NOW IN OUR 3RD YEAR!

The second anniversary of this blog on November 9th almost passed unnoticed. Strange that I would pass up an opportunity to pat myself on the back. I've really enjoyed blogging this past year and even though I don't have many readers, I enjoy the creative outlet and I'm proud of the work that goes into these posts (i.e., I try not to half-ass it). Here are some personal highlights -

The posts I'm happiest about are the ones dealing with Milton Caniff. He's the reason I started the blog in the first place. There's not enough Caniff to blog about every week, but I've managed to do about a fourth of my posts about his work. Two of my coups last year were interviews. Dean Mullaney was the editor of The Complete Terry & the Pirates series which ended this year. In addition to Dick Tracy, he's taken on Rip Kirby by Caniff pal Alex Raymond. Lucy Shelton Caswell is the curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Research Library and Museum. Since our interview, the library has gone through many changes, the most recent of which is the addition of Ireland's name. The estate for Ireland, who was Caniff's mentor, has made a generous donation of $7 million, and plans are apace to expand the library on campus.

My favorite post of the year was detailing my adventures in Chillicothe tracking down Noel Sickles' sites with my son Noah in tow. It's the most satisfying, personally, and the one I've had the most compliments on. Even folks who normally have no idea what I'm talking about liked it. I hope to get back there sometime. Here are part one and part two.

I don't like to get political on the blog as there are plenty of other forums for that. Using historical inaccuracy to advance an agenda does draw my ire. I think I'm the only one to expose the Obama inaugural train hoax in which the press went overboard trying to compare the new president to Abraham Lincoln.

Another project I've really enjoyed is presenting, strip by strip, a complete Sunday comics section from May 29, 1966. The 1/3 and 1/2 page sizes of the strips make the Sunday funnies of today dinky and miserable. I'd like to think, even in their reduced state, that the comics are still a big selling point for newspapers. I'm only about a third of the way through as they used to print 8 pages of funnies!


My most-read post this year was my overview of George Harrison compilation albums. Thanks to a link from a Dylan fan site (which I've forgotten), I received hundreds of hits. Sadly, a big chunk of my traffic is courtesy of Google Images and not the actual content of the blog (people love Julie Bowen!). Thanks to everyone who subscribes, follows and checks in on a regular basis. I'm gratified by those of you who found it and stuck with me. My only wish is that more of you leave comments so I know that you're out there!