Orange Recovery

Uh oh. Then again, who else would it be besides Garlic and Radish?

Narrow Escape

But does that trail continue to lead somewhere? Would our villains be so careless? Well...maybe.

Clandestine

This little kitty's clandestine plan to snatch the catnip under cover of darkness seems to be a success.

I guess I never really knew how to pronounce clandestine until now. Doesn't rhyme with Clementine. I had a hard time with this Illustration Friday theme, but I think I finally figured out something that works okay.

Batman RIP

I haven't posted in superhero geek mode in quite a while, so here's my (somewhat spoilery) take on the controversial Batman RIP run in Batman # 676-681 and DC's big plans.

Obviously not "Rest in Peace," because if DC killed off Bruce Wayne, they'd have a massive fan revolt. I'm guessing it's more like "Respite in Peace." Of course, Batman spent most of the RIP storyline in a alternate state of consciousness, so maybe he's Really into Pretending. Then again, there was Bat-Mite in this storyline, so perhaps he's Running in a Parallel universe. Frankly, whatever DC's plans for Batman are in the coming months, the fans will need a Recipe including Patience.

A lot of comic book readers didn't like the Batman RIP run. Grant Morrison told the story in puzzle pieces that didn't completely fit until the end. He included pieces from older stories-- meaning the entire history--which I liked but others didn't. Pieces of this story were planted from the beginning of Morrison's run, which made it a little cumbersome to put together (I didn't buy all the crossover comics for the Ra's Al Ghul story, so there's probably a piece of the puzzle I missed). There was the introduction of Damien, Talia Al Ghul's genetically engineered "son-of-Batman." We revisit the Club of Superheroes--Batmen of all nations (from the 50s Detective #215). Fake Batmen (Batmans?) appear in Gotham. Batman actually really dies for 4 minutes and we get retellings of #47 and #156. All before the RIP run even starts. And then there's Jezebel Jet. Bruce falls enough in love her to reveal his alter-ego, but Morrison never made her likable enough to be worth Bruce thoroughly opening up. I suppose we were supposed to distrust her, but it would have been a better piece of the puzzle if she were a legitimate contender for Bruce's ironclad heart. My biggest beef would have to be that the pieces of this story were too spread out. But that's also somewhat the brilliance of Grant Morrison as a storywriter. The point of the story was to explore whether Batman is breakable. Is he? Is he truly insane? As insane as, say, the Joker? Did Dr. Hurt really start this process way back in the 60s #156? Batman seems to pull it together in the end. Allies rally to help. Damien shows back up. But it's pretty open-ended and didn't quite answer everything. Is the Black Glove (club of villains...bored rich people into murderous games) truly disbanded? Who is Dr. Hurt? And of course Batman is gone now.

No Batman in Batman or Detective comic books and by March those titles will be "on hiatus." (Likewise Superman's storyline ends up with no Superman in Superman or Action comics.) Nightwing, Robin and Birds of Prey will all be gone. Instead we'll have a Battle for the Cowl comic, and Barbara Gordon gets an Oracle title. I know DC has to shake things up every now and then, but messing with your major titles in such a drastic way might test readers' patience even more than crossovers do. I have to say, I will buy the Battle for the Cowl. Tony Daniel is writing and drawing it. Tony penciled the RIP run and I really like his art. I hope his writing talent matches his art talent. That's Tony's Batman above.

RIP was supposed to cross over to Detective, Robin, Nightwing, and Batman and the Outsiders. It didn't, which is a pretty dirty trick to play on your readers. But Detective and Batman are now intertwining as the title nears hiatus. Yay, Denny O'Neil!

Enough With The Snow!

I really should get back to Beware the Red Radish, but I have been super lazy. Finally today the temperature rose slightly above 32! Here is my yard this morning, before it started to melt. The lavender shot is about the same as the one two posts below if you care to compare.

"Snowpocalypse"

Our "big" storm wasn't as bad as they thought, but some places had the predicted high winds and some places got the new foot of snow. We got 4 new inches topped with a crust of freezing rain. And I see it is snowing again now...rather heavily. Too cold for big fluffy flakes, instead we have icy powder that permeates the air. NOAA called it "ice fog" yesterday on their weather page for my area. I prefer a fellow Northwest blogger's term: Snowpocalypse.
By the way, that's my spectacular Nootka Rose behind the pine tree needles. Those rosehips are huge! I wish its neighbor Nootka Rose would follow suit!

This picture of an arborvitae is a little blurry, but shows the snow well.

I still have half a pot of chili and plenty of dvds to see me through until the roads are clear and/or all the idiot drivers have wrecked their cars.

Waiting for More Snow

This junco seems to be eating lavender seeds. I liked the textures in this photo.
This junco is waiting for his turn at the feeder where he won't be chased off as quickly by his brethren. It just started to snow again--the beginning of what's been forecast as a big storm. We'll see.

Voices

This week's Illustration Friday theme is voices. So here it is: the voices coffee cups hear. Makes me feel cozy, especially with our persistent chilly weather and the snow outside.

Brrrr

It's supposed to be clear and cold today, but it's overcast and snowing. Most schools in the western part of Washington started their winter breaks early. Some earlier than my district, which gave us clear-but-cold Wednesday off for fear of snow later in the day, and then made us go to school yesterday while it snowed and then froze, making getting home a little hairy. (FYI native Washington drivers: trying to pass someone on the right up a steep and very slippery hill is nothing less than moronic.)
Now, I realize my friends and family in Colorado and Minnesota are rolling their eyes, but snow and ice in Washington is always a big disabling deal. Temperatures under freezing, especially for longer than a week, are unusual, and ice and snow is always dangerous to drivers who never learn....
So I'm glad to be home watching the birds and the snow...or my new big tv.

Rambunctious

Raccoons were the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the theme for Illustration Friday this week: rambunctious. Above are raccoons rambunctiously dancing on my roof, as they often seem to do late at night. Below is a panel I snicked from a July story in my comic strip of typical raccoon rambunctiousness as well. I could have drawn birdbath-tipping, tag-playing, tree-climbing, cherry-throwing.... Raccoons=rambunctious!

Rush, rush

Oh, there you are, Pear. Don't worry. Dr. Orange is only sedated.
By the way, the bubble bath has "sparkle!" but I think you have to click on the picture to see it.

Best Laid Plains

Wow. I thought the Orange brothers were immune to the crossfire between Radish/Garlic and Pear. Hey. Where is Pear? (Or even Pearil?)

Found Out?

Hmmm, how to avoid potential discovery of the villains by the good guys? What scheme could Garlic be concocting now? Frankly, I have no idea what's going to happen next.

Similar, too

I've been sick for the last couple of days. Just a naggy virus of some kind. So I've slept a lot and thus am up late, still awake. So here is another interpretation for this week's Illustration Friday theme of similar:

Kittens.

I have to say, some of the art over there just blows me away. But then, many of the regulars are actual artists by trade and others who have devoted more time to drawing than I. Fun to see the talent that is out there. Go internet!

Similar?

Which one of these is not similar to one of the others?* Illustration Friday's theme this week, as you can guess, is similar. I'm sure IF visitors are tiring of the Orange brothers, but since they're twins, I couldn't not include them in a smorgasbord of similar things...even if they are the only imaginary ones. BTW, Myrna and Spot turned out just about perfectly.

*This reminds me of Sesame Street's "One of These Things Is Not Like the Other" song.

The Horror!

Dr. Orange is supposed to be holding a petri dish, but I see it looks more like a powder puff. Maybe Dr. Orange is very sensitive about his complexion.

I discovered a paint shop lesson I haven't learned yet: how to skew text to show perspective. Will have to do that some other time.