Valentine's Day comics from today. I'm actually surprised by the varied ideas I've seen today; I would have expected many more guy-racing-to-buy-a-last-minute-gift and cupid-shot-the-wrong-couple gags. Although both are represented here, there's not nearly as many of them as I would've guessed.

My graphic designer buddy Matt Kuhns and I occasionally chat on the subject of "make your own (free) fun" -- basically, the notion that you can have fun in creating fan-based projects for your own amusement. That anyone else sees them is immaterial; the idea is that your enjoyment comes through the creation process.

Along those lines, Matt decided to try to put together a graphic timeline of Spider-Man comic book titles. In his own words, "I did this timeline of Spider-Man comics mostly because I started thinking about all of the different launches and relaunches one day, and it began to seem like an intriguing information design problem."

While he didn't include every Spider-Man title ever published, he's hit all of the most significant ones, I believe, and the result is an interesting look at Spider-Man's publishing history...
Like any chart or graph, you're free to draw your own observations and conclusions.

Er.. maybe how soon I've fallen behind! My apologies for the sporadic and below-par postings of late. Life has been keeping me absurdly busy and preoccupied lately...

1. We've got a major project going on at work that's projected to save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in the first six-to-twelve months of operation. The IT folks have done a fine job on the programming but it looks like complete crap because no one actually got anyone with an eye towards graphics to look at it until about a month before launch. And I happen to be the only person with the skillset to fix things. Consequently, I've been going in early, staying late, and working through lunch a lot lately.


2. The band's been starting to take off. We've got at least one weekend booked every month through the end of June. Tonight was a set-up and sound check for tomorrow and Saturday's nights shows. Our set list is just able to cover a night's performance, so we're still trying to learn new songs to provide ourselves a little wiggle room as well.


3. Last night, we had a significant wind storm that knocked out power in my area from about 5:30 until midnight. Not that that makes things any more busy per se but it did prevent me from even attempting to catch up on much of anything last night.


4. I had the brilliant revelation about a week ago that I actually have a copy of Adobe Premier. That's notable because I've had this idea for a fan video rolling around in my head for several years that I need to excise. I did try implementing it once a few years ago, but the software I had at the time was woefully inadequate. Now that I have the capability to create it, I have to get it out of my head.
   
   (It's one of those instances where an artist has to create a work exclusively for the sake of seeing their vision realized. The "creative urge." The "creative impulse." Whatever you want to call it. In this particular case, it's a three and a half minute trailer for the non-existent Dr. Who: The Time War. I need just a few more clips to complete it. I'm biased, of course, but I think it'll be very, very cool when it's done.)


5. The S.O.'s father isn't doing well. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in October, and it's running its sadly typical course. Yesterday, the doctor was giving him life expectancy numbers in days. He isn't the first person I've seen succumb to pancreatic cancer, but I sure as hell hope he's the last; it's a painful disease for everyone involved. The S.O. is holding up impossibly well, all things considered, but I know both she and her mom are physically and emotionally exhausted. I live far enough away that I can't provide any immediate help and, therefore, it's not something that eats into my blogging time, but it does weigh on my mind quite a bit and makes it hard to focus on creating new topics to blog about.

So, again, please accept my apologies for whatever's been passing as blog postings here lately. I'm thinking that at least two of the above listings will be resolved soon, and we'll be able to return my regular, brilliant posts.

The S.O. sent me this article about a newly opened comic shop saved (at least for now) by the recent appearance of Barack Obama in Amazing Spider-Man #583.

A selection of today's comics...

Do you suppose these creators are all tightening their belts in a more literal sense?