Last time out, I told you what was going on with my frustrating and rage-filled life. This time out, let’s talk about my plans for the next several weeks.
For starters, my Saintly Wife Barb will be retiring by mid-May or so. Before then, she’s recuperating at home after a bit of surgery. She’ll be home for four weeks, go back to work for just a few days and then go on a family vacation with me and our kids. After that May vacation, she’ll go back to work for her last couple of weeks. When she’s finished with her old job, she’s been offered a position as my executive assistant. And, yes, of course she could do much better.
I take over our garage in a few days in preparation for my summer Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales. Staring near the end of April, weather permitting, I want to have these every other week. As always, I’m determined to make big progress in reducing the VAOS before the fall end of these sales.
I’ve started work on JULY, 1963: A PIVOTAL MONTH IN THE COMIC-BOOK LIFE OF TONY ISABELLA VOLUME TWO. I hope to launch a Kickstarter by the end of the month to pay for the comics I need to complete this and subsequent volumes. My aim is to have this new volume available for the 2022 holiday season. I also hope to write another book, the start of a new series, in time for that season.
Conventions? I’ve got a few scheduled for the rest of the year and hope to add more. Interested parties can email me and see what we can work out.
Now, without further adieu, here are the things that bought me joy in the month of March...
March 1: If one is looking for heroes, one need look no further than Ukraine. The people of that nation are fighting back. From the average citizen to the president of the country, they are fighting to remain free. They are heroes..
March 2: Chowing down on pizza, chicken, french fries and Paczkis with Barb, Eddie and Kelly. It was our celebration of Fat Tuesday, or, as I call it, Tuesday.
March 3: The Amazing Race. After an exciting finale, Kim and Penn Holderness finished first, winning a million dollars. They are the oldest contestants ever to win the contest. Barb and I were rooting for them from the start.
March 4: Tom Taylor’s Nightwing is the Batman I have wanted for so many years. I recommend Nightwing: Leaping into the Night and look forward to the next volume.
March 5: I started working on my Vast Accumulation of Stuff sales and hit a goldmine with the first box: Batman #243-354 and Hawkman #1-27.
[NOTE: Hawkman #1-15 and a key issue of Batman are in the hands of Comic Book Certification Services. These comics will be auctioned off in the future. Hawkman #16-27 will be at my first garage sale and are priced to sell.]
March 6: My character creation workshop at the Lake Erie Ink 10th Annual Kids' Comic Con went well. My biggest joy was encouraging a young man who came up with a clever and fresh idea for a series. I hope he pursues it further. I think it could be a winner.
March 7: Though plagued by the bad decisions attendant to most DC Comics movies, The Batman was a lot better than I anticipated. Zoe Kravitz was wonderful as Selina Kyle. I’ll have more to say about this film in the future.
March 8: Mark Arnold interviewed me Monday night for his Fun Ideas podcast. We covered a whole lot of ground in a great chat running over an hour. If you thought you couldn’t get enough of me, this might convince you otherwise.
March 9: Three stories in and I’m loving The Devil and Leo Persky by my pal Paul Kupperberg. The titular Weekly World News reporter is a great character and, like him, I know the stories in that late lamented tabloid were true. All of them.
March 10: Fantasticon is this weekend in Toledo and I’m feeling my pre-convention buzz. I’m getting ready for the event and very much looking forward to seeing old friends, making new ones and selling a bunch of comics. Hope to see you there.
March 11: An easy two-hour drive to Toledo for Fantasticon, topped off by dinner at Applebee’s with my beloved friends Mike and Mary Grell. If our conversation had been streamed, it would have broken the Internet.
March 12: Fantasticon Toledo was...fantastic. My sales were good. Seeing old friends was great. I’m uncharacteristically optimistic about the contacts I made. I bought some cool old comics. I’ll have more to say in upcoming bloggy things.
March 13: When I got home from Fantasticon, I took the Saintly One to Medina’s new Culver’s. We ate inside because the drive-in line was very long. We greatly enjoyed our Butterburgers and fries and plan to return to try their other menu items.
March 14: Ben Vereen, who deserves an armful of awards for his work in B Positive. His character Peter is a retired professor dealing with the early signs of dementia. In the season finale, he brought me to tears and made me laugh. Genius.
March 15: Monday’s new Jeopardy champion Amy Bekkerman, an academic copy editor from Durham, New Hampshire, who used to referee roller derby matches as “Marian the Barbarian.” I love the diversity to be found on Jeopardy.
March 16: Friday Book One: The First Day of Christmas by writer Ed Brubaker with Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente. What happens when meddling kids grow up and face dangers greater than bitter old men in masks? I’m on the edge of my seat here.
March 17: From Wednesday’s The Late Show, Stephen Colbert singing a sea shanty with Michael Bublé. It was something I didn’t know I needed until I saw and heard it.
March 18: The Poorcraft series of comic-book guides to practical and frugal living continues with The Poorcraft Cookbook. It starts with smart shopping tips and moves on to literally dozens of cool recipes. I get hungry just writing about it.
March 19: “You Won't Believe What This Episode is About - Act Three Will Shock You!” (The Simpsons episode for March 13) was all kinds of hilarious wonderfulness. It’s season 33 and the show can still hit it out of the park.
March 20: I’m celebrating the 40th anniversary of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark with her newest Funko figure. I also ordered the first of the Elvira Classic Years Omnibus series. Because she is and has always been one of my favorite ladies.
March 21: Feeling very good about decisions I’m making, even though not everyone will be happy with them.
March 22: A&E’s Deep Fried Dynasty. I love this show about vendors at the 24-day Texas State Fair. I would probably die if I ate the food they serve, but I’m rooting for them to make their financial goals for the fair.
March 23: Metamorphosis. Scientists trapped in a research facility where their insane boss has created a mutant tyrannosaurus and some humongous snakes. This amusing Chinese monster movie is available for free on YouTube with English subtitles.
March 24: Some of Saintly Wife Barb’s co-workers threw her a very cool surprise retirement party. We may not know exactly when her last day is, but we know she will be missed.
March 25: Patton Oswalt’s amazing guest appearances as Mars Mission astronaut Lancaster on Space Force. They were funny, heart-breaking and yet still life-affirming. Should they even be allowed to make movies or TV shows without this immensely talented actor?
March 26: I liked Disney/Marvel’s Hawkeye series so much that I’ve ordered three Funko figures from it. The first of them has arrived and, like my other Funko figures, delights me.
March 27: Yelena, the second of the Hawkeye figures I ordered, has arrived. When Kate Bishop gets here, I’m going to write and act out witty conversations for them.
March 28: Making good choices. Not watching the Academy Awards was definitely one of them.
March 29: John Oliver (on last Sunday’s Last Week Tonight) devoted his main segment to drugs, harm reduction and overdose prevention centers. It was revealing and brilliant with Oliver offering good common sense ideas to all of the above.
March 30: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. For more reasons than I can fit in this space, but especially for his cogent and thoughtful comments on the “Oscar slap.”
March 31: Clear the beaches! The first of my Funko Jaws figures has arrived. I wonder if I can sneak it into my wife’s Easter display.
That’s it for today. I will be back as soon as possible with more bloggy fun.
© 2022 Tony Isabella
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