The Ennis Menace

Pardon me for a moment while I indulge in a bit of wanton geekery.

Garth Ennis is writing the new Shadow comic! 

~does the dance of joy~ 

This is epicly thrilling. It is beyond cool.  Garth Ennis is the writer/creator of one of my favorite comic characters - The Preacher.  I sorta recommend him with trepadation.  If you are not into blood, guts, vampires, the ghost of John Wayne, fallen dieties, drunken clergy, congregations oblitereated by fireballs from the heavens, renegade angels, prolific profanity, in-bred cycloptic children, pistol-packin' hit-woman girlfriends and cats in toilets, don't read his stuff. 

I freakin' love it. 

And now he's writing The Shadow.  Damn, I loves me some Shadow.  From the pulp novels of Maxwell Grant to the radio program, to the movie versions and the various comic book incarnations, I can't get enough of it.  My senior ring when I was in high school?  I picked one that looked similar to the ring the shadow's agents wore.  (Next time I come across it in some forgotten drawer, I'm having the school insignia ground off of it so I can start wearing it again.  Because I, by God, know what evil lurks in the hearts of men.  More or less.)  I have sketched books full of that character.  I had Shadow action figures in my bathroom of my former house.  (I don't know why the bathroom - there was just a shelf there that needed something on it.) I think I need me a couple of nickle-plated .45s.  Just because.

Garth Ennis.  And The Shadow.  It's a match made in an incredibly entertaining level of hell that we like to visit as long as we don't have to live there.  ~more happy dancing and a possible squee~

Yep.  Garth Ennis. 

And tomorrow I'm going to Ennis, Texas to look at some bad-ass bluebonnets.   It's like the whole universe is doing some sort of karma-applause thing.  Oh, hell yeah.

Prattle and Prognistications

There is an emergency room doctor who comes across the street to the fitness center sometimes at o'dark-thirty when things are slow.  There are only about 2,000 people in the whole town, so early mornings at the emergency room are slow more often than not. 

This morning was the first time he'd come since my unfortunate 'booting', and he asked what was wrong with my foot.  I told him I have a stress fracture.  He shook his head, motioned towards the treadmills and excercise bikes and said "I'm not surprised." 

Which made me feel like a total bad-ass. 

However, given his slightly misogynistic leanings and somewhat caustic personality, he probably didn't mean it as a compliment.  He's one of those vaguely grouchy people that you can't help but like, whether they want you to or not. 

One morning he was attacking the exercise bike and riding like he was trying to outrun the devi.  We asked what he wanted us to do if he passed out or had a heart attack.  We volunteered to go get a gurney and wheel him across the street, cause we're helpful like that.  He just glared and said "Don't do anything.  Just call 911!"

We told him we'd call, but we're still threatening him with CPR. 

And speaking of misogyney...

I've often observed that the snidly racist remarks and dirty little racist jokes that used to be relegated to talk out behind the barn have made there way to the forefront even in so-called polite company since President Obama's election.  It's disheartening.  Especially when I'd always thought better than that of a lot of these people who are snickering and waggling their eyebrows, pretending it's all in good fun. 

Now the sexist attitudes and speech that I thought we had all agreed to at least not speak aloud are resurfacing as well.  You can hear it can hear it and it's getting louder. 

My prediction?  If our next election goes red, the handicapped are next on the chopping block.  Mark my words - unless the current War on The Majority of The Constituency doesn't result in a pretty hard slap in the face, you'll start to hear rumblings about the Americans With Disabilities Act and how it is not really helping the less fortunate among us, but is just another series of unfunded mandates engineered to increase the size and scope of our federal government. 

I'd bet money on it. 

Remember that Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote? 

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

First they came for the "abortionists" and the homosexuals...