T-shirt #144: The Teen Titans

T-shirt #144: The Teen Titans and a roundup of bloggy stuff and other nonesuch

Happy Monday!

I say "Happy Monday" on purpose because "happy" is the operative word today. Stay tuned.

As I wrote yesterday, KUDL's summer season is over, and so I am taking a break from KUDL and Ultimate shirts in general for some time.

I felt it was time for some roundup and reflection. For some readers the blog can be overwhelming. I do have a category devoted to what I think is my best work, entitled "Lists-My Ten Best Blog Entries," which contains 11 blog entries. I could not stick to ten.

One of my good friends and a dear reader spoke to me this past weekend wishing me well. I was deeply touched by this expression of good will by a dear friend and a reader. Thanks. You know who you are.

Part of my intention to do a roundup today is to recap as I close in on 150, which feels like a milestone. Also, I am approaching another milestone. If you don't know what milestone I am talking about, read T-shirt #77: Narcissism. My personal milestone takes place (begins and ends) on August 16th, which also happens to be my parents' 55th wedding anniversary, and the day before my wife's birthday (her number of years I am not at liberty to disclose). Starting August 16th, I have scheduled four days of pajama T-shirts. I may not use all four days in a row to show pajamas but that's the current plan in case I need that much time.

THE ROUNDUP

I promised roundup today. And, so I present, first, some bloggy roundup. I expected to do a whole bevy of roundup today but that's not going to be possible. Bloggy roundup, happiness, and one happy thing (George Pérez) is all I will have time to accomplish.

I had a reader praise my blog but admit disinterest in much of it: "too much about comic books," he said.

Though I explore a lot of subject matter with this blog, it would make sense for comic books to be the number one subject. So far, I have devoted 44 of the 144 posts to comic books: DC Comics (20), Marvel Comics (11), and Other(13). I do not have an "other" category, so I derived that number from subtraction. You can see these categories listed on the right side of the blog page. The Sports category takes second place with 36 entries, mainly because I include all of my Ultimate shirts in sports. I have featured 19 Ultimate shirts and 16 KUDL shirts, and though this may seem like a lot, the category for Just Logos and Symbols carries the third place rank with 29 entries, and I did not include sports logos in this category. The Logos category consists of comic book, SF, and other related logos, such as Star Trek,  Mad Magazine, and The Comics Code Authority.  Shirts I have been given as gifts takes fourth place with 27 entries, so NO, I am not buying them all myself!! Thus, TV and Movies takes fifth place with 25 entries, as many of these overlap with comic books. Some may feel I am cheating here as the shirts for several entries in this category have nothing to do with TV or movies, such as T-shirt #99: Moby, but since I wrote a little review of Iron Man 3 in that entry, I added it to the TV and Movies category, and so it serves double duty.

TOP TEN CATEGORIES FOR THE 365 T-SHIRTS BLOG AS OF TODAY
For those who like lists, here's the top ten for the blog so far.

1. Comics Books = 44 entries
2. Sports = 36 entries
3. Just Logos and Symbols = 30 entries
4. GIFTS = 27 entries
5. TV and Movies = 25 entries
6. Music = 22 entries
7. DC Comics = 20 entries
8. Science Fiction = 20 entries
9. Ultimate = 19 entries
10. KUDL = 16 entries

ABOUT HAPPINESS

I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes me happy. This is surely a theme of this blog. Why would I wear a shirt displaying something that makes me unhappy? Obviously, if I am going to wear a shirt, which sits close to my heart, the thing depicted will also be close to my heart. This entire blog is one long journal about the things that make me happy outside of the obvious things, such as family and friends. I could probably complete a blog about 365 people or memories and not run out of material, much like the T-shirts.

But because of the aforementioned milestone, I have been thinking about things that make me happy, why they make me happy, and managing what my therapist and I call "self-care," which means making sure I get enough of those things that make me happy. I did discuss this subject some in T-shirt #103: Aloha, dedicated to the concept of Aloha from my wife's native land of Hawaii, which someday I hope to visit. In that blog entry, I began a subject that I plan to expand and explore often in the second 100 entries, of which I am halfway complete: THE RULES OF CHRIS. Though I did not name the "Rules of Chris" in the post, I added T-shirt #64 to the category because of the subjects I explore therein. Subjects of T-shirt #64 will connect very directly to several future blog entries.

I cannot make a list of happy things because the list is this blog. In the end, I hope to have over 365 happy things, and maybe room for more. In fact, some of the happy things, such as the very first entry: T-shirt #1: Son of Satan, deserve further exploration. I did not know what I was getting myself into when I started back on March 22nd. I could surely explore the very interesting Damion Hellstrom in more depth, but I will save that investigation and reflection for another time.

For now, today's happy thing: George Pérez and the Teen Titans.


ONE HAPPY THING: George Pérez

If I had to select one favorite comic book artist, I do not even have to think about it. I would select George Pérez.

I have struggled with this issue of listing my favorite comic book artists. I started my thinking on this subject in T-shirt #27: Iron Fist, when faced with writing about Gil Kane. At that time, I made a very preliminary list, which, of course, contained George Pérez. I made the list just off the top of my head, which five artists sprung to mind first. By the time I reached T-shirt #43: Deadman, I realized that I had left Neal Adams off the list, and so I had to correct my oversight, and so I decided to organize the artists by era, which saves George Pérez for the 1970s and 1980s, even though he is still working today. In fact, the height of his career is arguably the 1980s, and he is probably best listed then. I decided to divide by era only because I have too many favorite comic book artists to keep to a simple top five or even a top ten. I have not even written about all of my favorites yet. More are still to come. But if I were to choose one artist as my all time favorite, I would unhesitatingly choose George Pérez.

I have the pleasure of being Facebook friends with George Pérez. In the 1990s, when my friend Neil Southwell and I were trying to sell a Teen Titans comic book idea to DC comics, we had the privilege of going to George's house (then in Queens) so he could critique Neil's art, which was an amazing learning experience. I am proud to say that we were able to meet with the editor of the Teen Titans books of the time, but DC declined to hire us to create a new Titans book. I am amused by the current All New X-Men book at Marvel Comics because this was essentially our idea with the Teen Titans. We wanted to bring back the original Titans (Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl), though I planned to leave in doubt HOW they came back to the, then, mid-1990s DC landscape. Were they clones? Was it time travel? Were they brainwashed? Maybe they were aliens? What if they were brainwashed, alien, clones from the past? I had many plans for fun revelations and mysteries. Too bad we did not get our shot. If I had scans of the art, I would share it. The first page splash showed the original Wonder Girl's fist slamming into the then Robin's (Tim Drake) face in extreme close up, blood and teeth spewing forth. It was a great idea for an image and Neil drew it beautifully, though as George showed us her pointed wrist bracelet would not have allowed her to bend her wrist without goring herself.

Back to George and the Titans.

This shirt commemorates a more recent edition of the Teen Titans and a spanking new logo. But any time, I think of the Teen Titans, I think of George Pérez (check out the Wiki).

In fact, I think about George Pérez every day because his lithograph for the Avengers 41st anniversary hangs directly above my computer desk in the place of ultimate honor (see photos).

I spotted George Pérez from his very first published art work in the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine in 1973. Soon he was illustrating many of my favorite comics, to which I subscribed to ensure I would have all of George's great work, such as Avengers and Fantastic Four. 

In 1980, George hopped to DC with Marv Wolfman to do the New Teen Titans book. Though I bought the first issue, I was off to college and my comic buying was spotty for a few years as I distracted by girls, girls, music, more girls, okay and maybe a little with academics (especially my classes with beautiful women). I loved the New Teen Titans book, but I missed a lot of issues. It was early 1984 before I started making regular treks to the local comic shop (a used bookstore that is now out of business; it would be another year before I would find Fanfare) and started buying the Teen Titans issues on a regular basis (and any back issues I could get my hands on). My love of comics renewed, I followed George's work avidly as he created the world-shattering and pivotal comic maxis-series Crisis on Infinite Earths with Marv Wolfman and then later a complete re-definition and a wonderful re-envisioning of Wonder Woman.

I have been an avid follower of George Pérez's work for most of my life (and his). I think his art is the most gorgeous in the history of comic books. I also love that he is an oft-imitated artist, such as by Phil Jimenez, who is a great artist in his own right but surely lists George as his number one influence. George's career is well chronicled in the Wiki devoted to him. He is still at work today, involved in DC's New 52 launch.

In 2010, DC finally agreed to publish the graphic novel we Titans fans had been waiting for since the 1980s. I actually owned a photocopy of the art that was distributed to our APA TitanTalk way back in the late 1980s. I wrote about my involvement with the APA in T-shirt #62: Nightwing. The graphic novel Games is a beautiful masterwork and a testament to the excitement of those 1980s Titans stories. Back in the late 1980s, George had asked my friend Neil to do some drawings that would appear on cards in the finished product. The cards are included on the pages of the finished art work, but I am not sure if these are Neil's drawings. He is not credited, in any case. Nevertheless, George has always been a huge supporter and a regular communicator with the fan community, much more so than many of his standoffish colleagues. It's one of the things I appreciate about the man. Not only is he a great artist, but he is a wonderful and gentle human being. I feel honored to say I know him, even a little.


Games is a wonderful graphic novel, and I highly recommend it. Maybe in a future post, I will review it and offer up more of a love letter to those 1980s Teen Titans issues and why I am such a huge fan. (And, no, it's not just because I have a huge crush on George's Donna Troy, Wonder Girl, and consider her my favorite woman character in all of comics... but that's surely part of it.)

Meanwhile, I will close with some more George Pérez art, including an image from the other, long-awaited master work: the JLA-Avengers book, which finally saw print in 2003.

Also, no entry about George Pérez can exist without mentioning his ingenious Hulk: Future Imperfect (written by Peter David) and George's run on AVENGERS with Kurt Busiek.

Enjoy this image gallery tribute to the great George Pérez. Surely, it is incomplete, and I will be forced to cycle back to this great artist again before my 365 days are at an end.

A FEW FUN LINKS

MOST ANTICIPATED COMICS OF 2010: GAMES

GEORGE PEREZ ON TEEN TITANS

TOP TEN MOST INFLUENTIAL COMIC ARTISTS: GEORGE PEREZ

CACHED COPY OF A REVIEW OF GAMES

GEORGE PEREZ IMAGE GALLERY

page from the "Who is Donna Troy?" comic (Titans #38).

 

All art (I hope) is posted here with permission of George Pérez, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics.
With all love and respect to and for George Pérez.

- chris tower - 1308.12 - 16:48

T-shirt #143: KUDL 2013 - Green

T-shirt #143: KUDL 2013 - Green wins championship!!

Quick post today as there is a lot going on in the wake of yesterday's tournament.

I know I have overdosed on Ultimate and KUDL shirts lately. I promise that this is the last one for some time as KUDL summer season is over.

I want to congratulate the Green Team named Team Hulk as our 2013 KUDL champions.

Congratulations to Team Hulk (Green) led by captains Jeremy Welter and Kathy Williams!! For our dear "Peaches," another longtime KUDL captain is on the trophy, joining myself, Kent Elliott, Ed Kenny (our only two time winner), David Mandrick, Matthew Frayer, and Stu Gulliver (not on Facebook).

Green team played a hard fought game against the Orange, Not Aquaman, team, but Green's lead was too much for Orange to overcome.

GREAT KUDL season everyone!! Possibly our best ever. Watch for Fall League registration opening very soon and our special "retro" shirt offer.

Happy Hucking. See you on the fields.

KALAMAZOO ULTIMATE DISC LEAGUE RECORD OF CHAMPIONS
(Listed by Captain and team color)
2006 - Matt/Crimson
2007 - Ed/Black
2008 - Kent/Black
2009 - Dave Mandrick/White
2010 - Tower/Marina Blue
2011 - Stu/Royal Blue
2012 - Ed/Light Blue
2013 - Jeremy "Peaches" Welter and Kathy Williams

I think it's interesting and fortunately coincidental that of the shirts I bought of our leftovers from 2013, I bought a green one.

However, in trying it on for today's pictures, I have discovered it is not large enough for my big belly, and I will be giving it back to KUDL.

Does it still count in my 365 even though it is passing out of my possession at this time? I think so. I am going to count it.

Also, I do not have time for much else.

Jeremy "Peaches" Welter deserves this win. He is one of the best people and the nicest of all human beings whom I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. He is also a great captain. Kudos "Peaches!"

Summer season has ended.

And now, Fall...?

- chris tower - 1308.11 - 18:54

T-shirt #141: Centrals 2002

T-shirt #141: Centrals 2002

Plans and changes. Once again, I had a shirt all planned for the blog today and other things happening in my life derailed it.

Yesterday, I took an extended work break to go to the Kalamazoo County Fair with my dad and my brother-in-law, Noel.

It's always nice to spend time with my family, my Dad and Noel in this case. We had a nice time at the fair, though a bit short. I ate half an elephant ear and drank some lemonade. My Dad had a soft serve ice cream. Noel drank a Coke. Not that these facts are exciting, but I am making note of them for my own permanent record.

We were all tempted by several rides and games, but we did not take advantage of any. We toured the 4H exhibits and all the livestock. We walked the midway, had our snack, and then I had to get back to work.

I decided to wear one of my favorite Ultimate shirts, one I designed, using a swiped and "unofficial" Calvin and Hobbes as the logo (drawn by my friend Neil Southwell). This was the shirt for the 2002 Centrals Ultimate Tournament that I used to host here in Kalamazoo. It was our best ever with almost two dozen teams and with women's and co-ed divisions to go along with the usual open division. It was a lot of fun.

I am keeping this entry short and sharing photos because I want to get ahead on other posts for future blogs, as I have a busy week running up until my next "break" from the blog, which will hit on August 16th.

WEEKLY COMIC LIST

I have found more time to read comics lately. I have needed this down time to recuperate energy from some busy weeks and demands on myself and my schedule. Green Arrow jumped to the top of my stack last month after I caught up on the title and started enjoying the Lemire run. The Fanfare boys also convinced me to buy Lemire's new book Trillium, which has an interesting double-sided effect (more on this in a future post). All New X-Men stays high on the list, and I am starting to see Bendis' master plan in running out a different pre-history for the original X-Men characters. This issue truly sets forth that intention quite well in regards to romance with Jean Grey ('Nuff Said!).

I have a weakness for Howard Chaykin and for Buck Rogers, so I had to try the first issue of that series. Almost missed buying Sheltered, which was a pick of Andrew, who works at Fanfare, and so far I do like it. I might re-order these as I read, which I often do because I may be eager to read Kick Ass and Daredevil: Dark Knights before those Avengers books. The special buy comes along because I am stock-piling for some rest and relaxation, which will start on August 16th when I intend to post easy and very brief dedications to my pajama T-shirts for as much as a full week, though maybe less. I love hiding these little previews deep in my daily text. Did you read to this point and catch my secret preview? Good for you.

Comics from 1308.07

Green Arrow #23
All New X-Men #015
Avengers #017
Avengers A.1 #002
Kick Ass 3 #2
Iron Man #014
Detective Comics #23
Daredevil: Dark Knights #003
Superior Spider-Man #015
Hunger #002
Buck Rogers #1 (Chaykin - Hermes Press)
Sheltered #2
Trillium #1
Sidekick #1

BACKLOG
Green Lantern #23
Earth 2 #15
Action Comics #23
Fairest #18
SPECIAL BUY - MIND MGMT VOLUME ONE: The Manager by matt kindt

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORI MARIE!!!

Today is my sister's birthday. Just wanted to give her a shout out on my blog.

Me at the KALAMAZOO COUNTY FAIR August 8th, 2013

On the midway and ready for action

Me and "Score," who is
hoping to score some sugar!

Considered riding the big wheel
but ate a snack instead

me and Noel

me and Noel and Score

My dad by the big wheel 

- chris tower - 1308.09 - 12:14

T-shirt #140: Mage: Joe Phat

T-shirt #140: Mage: Joe Phat: More Grading Robot

This shirt is not a modified replica of a uniform. This is the actual shirt in terms style, cut, and design as worn by the character Joe Phat in the comic book Mage: The Hero Defined, the second series of stories about Kevin Matchstick and his companions begun by Matt Wagner in 1984 and published by Comico. Wagner returned to the world of Mage in 1997 for a second run of issues, The Hero Defined, this time from Image Comics.


This is my second Joe Phat T-shirt.






My first Joe Phat shirt had a hole punched in it. Dissatisfied with this turn of events, I bought another. The original Joe Phat shirt with its hole will surely come up for its own feature some day when I am under the work gun as I am today and need a quickie.

Joe Phat is an avatar of various Native American characters/identities, such as the Coyote and the Raven. There's a great explanation of Joe Phat, via this link to the Comic Vine page. The Mage Wikipedia page is underwhelming, but it does provide some basics. Joe Phat is loosely based on a friend and colleague of Matt Wagner's, comic creator Joe Matt.

I woke up this morning with the thought in my head that this should be the shirt of the day. Originally, I had another shirt planned. But, today, Grading Robot, my alter ego, must channel the essence of Joe Phat. I have to be FAST. I have to be dedicated and disciplined. I have to persevere and overcome and triumph.

I am also going to the county fair with my dad.

And I was going to have a haircut but I needed to save work time, so I am re-scheduling.

Grading Robot must run at full power today.



The Mage books are very good, though as much as I like them, if I am going to recommend comics to a non-comics reader, or even recommend comics to a comics reader who doesn't know the stuff  that I am recommending, Mage would not make the top ten (though it might make the top twenty). Books like Optic Nerve, Concrete, The Tale of One Bad Rat, Strangers in Paradise, Bone, Fables, Y the Last Man, and a few others are the first things to come to mind outside the mainstream.


I have at least two other shirts that will give me a chance to share about Kevin Matchstick and the Mage stories. For now, Grading Robot must cycle up to full velocity and break the quantum barrier between this world and the next.

Have a good day!

- chris tower - 1308.08 - 8:56

PS: I could not stay awake last night as I was reading comic books and listening to the Detroit Tigers game on the radio. When Rondon gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 4-4, I had to go to sleep. I woke a little after midnight and checked my tablet to see through bleary eyes that the Tigers had won 6-5. I slept happily after seeing that and yet I was not sure of it. I had to check again this morning to make sure I had not dreamed that I had seen a winning score and the eleventh straight, consecutive victory for my favorite. It's a good day to be a Detroit Tigers fan.

PPS: Two covers and a page of interior art to inspire those who do not know the comics that are Mage.

T-shirt #139: KUDL-KUSS-WHITE

T-shirt #139: KUDL-KUSS-WHITE

Hello and welcome to my blog. If this is your first time here, please check out the explanatory nonesuch in yellow directly above as well as the handy lists and fun things along the right side.

Today, I am being a bit self-serving, but this work is for a good cause.






As a league, Kalamazoo Ultimate Disc League, KUDL, is selling left over shirts at bargain prices ($5). I have had many requests for shirts. What sizes? What colors? What fabric? From what years?

Instead of posting the list to Facebook, I thought it would be fun (and self-serving) to direct people here. I can also edit the list shown here as people reserve and/or buy shirts.

I have featured all the KUDL and KUSS years of shirts here on the blog before. To view the different designs, simply go to the labels list on the right. Scroll down to KUDL. Open the KUDL label link in a new tab/window. The smart Blogger program will then sort all of my entries and show you just the ones pertaining to KUDL. You will have to scroll through a lot my stuff (which is sort of the point and the self-serving part) (you should be amused by this self-serving part), and when you get through the first set of posts, you will have to click OLDER POSTS to see more.

Today's shirt is the one most sought after by many players: the vintage KUSS shirt from the league's first year in 2006. These shirts are rare. There are other whites in XL, but I did snag the one seen here and paid my five dollars.

FUTURE SHIRTS!
Two things.

1. SHIRTS FOR FALL 2013: If you're in our Facebook group, you may have seen our ongoing discussion about special edition shirts for Fall in any color, short and/or long-sleeve featuring the original bear with the racing stripes design of 2007 (which seems to be the consensus choice). If this is popular, we may do it every year. We're waiting on prices (I will update this text here when I know more), and we are working on two ways to pay (one when you register for fall and another for people not registering for fall).

2. DESIGNS: We are always open to ideas for our next year's design, and though we have a designer who has done great work for us, we are open to consider other designers. So, if you have an idea or are a designer (or both), feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the page. Thanks!

Anyway, here's the list. Thanks for reading. If you're visiting my blog for the first time, look around. If you find what I am doing overwhelming, I am sensitive to this issue, but I do appreciate you stopping by.

THE SHIRTS AVAILABLE LIST
Letters after color refer to size. All sizes are men's cuts unless noted.

KUDL players. Simply leave a comment for me on this blog page (at the bottom) to reserve a shirt. I will confirm with a return comment that should produce a return email if you add your email when you comment. No comment; no reservation; no confirmation email/comment.

KUSS SHIRTS -2006 (cotton)
Purple = M, M, S
White = XL, XL

KUDL SHIRTS - 2007 (cotton) bear with racing stripe
Green = (youth large), L, XL
Light Blue = M, L, L, XL

KUDL SHIRTS 2009 (cotton) Dancing Bears
Navy Blue = Women's: M, M
Men's = L, L

KUDL SHIRTS 2013 (A4 MATERIAL)
Light Blue = L
Red = S, M
White = XS, XS, M, M
Pink = S, L
Royal Blue = XS, XS, XS
Silver = XS, M, M

That's all....

$5. Cash preferred. I will have the shirts with me at Saturday's Tournament (Aug. 11). I am taking reservations as explained above.

Thank you for your time.

- chris tower - 1307.07 - 9:05