With the San Diego comic con and four zillion deadlines looming, I decided to recycle one of my old Comic Buyer’s Guide strips. I may start doing this on Fridays on a semi-regular basis if it’s well received.

So–what’s the verdict?

This comic was supposed to run as a full-page gag in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1676. It’s one of three gags that I did for CBG’s “romance comics” issue.

But then fate–cruel, wicked fate–intervened!

Sure my cover art and another gag made it into the issue. But my third gag got cut at the last minute. The official reason? No room.

But maybe there was another reason. Maybe it was part of a vast conspiracy to…[insert any random quote from Charlie Sheen here.]

So that’s why I’m running the comic here. Because if I didn’t the [insert another random quote from Sheen] would win!

Since this comic deals (at least in passing) with superheroes, it’s only fitting that it has a secret origin. And this secret beginning began around 2001 (or 2002) when I met John Romita, Sr. at a comic convention.

I was pleasantly surprised (shocked really) when John told me that he read and enjoyed Last Kiss. Figuring he’d say no–but what the heck–I asked him if he’d be willing to draw a bit of new art for a Last Kiss comic.

After I picked myself off the floor, I realized that John said, “Yes.”

I don’t know if it was the shock or something akin to stage fright, but I didn’t write a script right away. Not my brightest move.

Months passed (Yes, blast it. Months!) before I approached John again and sheepishly mentioned the project. This time–having come to his senses–John politely bowed out. He basically said he was retired and this sounded too much like real work.

Fair enough. But I wasn’t about to let a little thing like that stop me.

After all, Last Kiss is all about taking old art and re-dialoging it. Would John mind if I used some of his old art?

Sure. No problem.

Fortunately, Marvel felt the same way and quickly granted permission to use the art. The strip made it’s web debut in 2002.

Free cape and Major Nerd action figure with every purchase!

The world would be a better place if some people (insert name of your least favorite politician, relative or coworker) skipped work and read comics. Of course, I’m not talking about you. But some people…definitely.

In fact, we could probably avoid most wars if people just stayed home and read comics. Hmm…imagine that. Comics reading for world peace!

I was recently recruited by Friends of the Seattle Public Library to persuade the City of Seattle not to cut the library budget. It gets weirder. My expertise and reason for testifying? Comic books.

I testified at a Seattle City Council budget hearing on April 20 that libraries needed to stay open so that kids can check out and read comics/graphic novels.

The 10-year-old kid in me—I once had to smuggle Captain America comics into our home because “funny books” were considered junk literature—is flabbergasted to be testifying about the importance of comics.

And yet, there I was explaining that graphic novels are now a major attraction in libraries—especially to kids:

“A few years ago, my daughter and her friends learned Japanese primarily so that they could read Japanese graphic novels.

“Today, hundreds [thousands?] of these books have been translated and published and are more popular than ever. And kids are devouring them. But times are tough.

“That means–for many kids—there’s only one place where they can find these books. Whether it’s graphic novels or Harry Potter or Moby Dick, it’s the library that’s going to keep our kids excited and reading.”

(A more complete version of my testimony is here on the Friends of the Library blog.)

Of course, there were other pleas on behalf of the library. Some quite serious—such as people needing the libraries so that they can go online and search for jobs. My plea, obviously, was the offbeat, pop-culture-with fun visual aids testimony.

As it turns out, none of this saved the library budget from being cut this year. But we were already fighting for next year’s budget. So, we’ll see what happens.