Jim Aparo Dies At 72

Unless you're into comics, I mean really into comics, the name Jim Aparo probably doesn't ring a bell, but as far as I'm concerned, Mr. Aparo was the Batman artist. Some would say it was Neal Adams, but my earliest Batman memories are of Jim Aparo. A mostly self-taught artist, Mr. Aparo was an inspiration to me as I've had little in the way of formal training. His work on the original run of DC's Batman & the Outsiders was a particular favorite of mine. The man could draw anything! Mr. Aparo, who was 72, died July 19th, 2005 of complications from illness, the family says. There'll never be another like him.

The Final Frontier

Born March 3rd, 1920, James "Scotty" Doohan met the Final Frontier July 20th, 2005, solidifying his immortality not only as a great character actor who, week-after-week coaxed the Enterprise into "Givin' it all she's got!" but a true Hollywood legend. I say character actor not as a bad thing as some of the most memorable Hollywood icons were portrayed by character actors. After all, they have all the best lines! Generations to come will shout out in their best Scottish burr "She canna take much more, Cap'n!" or "She's gonna blow!" Actors of the day will come and go, but guys like Scotty will live forever...

The Face

Here's a picture I didn't ad to my convention photos section on my website. "You're still gorgeous" my wife Barbi told Mr. Dirk "Face" Benedict. "Then why am I still alone?" he replied.

"I'm Not A Smart Man...

...But I know what a Blog is."

Okay, I never claimed to be a smart man. If you don't belive me, consider this: I forgot the pass word to my previous blog! How dumb is that?! And after all the times I've told people, "write it down," I somehow managed to fail in taking my own advice.

Anyway, here's my new blog, hope you like it. All the latest news in my life and the goings-on at Studio 831 will be posted here at irregular intervals. I'm not even going to attempt monthly updates, that's just crazy!

So, what's new?
1. I've almost finished the second issue of The Three Keys#2! I gotta say, it's better than issue one. It seems being comfortable with the characters allowed me to focus on other artistic aspects such as panel layout, contrast, hot chicks, etc. Issue one was a study in how not to do a comic. Hopefully I've learned a few things since then.

2. The Three Keys#2 contains a preview to another comic Nik Havert (check out the Pickle Press link on my homepage) and I are working on called Salem, AZ. All I can say about that one is, it's a long, long road from Columbus, Ohio to Nappanee, Indiana.

Well, that about sums things up. See you soon. Don't worry, I wrote my password down this time.