Month: November 2002

Okay, fine. We’ve been asked to do it, and we’ll do it.

Announcing the official “Little David Baby Pool,” in which entrants are challenged to guess specifics about the future offspring of Peter and Kathleen David.

Just so everyone is starting off on even footing: The original sonograms at 8 and 20 weeks projected a due date of December 18. A sonogram taken yesterday puts it at December 9. Early sonos are usually more accurate than later; however, the OB/GYN has stated that the baby could come at any time. Meantime, conventional wisdom states that first pregnancies are frequently late. None of the sonos were forthcoming about gender because the baby remained firmly in the fetal position…although, really, you can’t hold it against the kid because, y’know, if you can’t be in the fetal position while you’re a fetus, when CAN you be?

Entries are judged on the following criteria, in this order by process of elimination:

1) Gender.

2) Date of Birth

3) Weight

4) Time of Birth

I based the order on the most asked questions we get (“Do you know the gender? When’s it due?”) So in other words, get the gender correct and you move on to the next level of judgment. Get the date right but the gender wrong and you’re SOL. The person who gets gender and DOB correct wins. If more than one person gets gender and DOB right, we move on to tie-breakers such as weight and time of birth. That way we dont’ have to referee if multiple people guess the same gender and DOB, because the other criteria will certainly determine a winner.

What’s the winner get? His or her choice of either signed editions of all three cover variants of CAPTAIN MARVEL #1, or a signed copy of “SIR APROPOS OF NOTHING” (ppbk) and the sequel, “THE WOAD TO WUIN” (hc).

All entries should be right here at this thread at www.peterdavid.net. That way everything’s open and above board. E-mail submissions directly to my AOL account will not be counted.

PAD

Diamond’s numbers for December of 2002 have been released. The rankings in the U-Decide are, frankly, kind of embarrassing.

I may be off a rank number or two ’cause I don’t have them in front of me, but it was something like CAPTAIN MARVEL coming in at #58, ULTIMATE ADVENTURES at #78, and MARVILLE at…oy…#113. (Update, just double-checked: UA is at #71.)

PAD

As relieved as I obviously am that the Macy’s parade went unmolested (could you imagine shooting the Charlie Brown balloon? You can hear him muttering “rats” as he deflates) one has to be dismayed by the new attacks on Israeli interests which–by startling coincidence–coincide with the primary elections that will determine whether Israel continues with the hardline tactics of Sharon or toes a more moderate line.

There is a growing desire by Israeli citizens–weary of being blown up wherever they go–to come to some sort of accord with the Palestinians. Feeling that the hawkish Sharon isn’t the one to achieve it, they are seriously eyeing candidates who favor such concepts as clearing out of the Gaza strip.

The problem is that some Arab factions wouldn’t want that to happen, because they’re not interested in a Palestinian state. They’re interested in killing all the Jews. One is staggered at the difference in extremist philosophies. The extremiest Israeli philosophy is, “No compromise because it threatens Israeli security.” The extremist Arab philosophy is, “No compromise because we want all the Israelis dead.” The latter fuels the former, and around we go.

So if major strikes convince more moderate Israelis that peace is hopeless, Sharon stays put, which helps the Arab extremists who are benefited by the world seeing Israel as unwilling to bargain.

The question is, who’s trying to manipulate the election? Palestinians? I’m not sure, but…I’m thinking no. I’m thinking bin Laden’s people, passing themselves off as a never-before-heard-from Palestinian militant organization, out to keep destabilized a region that is essential to the United States both for obtaining oil and for allies required for the suddenly vital war against Saddam.

PAD

Wil Wheaton talks on his website about doing the voice of Aqualad, in an episode written by Titans creator Marv Wolfman. Marv talks about the experience here, along with a photo of the cast.

This is for all those people who read Peter’s post on the Teen Titans here and wondered about whether Marv was involved in the series, and not a transparent ploy to get Wil’s readers to come over here. Nope.

Nailed it.

Didn’t I say it? Back at the premiere? I said, “the First Evil,” and lo and behold. Who’s your daddy? Say it. Who’s your daddy? (Except my kids don’t have to say it because, y’know, they know that already.)

Show’s coming together. Seems to be more spark in the performances. Willow’s arch dressing down of Andrew followed by the “Okay?” was perfect. Spike seemed more dangerous than he has in two seasons. Xander’s useful explanation of what happens to sleeper agents (“Either they blow their heads off or they escape in a nuclear submarine”) was priceless. Was wildly pìššëd øff to see Tony Head’s name missing in the “guest starring,” so we figured (correctly) that we were going to be kept hanging until freakin’ January (God, for the days when they’d just run the shows through the season from beginning to end.)

And hey, let’s consider the following: A primal force of Biblical level evil uses catspaws to play ruthless and evil mindgames before opening a dimensional gate to unleash the first vampire. Last night’s episode? Apparently. But also SUPERGIRL issues #68-#74, except it was Lilith instead of the First and the Carnivore–the first vampire–as opposed to butt-ugly who crawled up from below. For that matter, the Carnivore also did the mind-messing stuff as far back as SUPERGIRL #48. I’ll be curious to see whether the fans who consistently claim that I rip off Joss Whedon will take note of the fact that I was first out of the box this go-around. Then again, they’re the same ones who claim that Buzz was a rip-off of Spike even though Buzz (and his romantic obsession for the blonde heroine) predated Spike.

By the way, SUPERGIRL #76 is also sold out from the publisher. Two in a row. I knew the demand would be there. Unfortunately, the retailers didn’t. Missed sales, missed opportunities. Kind of a Pyrrhic victory there.

PAD

Well, the saga of Gwen is apparently being eagerly followed over on “All the Rage,” and we wouldn’t want to leave them (or you) hanging. So here it is:

Gwen will be working Saturdays, 11 to 5, at the New England Comics Allston Store. She actually worked in one of the other stores yesterday. When one customer bought “Supergirl,” she gave him a big thumbs up and said, “You should always buy this comic.” He looked at her in utter bewilderment and said, “Yeaaah, it’s, uh, pretty good,” and then beat feet out of there hastily.

So swing on by Saturdays and say hi.

PAD