing in the world! I totally adored the short-lived revival! Nowadays, my son and I read the old comic book POGO stories out loud...in dialect! This weekend, Walt Kelly's daughter Carolyn is to be a guest at Mid-Ohio Con. I can't wait! 'Tis the season. May we all be decked with Boston Charlie.

Don Rosa's Omnicon Brochure

In anticipation of this weekend's Mid-Ohio Con, I've been waxing nostalgic around the house about past conventions I've attended. I was disappointed to learn that Don Rosa, one of my absolute all-time favorite comics storytellers, will not be in attendance in Columbus. I did, however, attend Don's con back in '76. We've written about Omnicon before here at the Library and even run the cool Frank Brunner cover from its program book. Here, though, we present the original program schedule brochure from the weekend of the con itself, complete with rare artwork from Don, himself.

Mid-Ohio Con Next Weekend

Finally! After literally decades of not being able to attend the Mid-Ohio Con in spite of the fact that for all intents and purposes, I live in Southern Ohio, we're going! Logistically, working in retail, I've never been able to get off on the busiest shopping weekend of the year. Last year I was finally allowed off only to be financially incapable of attending. This year, there were hoops to jump through but with the help of my delightful assistant, Cassandra, I was able to secure the dates...only to have money become an issue yet again. Throwing caution to the wind, we decided to go for it anyway. Today, I purchased tickets online. Current plans call for us to drive up and back each day (about 2 hours) so a good oil change, gas and food should be our only expenses. May not be able to buy anything but with all of the great guests and panels (see here:Mid-Ohio-Con - Serving Comic Book & Pop Culture FUN Since 1980!) that shouldn't be much of an issue. This will be the first Con I've attended in about 9 years and the first big one since the early nineties! I'm looking forward to seeing Net friends like Tony Isabella and Mark Evanier, meeting Maggie Thompson and David Mack and my son can't wait to meet Keno Don Rosa! If any of you who regularly stop by the Library here are going to be there, please let me know. I'd really like to thank you all in person for your continued support of this blog. (Speaking of which, if anyone wants to chip in for gas money, please click on the PayPal tip button to the right).