Some Real-Life Heroes of Mine

I got this meme from Camwyn. But I think I will just do five, because I could probably keep going and going, or not start at all.

1) C. Everett Koop. He was hired by Reagan to be Surgeon General because he was an anti-abortion Mormon. But when the AIDS epidemic became known for what it is, he stood up and said, "we can't ignore this." Suddenly, this religious conservative was talking about condoms and talking with gays and making sure everyone knew what caused AIDS and what didn't and how the spread of the disease could be prevented. In the process of doing his job, Koop probably alienated every friend he had in Washington, but I think he did more than any other public figure to fight the spread of AIDS and to change the perception of it being a disease of "deviants." He also picked a lot of fights with Big Tobacco before it was fashionable, agian alienating any political support he might get from his own party.

2. Jim Lovell. Flew on Apollo 13 and got it home. Flew on Apollo 9 and orbited the moon for the first time on Christmas Eve. Flew twice before that on Gemini. Had more hours in space than any American during the 60s. Was really as down to earth as Tom Hanks portrayed him. Some people were thrilled to see John Glenn back in space. I was happy he got to go for more than 30 minutes, but I want to see Lovell go up one more time, and I really wish we had a moon program so he could finally go there.

3. The Swiss bank guard - I forget his name - who blew the whistle on his bosses for shredding important documents detailing Seiss involvement with the Nazis. He lost his job and many friends over that. But he did the right thing.

4. Steve Siegel. You've never heard of him. He was president of my synagogue last year. He did not spend most of the High Holidays with us last September. He volunteered to go to Ground Zero and help. He didn't have to do that. He could have led a fundraising drive, or given blood, or done one of many things we all did. But he chose to go there, putting his own safety at risk in the wreckage and the fumes, and dug for as long as they needed him.

5. Jimmy Carter. Some presidents retire to make speeches and write books and do commercials. He retired to build houses for the poor and to monitor elections in dangerous corners of the world and to represent the dignity of the office of the president of the United States in a time when both the office and the nation seem lees-than-dignified. Last year, coming home from GaFilk, he was on the same flight as us. He came around before take off to shake everyone's hands. He asked me who the Norwich Navigators were (it was on my baseball cap, and they are the Yankees' AA minor legue team). he didn't have to do that. if only all our presidents could learn how to be a person from him, despite his many failings as presidents.

Simon DelMonte's Guide to Comic Book Sites on the Net

Putting on my Simon DelMonte hat - there, isn't it nice - I have decided to offer a special entry today. People often don't say to me, "Simon, you know so much about comic books. How did you manage that?" If they were to ask me, I would say that in addition to reading them, I use the Net. Being a Net-linked comic book reading has enhanced my hobby greatly over the past six years, turning a solitary pleasure into a shared one for the first time since college. But what sites do I recommend? Read on.

THE MESSAGE BOARD
Everyone has a message board they like above all others. Mine is Tony Isabella's Message Board (http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony/). Tony, a comic book writer and a columnist for Comic Buyer's Guide, started this board to discuss his columns as they were posted online. While his online output his diminished, his board has expanded to discuss everything under the sun, from gun control to gay rights to Buffy and Angel and West Wing to the best peanut brittle on the East Coast. But everyone there, aside from being friendly and rarely getting into flamewars, is a comic book fan. Wanna discuss any comic you read? This is a good place.

THE CORPORATE SITES
All the comic companies have their own sites. As I read a lot of DC and a bit of Marvel, I frequent those sites (http://www.dccomics.com/ and http://www.marvel.com/). Despite the nature of the sites as marketing devices, both have a bit to offer. Want a character bio? You can find them with ease at Marvel and with a little work at DC? Want info about upcoming comics? Marvel stopped offering such things as part of a new no-spoilers-of-any-kind policy, but DC still posts info about the next three months' books. Want free comics? DC has a few, usually ones that have sold out completely, but Marvel's Dotcomics program allows readers to sample a good deal of the company's high-profile releases. I read the first 21 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man for free here, and I suspect that many readers now buy it.

But what about interacting? Oddly, Marvel has no interest in having its own message boards - a rarity given how many official TV show sites do - but DC's set of message boards cover the entirety of the DC spectrum. Some boards are busier than others, and some are populated by idiots, but others produce good, intelligent analysis and criticism of current series. What's more, many writers and artists visit the boards. Recent visitors have included Geoff Johns (The Flash), Ed Brubaker (Batman) and Bill Willingham (Fables). So far, I have found few places better for discussing DC's wares.

THE NEWS SITES
OK, so I have my interaction. But I need to know what's going on in the field. Well, this is a good time for the fan who wants to keep up to date. You could try Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/), the oldest major comics news site; or visit The Pulse, a new source of news that is part of Comicon's site (http://www.comicon.com/). There is Comic Book Resources (http://www.comicbookresources.com/), and even Comics Continuum, which also offers a good deal of TV and movie news but little in the way of interviews and features (http://www.comicscontinuum.com/). Naturally, all of these sites except Comics Continuum has a message board function as well, so you can comment about the latest comic book series on the drawing board. However, I find the conversations at these sites to be rather dull. Happily, the news and interviews are not dull. Of the ones I list, I would recommend Newsarama by a hair over Pulse.
Comic Book Resources has one thing that others don't: a comprehensive links database. Want to know all about the Fantastic Four, or She-Hulk, or Savage Dragon? Just follow the links.

RUMORS
Yes, there is comic book gossip out there, about corporate shenanigans and cancelled series and projects too weird to believe. The best of the Net's Matt Drudges (albeit a liberal and not that political) is Rich Johnston, and his columns runs weekly at Comic Book Resources. He tends to get things right most of the time. The other rumormonger of note is Ian Ungstad, who took over for Johnston at Silver Bullet Comics (http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/) and looks to be just as accurate.

REVIEWS
There are a lot of sites that offer reviews, but only a few stand out. The abovementioned Silver Bullet Comics has a good variety of reviews, often having two writers review the same book, but one or two of their critics can be quite shrill.
The most reliable, if increasingly unadventuresome, online critics are Randy Lander and Don MacPherson. Their combined site, The Fourth Rail (http://www.thefourthrail.com/), offers previews of some new comics on Mondays and more reviews on Thursdays. They are good writers, and I tend to agree with them a lot, but don't look for too much from the small press or even CrossGen.
The most literate mainstream critic on the Net right now, though, is Paul O'Brien. His X-Axis focuses on all the X-Men books and related projects, but he reads a lot of DC, independent, small press and British stuff too. He can be snarky in the way that only an Briton can be, but that just makes his compliments all the more noteworthy. He can be found at http://www.esoterica.demon.co.uk/reviews.html/ although it makes more sense to subscribe to his e-mail list to get a prompt Sunday mailing.

There are of course many, many more sites I know and like, but these are the ones I consider essential. So read them. Communicate. Analyze and criticize. Share your love of comics, or your hatred of what they've done to Fill-in-the-blank-Man, or your craziest memory. But above all, spread the word about the glory that are comic books.

Of course, I could be absolutely wrong about everything I've said, but for once I think maybe I know what I am talking about. After all, I am Simon DelMonte.

Or I would be if I weren't Alex Wittenberg. :)