That wacky Danny Davis!

I know some of you out there have a wackier US Representative than mine, Danny Davis. There are some real nutcases in Florida and California, I'm sure. But Danny Davis may be the wackiest in Illinois.

I may actually vote for his Republican opponent, Charles Hutchinson, who looks like a real weasel. He plans to "reduce, and hopefully eliminate the number of people, families, and children currently living at or below the poverty level." Yeah, that breeds confidence. But he still looks less incompetent than Davis.

I knew Danny was trouble when I'd heard that he'd crowned the Reverend Sun Myung Moon as the new Messiah. No, that's not metaphorical. In 2004, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the owner of the Washington Times (frequent source to Fox News) had a jeweled crown placed on his head by a white gloved Representative Danny Davis of Illinois. A bipartisan entourage of Congressmen looked on approvingly as Moon declared himself humanity’s “savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent.”

Now he's taken a trip to visit the Tamil Tigers, a terrorist organization in Sri Lanka. The Tigers paid for his trip. It's like I've got Tom DeLay's stupid younger brother representing me in DC. Are the golf courses any good in Sri Lanka?

I'm just afraid that Hutchinson will turn out to be crazier than Davis. Are there any third parties running this seat? Oh, here we go, Laura Anderson of the Socialist Workers Party. Who seems to have run for Florida State Assembly in 1996 and San Francisco City Attorney in 2005. Guess she didn't win that race last year.

Like we don't have enough weirdo politicians in Illinois: we're importing one in from Florida and California.

Politics: Leaving Iraq?

I think the real debate is over. Iraq is a basket case. We let rioting and looting and mafias go unchecked. This eventually became rampant official corruption and religious warfare. Rumsfeld is an incompetent liar and his boss is an incompetent idiot. There's no solution which doesn't involve Iraqis killing lots of other Iraqis from this point.

So how ready is the Iraqi Army to fight without the US organizing and supporting them? We only began training the Iraqis how to provide logistics (food, ammo, transport, etc) last year. Is Bush serious about building an Iraqi Army? Shouldn't this have begun in early 2004? The Iraqis won't have much money to buy those supplies considering they have to buy oil from other countries. And their Air Force consists of a few attack helicopters and some cargo airplanes. Don't expect them to provide precision bombing.

The biggest problem is the loyalty of the troops. Their Army is full of traitors who place their loyalty to their local clans and religious leaders.

As soon as foreign troops leave, Iraq will become a slogging match between local warlords to dominate the country. At this point I doubt that the national Iraqi Army is going to be a player in that competition. The problem is that we're depending on our same leaders who are losing the war to train the Iraqis to win it.

Chicagoans in San Diego

If you're here for the Chicago Wizard World you'll notice that I'm not attending this year. I've been going to the local convention for about 14 years straight and I need a break. Combine that with the time I spent preparing for San Diego (which added up to more time than I spent there) and it's time for me to catch up on good old interior comics work. I'd like to see my version of The Authority as much as you do!

The trip to San Diego was insane, but every day got a little more pleasant. We had originally planned on spending Thursday on Coronado Island before hitting the Con Friday. But that plan got scuttled. Big thunderstorms hit Chicagoland the morning Lisa and I left. Lisa took a photo of me by an Ohare window, so I could do a before (rainy Chicago) and after (sunny CA) comparison.

Our 11am flight got delayed several times, until by around 2pm it was finally cancelled. Hundreds of passengers were left to beg space on other American Airlines flights One might have hoped for a company lackey with a clipboard organizing the stranded, but that's not how America(n) works anymore. Some of us waited at counters, or waited in line to use the free customer service phones (about 50 people+ at any time), or used up our cellular minutes hours trying to get help. My bill for that month went from our normal $100 to $175.

To sum up, we flew United into Orange Country airport near midnight, drove a rental car to San Diego and checked in. I was in no mood to take 'after' photos. I then had to pick up my luggage, which had gotten to San Diego without problem.

That was about 7am. At 10am I went to the convention. It was a great pleasure talking to people who weren't holding my suitcase hostage. Mark Schweikert and his crew from Arizona were there to meet me. I don't know if I was too brain dead to be fun, but I had fun hanging out with them.

I honestly didn't see much of the Con. I found out from a last minute phone call that I'd been added to the Wildstorm panel (check the listing: I wasn't supposed to be there) during the time I'd scheduled to hang out with Eddie Berganza. I did a signing at the ACTOR booth alongside Bill Willingham, who attributes the success of the GOP to the low quality of prostitutes at Democratic events. I'd like to see him relaunch Commander in Chief! You may know he's one of my favorite writers, but he's also a favorite artist of mine. It was a big thrill to watch him draw. And I went to an under-promoted signing at the BCI booth. I'd complain, but the two fans who showed up were gorgeous twenty-something She-Ra devotees. A California blonde and a adorable Italiana who had just enough flaws in her English to make her even cuter.

It was a fruitful trip. I reconnected to old colleagues (Anina Bennett, my Dark Horse editor, and I'm still waiting for you to contact me back, Jim!). I got to meet Ivan from Brazil, who's even cooler in person than online. I pitched a Batman project with Lowell and Art, and even if it doesn't get approved I feel like we've forged a team for future projects.

One of the important lessons I learned was how to draw a little faster. There weren't any proper lectures from more accomplished artists: Steve Rude didn't sit me down and demonstrate pencil stroke technique. It was just an accumulation of little things. Like drawing a marker sketch while talking to inker Andrew Pepoy. I'd been thinking for years about drawing a comic book in marker, which I'm wicked fast with if I don't do full gray scale. But the rough and crappy finish quality always stopped me. Both Andrew and I own large format (11"x17" plus) scanners and color printers now. I could create a new work model. I could draw an almost finished 'pencil' in marker, touched up with white paint or even White-Out pen. That gets scanned into my computer and FTPed to Andrew. He prints out the image in non-photo blue and creates a professionally inked version.

Part of the point is to avoid the infinitessimal detail for which I'm known. Whenever I contemplate a change like this I always get nervous. What will you guys think? Hopefully you'll trust me enough to keep reading. I'd love to be an artist who can handle monthly work again, and nobody wants to wait five years for a big Gene Ha project again...

Our last full day in California was spent on Coronado Island, just me and the Ms. We did finally get there.

If you are in Chicago for the con, enjoy our metropolis and don't leave town without trying a gourmet hot dog at Hot Doug's, or the Polish buffet at Old Warsaw. And say hi to Zander and Kevin and Britt at the Big Time Attic table!

Gene