I recently reread this book, for the fourth time, I believe, and an edition signed by Barbara Tuchman given me by Scott some near five weeks ago now. It is one of my favorite books, more so now than even when I first read it, back in 1985 or so. Her description of the folly, pride, and dismal conclusion of the ‘calamitous fourteenth century’ is more apt than ever, now that our own new century is leading us into the same grim playground of history.

I should take the time to point out the food crisis, the energy crisis, the crisis at large, the score of military crises, the crisis of confidence afflicting nearly every society on the globe? yes, the world has always had crisis, but the ones we face are particularly dangerous in that they threaten to undo everything accomplished since 1800 . . . perhaps more.

We will be lucky to forge our way through it in America in one piece. So much luck can’t be said of the rest of the world.

enlightened soul, originally uploaded by sparrowsfall.

$3.39 a gallon.

this gentleman does not need gasoline. neither do i.

i wish the lack of the need led to enlightenment!

no other fish in the sea: #8 1997 (january 1997) [page 1], originally uploaded by sparrowsfall.

i went to the trouble and expense of carting a camera to the (now defunct) dirt gallery’s 1997 new year’s party. many of the people here are friends or acquaintances: you’ll note that when provided a model, instead of the interior of my brain, i was able to do a so-so job at imitating their features. i still don’t know what was up with christopher’s nose, however. the dj is dj superwolf (aka jimmy t. aka james trotter,) a goddamn genius and kcai graduate; the weird art on the walls is his. i was interested in making this look real; i fancied that i would somehow gain a shred of credibility if people saw themselves and realized that the author of sparrow’s fall–who had hung in there for two months now!–was at a big bash they had been at; and since i was still quite anonymous, people would wonder who ‘he’ had been. i’m sure no such thoughts entered anyone’s mind, but that’s what the writer/artist of an indy comic thinks about. at least i do. comic book fame and fortune are always just out of reach for such a person, and he dreams that people will admire him, women will fall in love with him, and honest to god real comic artists will respect him and admit them to their circle.

of course this never happens, at least not to me. indeed, the entire process has been unpleasant and embarrassing. as sparrow’s fall was beginning, the whole ‘golden age’ of kansas city independent comics was coming to a crashing close. the people who had been producing material were graduating from the institute or otherwise moving on or abandoning their aspirations. i never got the respect i was hoping to receive from them because they largely went away; i was suddenly left high and dry with only a couple other people, whom i barely knew, slogging away also–people who actually had talent.

i kept my head down, and it wasn’t until several years later that word began to filter in, second hand mostly, that what i was doing had been noticed, and admired–at least for its persistence. thus, i take all compliments with a grain of salt: the art itself is iffy, and the endurance demonstrated therefore may not be justified. i do think what i am doing is important–but only because it may encourage people with real talent and abilities to take over and create a true comics revolution in this city.

i had–and have–no illusions, as has been said, about what i am doing: but that lack of ‘acceptance’ during the 1996-1997 period has colored how i view what i do ever since. i feel that i am an imitator, a follower, a pale shadow of what once was and what could have been. it is troubling to me that i have been called the elder statesman of kansas city indy comics, because i know this to be completely not true. as i described it to someone once, i am not in the line of apostolic succession . . . there was no laying on of hands, the keys were passed to me by no one; i am not the rock upon which kansas city comix will be built. i’m just a schlub who wasn’t smart enough to give up six years ago.

in this comic i laid more groundwork for the idea that christopher was in fact insane. the idea was abandoned later, of course, but the feeling of painful alienation he experiences is the same feeling i had at every party, function, show, and bar i went to for years, and the cluster of crows–more death, folks–just makes it more fun for everyone.

why is nips dreaming about hot dogs? i’ll have to post a few possum & hot-dog comics sometime . . . it’s an homage to the ur-sparrow’s fall comic of the same name; nips will occasionally think about hot dogs, and that is what i am thinking, when he does.

technical details: the center ring on the front page was made using an inverted coffee cup at the broadway café; the small ring is an inverted water glass; i don’t know what the curves on the second page were made with; probably a plate. the wash is handled much better than in the previous comic; i took a great deal of care with this one. i think it took two weeks to do.

crossroads district, originally uploaded by sparrowsfall. back when the crossroads was cool and unruined.)

gas up three cents nationally overnight. nothing to see, nothing to report. move along, people. move along.

dukakis takes it easy, originally uploaded by sparrowsfall.

he takes it easy celebrating earth day.

and how do you celebrate earth day best?

according to this Thriftway circular, there’s no better way to celebrate earth day than by buying 80/20 lean beef at $1.49 a pound. it just smacks of environmentally friendliness, doesn’t it?

but wait! the Hy-Vee circular has lean ground beef (guaranteed 80/20!) for $1.17 a pound. hie thee hence, al gore!

in other earth-related news, something crazy is going on in the gasoline markets. up another 2 cents overnight nationally to $3.445 a gallon, and diesel to $4.168. kansas city is hanging on at $3.278, which is 2.1 cents below the record . . . but if this keeps up it will pass it this weekend.

heh.

more good news from the war on our civilization:

Crude oil futures jumped more than $2, to $113.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices have risen more than 18 percent since the beginning of the year.

Tuesday’s price set a record for oil and helped push gasoline to fresh highs. Retail gasoline averaged $3.39 a gallon, according to AAA, the automotive group. That is more than 50 cents a gallon higher than a year ago. Diesel prices have seen even bigger gains. Diesel now averages $4.12 a gallon, according to AAA, $1.18 more than last year.

food riots in swarms of little countries now . . .

on the back porch on 39th terrace, originally uploaded by sparrowsfall.

impressively enough, gas prices continue to edge up at national highs here in the nondescript non-driving month of april. $3.386 a gallon regular today, and, more dangerously, $4.119 a gallon for diesel. california’s above $3.80 regular–wonder what leno’s saying about that? gas prices are a favorite riff of his, but i never get to stay up that late anymore–just wake up that late.

kansas city prices are still mysteriously “low”, around $3.17, and missouri’s, though something of a hodge-podge now, are generally lowish also, except for st louis, which is starting to look like high-priced illinois.

sunday’s star had three front page articles about energy, fuel, and food, and monday’s focused on food as well. it’s beginning to smell like trouble out in the wide world. not that trouble will come this time. but every time energy costs spike the last three or four years, they never quit go down to previous levels . . . and the next time the spike is noticeably higher.

i’m getting just a little nervous, not about 70s-style gas crises here, although that’s always just a hurricane or a saudi coup away, but about famine, instability, and finger-pointing in the third world . . .