Permit Me a Brief Interlude

a bit of a departure this week - just be glad i have so far managed to maintain this schedule. so last week was the Super Bowl which featured the Indianapolis Colts playing my New Orleans Saints. since i am not a transplant from that area i thought i would take this opportunity to explain how i came to be a fan of the current NFL champions. plus it gives me a chance to relive the victory

we flash back to the late 80's. while i never really paid any attention to the NFL in high school, i always backed the Chiefs due mainly to them being the 'local' team. once i started following on a regular basis i still followed the Chiefs. this was during a run where they were consistently doing well in the regular season and blowing it in the playoffs. while this was frustrating, it was nice having a fairly decent chance of seeing them get to the playoffs. but it got boring and it got to the point where i wanted to find a team that wasn't so strong. i wanted some doubt in the outcome - i wanted to have something to cheer for that didn't seem like a lock at the start of every season. and as the saying goes 'be careful what you wish for'

so the search for 'my' team began. naturally there were certain teams that were ruled out just due to a dislike for them from my years watching the Chiefs. while i was picking a new team to back i wasn't going to drop the Chiefs completely and didn't want a division rival. in fact i think that is what steered me toward the NFC. this way i could still justify cheering for the Chiefs and there would always be the slim hope that i could wind up with two teams in the Super Bowl. actually always had a soft spot for Seattle (one of the first games i remember going to at Arrowhead was against the Seahawks) and had i known they would eventually move to the NFC i probably would have taken them. fate had other plans for me

after looking through the NFC and eliminating teams that were in the same role as the Chiefs, perennial winners who were always in the hunt, i stumbled across the New Orleans Saints. or the 'Aints as they were lovingly called by some of their fans. well any team that has fans like this drew me in. started looking at them a little closer. black and gold were nice striking colors the fleur-de-lis made for a nice logo and at the time they certainly weren't winning. the deciding factor came when i noticed the year they were brought into the league -1967. how could i not pick them?? it led to some very frustrating years of cheering, but i had fun following the team. they always seemed to be one piece from becoming a decent team. when the defense was good, they were lacking on offense and when they got Drew Brees from San Diego it looked like it might all finally come together. it took a couple years for the team to mesh and the defense to establish itself, but it finally did happen.

all of which leads to Sunday, Feb. 7. Super Bowl XLIV in Miami. i have told several people already, that i was more nervous during the Minnesota game. that was not because i ever thought the Super Bowl was a 'sure' win. the first quarter was driving me crazy and i was preparing myself for a blowout in the Colts' favor. i attribute their performance to nerves given the way they came back and just flat out outperformed the Colts. huge props, in my opinion, also have to be given to Sean Payton and the coaching staff - they managed to keep the team focused and made some gutsy calls. in the end it was a good game (naturally i will say that now) that moved at a fairly good pace and had very few penalties.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS - 31 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS - 17

and since i didn't have any decent pics of Brees (who is largely responsible for getting them both to the Super Bowl and the win). really liked the pics of him with his son, but this was the first i found and didn't feel like doing a lot of searching this morning.

which brings us to the last part of my little story (at least so far). years ago i had told myself that if the Saints ever won the Super Bowl i would at last have the justification in my own mind to get the fleur-de-lis tattoo. well not wanting to have to call myself a liar-and really any excuse for me to get another tattoo is always welcome- i now present my latest acquisition. picture was taken about 4 hours after completion. so now the healing process begins and i can start thinking about how i will celebrate if they ever win their second. starting the process on my left leg - it is just below the knee and is about 4 inches by 3 1/2 inches.

thanks all for indulging me this week - should return to what you were expecting in the next post.

a few of my favorite things

jumping right in and will explain as we go -

last week's haikus were A Nightmare on Elm Street - Evil Dead - An American Werewolf in London.

this week gives us

homeless aid DJ
red knight haunts inner turmoil

who loves Gershwin

sinful ones punished

deadly sins used as templates

at last envy, wrath

trek to see body

self discovery unfolds

memories remain

and now the whine!! this week i present you with some of my favorite comic covers. this is just a sampling of my favorites and merely represent the first ones that jumped to mind.

okay not going to be a lot of whine in this, rather a little peek into the madness. starting with the Avengers covers (a multi-part story, but these two really stand out for me)- some of the first comics i remember owning and still remain some favorites. i was lucky enough to enter into the comic world when John Byrne was at the height of his fame. still love his stuff, but feel that his more recent stuff is lacking. compare his run on Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four to Atom and Blood of the Demon and his newer stuff (at least to me) doesn't have the same 'realism'. really bad word to use for comic art, but best way i can express it. you can still see the Byrne style in the artwork, but it seems a little more cartoony on the characters. anyway back to the Avengers. this story involved Scarlet Witch going evil (as obvious from the second cover) in what may be considered a VERY early foreshadowing of "no more mutants"

Detective Comics - don't really has specific memories about this one. i know it's a Scarecrow story and something about this cover really makes it stick in my mind. Scarecrow is one of my favorite villains and it's probably a testament to how much of a favorite the cover is since i really can't tell you any details on story or artist. not doing this one any justice with the lack of info so will move on

Fantastic Four - could/do have a lot of favorites from this series, but this one is one that always is in the front of my mind. introduced Salem's Seven to the Marvel Universe and just an overall great cover with art by George Perez. i vaguely remember having a notebook with this on the cover (and yes it probably was a trapper keeper). would have been very early in my collecting career, but still a reminder of how great Perez was/is. which ties in with the next two also. Justice League and All-Star Squadron. JL is another classic Perez work and was part one of a crossover with the JSA and the All-Star team (although much later in the series than the cover i picked). don't know why, but the JSA (and All-Star Squadron through the natural connection) have always been preferred by me over the JLA. anyone who doesn't appreciate what Perez has done for and given the comics industry isn't a fan. love the little floating heads reacting to the image and the names giving us a roll call.

Roy Thomas gave us some great stories featuring the All-Stars and the cover for #1 is a nice image showing the forming of the team. Thomas gave us a team placed firmly in DC WWII and didn't load it down with the heavy hitters (even giving us a fairly good explanation that involved mysticism). this series may be where some of my love for Hawkman developed. could also add in Dr. Midnight and countless others.

X-Men - what can i say about this one? another Byrne great and may have been the first 'official' start of my collection. remember being drawn in by this one and really liked the compostion with the circus freakshow posters, Banshee acting as the announcer, also liked how they use to incorporate the logo into the action on the covers. it also gave a quick, and fairly accurate, overview of the powers and personalities of the X-Men. again refer back to first thoughts on Byrne's Avengers covers. won't rave about Byrne anymore - maybe a future whine

and finally, but not least, Judge Dredd - brother Mike is to thank for thins one. he was the collector of Judge Dredd and naturally i was able to enjoy them also. Brian Bolland was knocking the art out of the park on this series and i fell in love with this cover from the start. in my mine whenever i think of Judge Death itwill always be the representation that Bolland gave us.

really long one this week - and i appreciate your sticking with it, at least you had some nice art to look at and distract you from the inane rambling. looking back at these covers it may explain a lot tho. demonic possession, evil parallel universe dopplegangers, cults, freakshows - how could any of that caused a problem on an impressionable young reader. LOL or me even