Balanced and Fair

A shout out to Legomancer, who wrote me an e-mail to let me know how eerily similar we are. It's worse than you thought, though, as I'm also into role-playing games (though I don't play them much anymore), I work in a Math shop (Math 'n' Stuff), and have been married nine years, which doesn't quite match your ten, but comes close.

I was going to try and avoid mentioning the Castillo case again, but there is finally a dissenting opinion that isn't based in "It's obscene so it doesn't matter" (which is only a step away from: "It's not Christian so it doesn't matter" or "It's about politics so it doesn't matter"). Houston attorney William J. Dyer points out that Castillo's attorney failed to object when the prosecuting attorney brought up the proximity to a school, a subject that had already been declared irrelevant. Thus, Castillo's lawyer is at least partly to blame for failing to do his job. I agree. I don't think it invalidates the comics community's outrage at the decision, but it does mean that there are lessons to be learned from it. And, yes, I know that Ampersand at Alas, a blog is also dissenting, but he's in the "It's obscene so it doesn't matter" camp.

As long as we're talking law, the Volokh conspiracy has a bit on the Tony Twist case.

A little bit more on Fallen Angel #2: Yes, I completely missed the possibility of who "Thomas" was. Until I started comparing him to Matches, I didn't even think of it. Still, it makes a lot of sense, and works for a book that is still not entirely within the DC Universe.

There's been a bunch of posts in various spots recently wondering why Manga does so well in the United States. My own humble theory? Manga isn't all superheroes, so it appeals to wider audiences. Just a thought.

I somehow missed this Jill Thompson interview on Pulse. Also at Comicon.com, there's an interview with Scott McCullar, Green Arrow fan who helped a bit with my Aquaman page.

Here's the candidate Californians ought to be voting for... via The Volokh Conspiracy

As long as they are over there fighting for us, why not cut their pay? Why aren't Bush and Congress raising a fuss over this massive morale killing cut? Anyone?