Surfing with the Alien

I grabbed a bag of toys out of my bedroom last time I was down at Mom's house. It was a ziplock baggy full of old action figures. I remember each toy vividly.

I brought it home and gave it to Boyd.

At age 4, he knew the name of Kang the Conquerer, who was an obscure character when I was a kid. He also told me he believed that the Silver Surfer was the most powerful toy in the bag.

I agreed.

We played with these guys for a while. They're his now. I'm glad he likes them.

***

I pulled the old license plate off Dad's truck today and replaced it with a new one. This one is registered to me and Jess, and has Douglas County tags on it.

I guess the truck is kinda-sorta ours now, unofficially. It's not Mom's, it's not Dad's. It's mine and Jessica's... I think.

I don't like the feeling.

***

Boyd was so proud that I was impressed that he knew who Kang was, that he went and got one of his books where Kang is the main villain, to show to me.

Keep in mind, this would be frowned upon by his current school, Montessori School in Lawrence. They say fantasy is bad for kids' minds. Yet fantasy makes my son's mind race, fills him with imagination...

Sure enough, Boyd was right. There's Kang! He showed me in his book.

Good recall, Boyd.

I liked Kang for a few reasons when I was a kid. One, this toy came from the Secret Wars line, which I didn't have many of (they were just a little before my time, but all the toys came with hologram shields, which was cool.) Two, his weapon was sound, which I always thought was interesting. And three, my dad worked for KANG — Kansas Air National Guard — and that acronym was around a lot in my childhood. I liked to imagine that it was like HYDRA or SHIELD, and that it was secretly run by Kang the Conquerer.

Obscure Seth Jones trivia, right there.

Also, I also once bowled a 114.

***

Does anyone happen to have an extra copy of this issue of Lawrence Magazine lying around?

If you did and wouldn't mind gifting it to me, I'd be grateful.

I did the sidebars to the cover story of that issue... which means I was the guy who interviewed Mario Chalmers, Danny Manning, Wiggins, T-Rob, Rick Barnes and Jay Bilas.

I have one copy but would love to nab a few more as I'd like to mail them to a few KU b-ball fans who are out-of-state.

Let me know, thanks.

And no, I had no input on the cover.

***

Mexican week continues at the house, and while we enjoy the food, no one is enjoying Dad's gas*.

***

I think I decided tonight that I'm going to draw another comic book.

Not a 22-page epic, like "What Would Jacko Do?" but a short, six-pager.

I'm really fond of the Fantastic Four comic I did several years ago. It was only 10, maybe 11 pages? I'd like to do something like that again.

I just need a story. Maybe Doctor Solar? But what's he doing? Man, I used to love doing those spoofs of Dr. Solar, where he was a 1970s terrorist. Hmm...

It's always important that there are no female characters in my stories. Not because I'm sexist, but because I don't know how to draw women.

***

Extra points to you if you got the title of this blog post.

***

HOLY CRAP, ADRO... The National just popped up into my Pandora stream!

It's "Start a War" from The Boxer.

I'll admit, in a small dose, it ain't bad.

I'm listening to Cold War Kids radio, btw.

***

You should come with us to see Phantogram in October.

***

*That's called bathroom humor right there, Evey. It's the most base form of humor there is. But it still makes me laugh at times. You have to be careful with "fart jokes." At the end of the day they're "beneath us," but at the same time, there's occasionally a "rumble down under" that has to be mocked.

Tread lightly with bathroom humor, Sis. That's my advice.