When Captain America Throws His Mighty Shield....

I mentioned a while back that I'm cohosting a podcast on the movie "Captain America: The First Avenger," which we analyze at the rate of one minute of movie per episode. We premiered on Dec. 1 and post every M, W and F, so we've got nine up already! 

My pals Jim O'Kane, Hal Bryan and I have had some great guests in the first nine, including Joe Johnston, the film's director (ep. 1); writer Mark Evanier, one-time assistant to Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby (ep. 2); actor Billy Campbell, the Rocketeer himself, who actually guested as an expert on Norway, where this minute of the movie is set and he now lives (ep. 4); and one of my favorites, Judd Winick, a writer and cartoonist who did a Captain America story for the same Marvel kids' anthology I did an Avengers story for (ep. 9). We've had an amazing assortment of quality guests so far, especially considering that there's nothing in it for them but the kindness of doing us a favor. 

Jim and Hal have done many "Movies by Minutes" podcasts together but this is my first as co-host, and I feel like I'm still learning the ropes. We work as far as we can in advance, of course, but record episodes out of order depending on the availability of guests. It's a challenge to remember and not repeat what you said "yesterday," especially when you did yesterday's episode two months ago or haven't done it at all. I hope to get decent at it by the time we finish.

Perhaps my favorite moment of the experience was when I had to reschedule lunch with one of my daughters because, as I explained to her, "I'm doing a podcast with Hitler."

We try to keep each episode around 25 or 30 minutes--as Jim says, a Peloton workout's worth of time--but some have topped 45 because the guests were so fascinating. I hope that comes across to listeners and they feel the same. I'm having fun. 

Twins Day 2025!

It nearly slipped past me! I was just reminded that today is National Twins Day, which I get to celebrate because I raised my own pair of 'em. HA HA, girls, you thought I'd forgotten! 

I may enjoy being a dad of twins more than they actually enjoy being twins. Of course, none of us really thinks about it very often, but when it comes to my attention I smile, whereas when it's brought to their attention they just roll their eyes.

Happy Twins Day, Chiquitas! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to make you squirm in embarrassment. You were a lot of work, so I earned it.

250 Words on Starhopping

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

Two weeks ago I wrote about one of the perks of being an amateur astronomer, which is sensing when I’m seeing something unusual in the sky before my conscious mind really registers it—a tingle that tells me “That ain’t right!”

Much of my familiarity with the heavens came from starhopping, which is a traditional method of finding things you can’t see by following a trail of things you can. You typically start with a prominent constellation or bright star and then, using your finderscope or telescope, pick out a path among dimmer stars that leads you to your target. 

The beauty of starhopping is that patterns of stars become familiar milestones connected to other milestones that form a network of trails across the sky. It also isn’t unusual to stumble across a cluster, nebula or galaxy you weren’t even looking for, which always provides an exciting jolt of discovery.

These days, I’m afraid that starhopping is becoming a lost art. Modern mid-range telescopes come with digital keypads or apps. You just tell the computer what you want to see and the telescope dials it up. You don’t need to learn the pathways or even look through the eyepiece. 

It’s the difference between reading a map and plugging a destination into a GPS. Sure, the GPS will get you there, probably faster and more accurately. What you sacrifice is the experience of meandering, discovering, mastering, feeling it in your bones. 

The journey is as important as the destination. Or more.

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It's Real

Maybe the most magical moment of making a book is when the abstract thing you've been working on for a long time--until now a jumble of ink on paper, Word files, Photoshop files, PDFs, proofs, and many many emails--becomes a solid object. Editor Charlie just sent me the first copy of the 20th Anniversary Edition of Mom's Cancer, still warm from the printing press (metaphorically), and it's a beauty.  

Y'all will get to see it in a few months, and I hope you'll take a look. We added 32 pages of all-new content, including 22 pages of comics, a new foreword from my graphic medicine pal, MK Czerwiec (thanks again, MK), and a long afterword by me on What It All Means. It's the definitive edition that you definitely need on your shelf!

Schroeder

In 1884, sculptor Frederic Bartholdi and engineer Gustave Eiffel built the Statue of Liberty in the middle of Paris before disassembling it for shipment to the United States. It's weird to see such a famous icon in a totally unfamiliar setting.

I've been thinking of that as I wrap up my work refurbishing and painting a (smaller) statue of the "Peanuts" character Schroeder that is destined for a local park. My wife, Karen, is part of a non-profit that purchased an acre of land to save it from becoming a monstrous apartment complex, way too big for the property and neighborhood, and develop it as a community playground instead. Before our 2017 fire it had been a pre-school; since, it has been an empty lot.

Another member of the non-profit contacted someone with the Charles M. Schulz Museum, which is a few miles from the park, to ask if they had any "Peanuts" statues. This being Mr. Schulz's adopted hometown, dozens of similar statues are all over the region, sponsored and painted by various businesses and service organizations as works of public art. They had one: a Schroeder statue that had been returned when a bank back east went out of business.

It had been exposed to the elements and so needed patching, caulking and sanding, then priming and painting. I just finished putting roughly a hundred coats of polyurethane on it, so I hope it will last a while. 

Sometime in the spring, when the park is done, Schroeder will be installed in his new home (situated to be as kid-proof as possible). With luck, decades from now these photos of Schroeder in my backyard will look as weird as those of Lady Liberty looming over Paris.

Cthulhu Chiffonade

Once a week, Karen and I volunteer to distribute food for the food bank, which is not the point. The point is that today I pulled a carrot out of a 50-pound bag that looked like a monstrous ancient cosmic god from another dimension, and I didn't know whether I should burn it or offer sacrifices to it. It's possible I have found a new religion.

250 Words on Disneyland

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

When I was a child in South Dakota, I knew about Disneyland long before I visited it, thanks to an hour-long advertisement called “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” that aired every Sunday night. Growing up modestly in the Midwest, Anaheim seemed as remote as Mars. I had a friend who made the pilgrimage and returned with a mouse-ear cap, which we revered as if it were a holy relic. 

My grandparents took my sister and me to Disneyland during a swing through the Western states when I was 9. It was the era of ticket books and “E ticket” rides. Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion were new and amazing, and both remain favorites to this day. I know how every illusion in the Haunted Mansion works (there are no holograms!), and have even adapted some for my homemade Halloween haunt, but the original is so masterfully done I can only gape and grin.

After my family moved to California, Disneyland trips became more frequent. I remained a fan. Luckily, my wife, Karen, felt likewise, and we’ve indoctrinated our daughters as well. 

I’m not naïve. I understand that Disney is a multinational corporation that manipulates emotions and plays upon nostalgia to maximize shareholder value. Its goal is to part me from as much of my money as possible. 

When I pass through Disneyland’s gates and walk through the tunnels beneath the train track, where even the air feels charged with enchantment, that seems like a fair deal.  

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PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! I am sharing these little "250 Words On" essays via Substack, which will email a new one to your In Box every Tuesday morning. Just follow this link and enter your email address. It's free, and I promise to never use your address for evil purposes.

Time Traveling

Today is "Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day"--really, you can look it up!--and, in remarkable synchronicity, less than 24 hours ago I did some time traveling with no idea that the auspicious occasion was nigh.

My daughters and I went to The Great Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco yesterday. It's like a Renaissance Faire but indoors and 300 years later, recreating the life and times of "A Christmas Carol." They're a little loose with the time period--anything vaguely Victorian fits in, from Sherlock Holmes to an occasional cowboy. It's about equal parts food, shopping and entertainment that is impressively immersive for taking place in a big warehouse. There is also a time machine available for photo ops. We have a good time.

Oh, here's some unsolicited relationship advice from someone who's been married a while. Try to find a partner who, when you announce "Google says that 'Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day' began in 2007," will reply: "Or did it?!" That one is a keeper. 

Anyway, happy "Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day," particularly to any friends who happen to own a DeLorean or an old English police call box.

250 Words on Knowing the Night Sky

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Tuesday until I run out of good ones.]

I’ve been an amateur astronomer most of my life, peaking in college when I had access to good telescopes and worked as an astronomy lab teaching assistant. I stargazed a few nights a week and really had it down. 

One of the joys of being very familiar with some aspect of the natural world is recognizing something out of place that others might not. I remember being 12 and watching a crescent Moon rising in the east at sunset. The hairs on the back of my neck tingled. “That ain’t right!” Turns out the Moon was (properly) full and I’d caught a lunar eclipse in progress.

A friend who writes mystery novels let me read a draft. One of his characters stepped outside at 9 o’clock and saw a gibbous Moon in the southwest. “That ain’t right!” I told him that the Moon at that time and place would be a crescent, but if he meant to prove the witness was lying, well done! He changed it to a crescent. 

A star where there should be no star is probably a planet, and its location, brightness and color announce which it is. The International Space Station moves briskly from west to east and, unlike an airplane, has no blinking lights. Comets don’t flash across the firmament like meteors, they appear stationary.

When it comes to the night sky, I have a well-honed sense that knows something is off before my conscious mind registers what it is. Then the fun begins.

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PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! I am sharing these little "250 Words On" essays via Substack, which will email a new one to your In Box every Tuesday morning. Just follow this link and enter your email address. It's free, and I promise to never use your address for evil purposes.

The Captain America Minute Podcast

I may be the last person on Earth who's not doing a podcast, but I rectify that oversight today. 

It's "The Captain America Minute Podcast," in which my cohosts and I talk about the movie "Captain America: The First Avenger" at the rate of one minute of screen time per episode, so that a 124-minute movie like "Cap" yields 124 episodes. It sounds like an odd way to analyze a film, and it is, but it allows for some deep dives, interesting digressions, and great guests. 

I've been Internet friends with my cohosts, Jim O'Kane and Hal Bryan, for a long time--in fact, I introduced them to each other--and Jim and Hal have done many "movies by the minute" podcasts for films such as "The Rocketeer" and "October Sky," which both happened to be directed by "Cap" director Joe Johnston. 

I was an occasional guest on those other podcasts, and when they told me they planned to do "Cap" I said, "Hey, I'd be happy to be your guest if you need a Captain America comic book expert!" since I once had a complete run of every "Avengers" issue ever published. They looked at each other slyly; their trap had been sprung. Next thing I knew I was a cohost and, well, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. 

New episodes drop every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We've already recorded enough to make it into 2026, so I can promise some good conversation and interesting guests, including director Joe Johnston himself, who joined us for this first episode! They'll be available at this link as well as Spotify or wherever podcasts are found.