Busy Day

Saturdays are me and the kids; the dear wife works. Sometimes it's just a series of movies or cartoons or playtime, which mostly is as it should be. Other times we get out and venture about. Not yesterday, though the weather appears finally to have turned toward springtime. We had painters on site, and had to stay at home.

The boy went down for his nap mid-afternoon like usual. Amalie set up a movie and I settled back with her to watch (or at least stare blankly and maybe catnap). Sirens approached; I glanced out the window to see a fire engine roar by, and heard it make the turn onto the side street. Another followed, then a third. I knew it had to be close. I stepped outside and, yes, could see the gathering fleet of emergency responder vehicles just up the street, plus a plume of white smoke. I pulled on sandals, grabbed the camera, advised Amie I'd be back in a few minutes and headed out.

People were lining the yards, and there was water cascading down both sides of the street. AFD did, I think, a fine job quenching the fire, but the attached garage was a loss and probably most of the house, plus part of the fence. No one was hurt -- always a good outcome -- but it's a mess. I don't know the people who were living there.

Austin's finest finish dousing a blaze, Saturday 17-February-2007.

Later that evening, the dear wife home and taking charge of the li'l ones, I was able to escape to a book signing and general meet'n'greet with comics writer and artist Scott McCloud. Best known for his 1980s lighthearted superhero comic Zot!, McCloud has been comics' foremost theorist and futurist for the past ten to fifteen years. His latest work, Making Comics (2006), completes a trilogy (which I told him needs an umbrella name, perhaps "Appreciating Comics"; he broadly agreed and noted that perhaps it won't remain a trilogy) which began with his landmark Understanding Comics in 1993 and continued with Reinventing Comics in 2000. If you love or just like comics and want to appreciate the form more, read any one of these three books (I'd recommend Understanding Comics first but order is not important; there's a small amount of backreferencing but it won't get in the way). I got to chat with Scott for a few minutes -- I'd never met him before -- about Zot! and his recent works, he signed my books, and I stepped aside for the next fan. A rough guess, based upon the people in line to meet him, was that he appeals to the older reader; it is probably not a stretch that many of them, like me, remember Zot! very fondly even if it was 20 years ago. Scott was a warm and welcoming fellow and is still putting out wonderful stuff. Such people deserve support.

Comics creator Scott McCloud at Austin Books, Saturday 17-February-2007.