Linking Around

This is a longer Linking Around post than usual.  I had the links gathered for a normal length one, but hadn't started writing it before I took my break.  I kept adding to it in the time since, so here it is in all its glory.  We've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's get started.  Some of the comic links in this post come courtesy of the awesome Comics Reporter.

I'm behind on my Days commenting, so I didn't do my Day by Days yesterday.  I'll have to do an extended one of those soon.  However, here is a list of sexy Days wicked ladies, and (in the interest of equal time--AHEM!) a list of hunky henchmen to tide you over.

Speaking of Days, I was a little dismayed to see that they have released Chandler Massey, who plays Will, from his contract almost three months early.  Yes, he had said he was wanting to move on when it expired, but this seems odd to me, especially since the kid brought so much acting cred to the show with back-to-back Emmy wins.  I think the show is gambling on the fact that they tape so far ahead (Massey will actually air until the end of the year) that the fan furor will die down before the recast actually appears on the show.  I think they're wrong.  Honestly, I see some backtracking and an effort to get Massey back in a few months.  Charlie Sheen can't be wrong, can he?

On the one hand, the IRS moving forward to recognize same-sex couples is yet more progress on the gay marriage front.  On the other hand, it can create some other issues for couples like us who live in a state where same sex marriage is prohibited. 

Within the last few weeks, we lost a couple of really talented gentleman.  Cowboy Jack Clement helped shape the Nashville music scene for decades and is one of those forces that helped keep the kind of country music I like alive, leading to the birth of alt-country and Americana music.  Stan Lynde was an excellent cartoonist who drew the western strip Rick O'Shay for many years.  I used to get this magazine called Comics Revue in the early 90's which reprinted strips from many eras.  One of those included was Lynde's.  I was quite fond of his work.

Did you ever hear about the time some newspaper comic strip captions got switched by accident?

This guy is my new hero. 

This piece from the venerable Comics Journal is a great article about comics and the misconceptions of their value. It should be mandatory reading for junkers and resellers.  What I found most interesting was the assertion that lots of fans from my era are trying to get rid of the comics of their youth right now, creating a soft market.  I know I've found those issues in good shape in the 25 cents to a dollar range for quite some time now, without much trouble.  The real irony here is that thirty years ago I was finding them for that price in flea markets!

I unloaded a ton of that stuff several years ago and I'm glad I did now.  I took the X-men stuff (including the seminal and sought after Giant Size X-Men #1) to my comic shop and got over $350 and then sold a bunch of long boxes at a yard sale for $400.  I didn't know it then, but apparently timing was on my side.

Oh, Pooh!  Say it ain't so! 

I was really upset to learn from Roger that Linda Ronstadt has Parkinson's.  We're talking one of my favorite artists from my youth and an incredible musical talent.  As I've said before, she's the reason I discovered the musical love of my life, Emmylou Harris.  I know there are treatment advances happening all the time, so I'm hoping for the best for her.

Look out, Miley Cyrus!

One of the first Golden Age comics I was ever able to buy was an issue of Fairy Tale Parade by Walt Kelly.  I came of age reading all kinds of Golden Age reprints, so I've always had a love for them.  The problem is that GA comics tend to be pretty pricey in the back issue market.  I was kind of tickled to not only find this one in an antique store in the town where I went to college, but to get it for a dollar.  (Really!)  This was just a few years after I graduated.  I had come back for homecoming and was wandering around town.  I found the comic on a shelf of books and the store owner didn't seem to know what it was, so he said "How about a buck?"    Needless to say, I took it.  Here's a sample of the kinds of stories Kelly (better known for the newspaper strip Pogo) did back then.  (Link courtesy of Comics Reporter)  His art is fluid and expressive and the story is sweet as can be.

Finally, ever wonder how the design for the push button phone came to be?