Random Roundup RIP: Number Six Feet Under

Well, jumped online to find the news that Patrick McGoohan has sadly pegged it at the age of 80 (not a bad innings by any means, but still...). Notoriously cranky, McGoohan's independent streak and support of the individual, as most evidently laid out in The Prisoner, still stands as a noble ideal. And at least he won't be there to suffer the new incarnation of the Prisoner...

Found some cool pics of the Smallville's Legion and have to say I'm pretty happy with them visually (minor quibble that Lightning Lad was always the slightly bad one not Cosmic Boy). Subtle inclusion of their insignias but then look how close to the comic the Persuader is! Looks pretty damn cool to me (oh, if only they had the budget for Tharokk or Validus!). The Persuader art is slickly inked by underrated inker Karl Kesel over lovely pencils from Terry Shoemaker, who went on to bother alot of X-fans with his art. Look at his early Legion art and you'll find some lovely clean artwork, almost Steve Rude-like...

Talking of cool old comic art, posted above (a bit so the detail can be seen) is probably the best page of comic art ever (rediscovered while perusing an Al Williamson collection recently). There are many notable comic images but this page is iconic due to the reverence in which it is held by artists and fans alike. On the special features of an EC documentary I have on DVD, Al Williamson lays all the credit for the piece on collaborator Roy Krenkel, who denied his input and said it wasn't right until Williamson added a few alien critters scurrying about. Still an awesome piece whatever the creative balance.

Finally, the final pen and pencil drawing I've worked on over the past three nights. Fairly happy with the quality of art, though obviously it'll be of personal significance to the person who requested it more than of interest to anybody else. She was happy with it and asked for a larger version! The amount of work that would involve (and repetition) aside, I had to explain that working from a smaller pic to a larger size could result in odd proportions and loss of likeness---the art would generally be OK but it may look less like the subjects (and the original was not entirely accurate enough for my tastes as it was). I don't like charging or taking stuff, but the hours involved in doing a larger version may require some incentive to drag me away from other art I'm trying to work on.

Labour MP Graham Stringer has said dyslexia does not exist and is a myth---what a tunc! He spoke after realising that alot of criminals are dyslexic and said that this is just an easy excuse and it doesn't exist. Well, naturally not being able to read is going to limit your opportunities (Lance Henriksson didn't learn to read until his thirties!) and create any number of complexes and self-esteem issues that could easily result in aggressive or desperate behaviour. Just today , a warden called into work to say that somebody she was showing a property refused to complete a required risk assessment form and left in a fury. Only later did we check her file and realise she was unable to write, not because she's dyslexic but because she was a traveller and had not been educated, so the results are the same. As somebody who struggled with numbers and maths for years before being diagnosed as dyscalculic (a term not even widely known now---I first read it in an X-Men comic as I was always referred to as being figure dyslexic!), I can say that this definitely does exist. I'm sure some people do cop out using that excuse but even though I have a mild form of dyscalculia, I still have trouble retaining memory of numbers for more than a few seconds (yet weirdly can recall back issue number details!). If I'm writing a phone number down with similar digits...something like 0878785443 or something would really throw me and I'd have to go painfully slow and check each digit before proceeding to the next. I won't even go near the old dyslexic insomniac agnostic gag...Dog! It's dog!!