David Lee Summers's Blog, page 16

Bride of the Monster

I just learned 2024 is the centenary of Edward D. Wood, Jr.’s birth. I first learned about Wood from a book called The Golden Turkey Awards by critics Harry and Michael Medved. The book named Wood’s film Plan 9 From Outer Space as the worst movie of all time and Wood himself was named worst director of all time.

The reason I owned the book was that I’d always enjoyed so-called B-movies and, I have to admit, I enjoyed the Medveds’ somewhat snarky look at bad cinema. To their credit, they di...

The Tick

Three weeks ago, I attended El Paso Comic Con as to promote my books. Events like this can be busy, but I do like taking time to meet people who have been involved in projects I enjoyed. One of those people attending this year’s El Paso Comic Con was Patrick Warburton. I knew his work primarily from watching the Cartoon Network’s series The Venture Bros where he voiced Brock Samson. I also knew his work from Seth MacFarlane’s series Family Guy where he plays Joe Swanson, and from the series ...

The Vanishing Girl

After last week’s dive into Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids and revisiting the comic Scooby Apocalypse, I decided to investigate what other Scooby-Doo media existed. Of course, I’ve known about the movies and TV series which are available in a variety of formats, and I’ve known many books exist for younger children, but I was curious if more had been done. I was pleased to discover a young adult novel series published by Scholastic under the series header Daphne and Velma. The first novel in the s...

Running the Marathon

When my wife learned she had breast cancer back in 2009, her doctors told her the battle against cancer is more a marathon than a race. In other words, if you catch the cancer early enough, you have options and can work with your doctors to make the best treatment plan. That’s been what I’ve been doing since I learned I have prostate cancer earlier this year. I have had some very productive discussions with a radiation oncologist and two surgical oncologists. I’ve also learned that several frien...

Those Meddling Kids

I suspect most people who hear the phrase “meddling kids” would immediately associate it with the television show Scooby-Doo Where Are You? or one of its many follow-up series. As it turns out, the show went a whole year before the phrase was ever uttered and it was only used twice in the second season. As an adult, I rewatched many of my favorite Hanna-Barbera cartoons with my kids and it struck me that Josie and the Pussycats were referred to as “meddling kids” much more often than Scooby and ...

Liberty’s Daughter

I discovered Robert Heinlein’s books in my university years and I have to admit that many of his libertarian ideas appealed to me. That noted, my politics have always been nuanced. I have a real problem with the kind of “sports team” politics that say you must believe everything a party espouses or you’re not a “true” member of that party. The best governments come from people getting together, exchanging ideas, hashing them out, and making a good faith effort to help society run in as smooth a ...

A Heist for the Gods

I recently became aware of the term “godpunk.” It’s a science fiction/fantasy sub-genre that sits alongside such sub-genres as “steampunk” and “solarpunk.” While “steampunk” imagines a story set in a Victorian-like milieu and “solarpunk” imagines positive outcomes in a future with climate change, “godpunk” tells stories about the world’s deities their close associates, such as angels and demons. Often these stories are set in a time period outside of the classic stories of these gods. What’s mor...

Rebuilding Worlds

I was first introduced to the idea of terraforming a world from Carl Sagan’s 1980 television series, Cosmos. He introduced the idea that if we discovered no life on Mars, it could possibly terraformed and made into an Earth-like planet. He discussed the possibility of planting dark green plants on the polar caps to warm them and free the trapped oxygen and any water that might be there. It was a romantic notion and even then, he implied the technical innovations required would likely be far in t...

2024 Solar Eclipse from Kitt Peak

For the last week, it’s been almost impossible to turn on the news and not hear about the great solar eclipse that passed over much of North America yesterday. Eclipse totality cut a swath right through the middle of the United States ranging from Texas through Maine. Unfortunately, I was scheduled to operate the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona the night before the eclipse, which meant there was no way I could make it to the zone of totality in time to actua...

El Paso Comic Con 2024

El Paso Comic Con is a community-based pop culture experience for all that reflects today’s fandom. At El Paso Comic Con you’ll get to indulge in all your favorite fantasy, sci-fi, and other pop culture genres, such as comics, games, film, television, and more! You’ll also get to attend panels and workshops hosted by creative pros as well as get autographs and photo ops with your favorite creators and celebrities.

The 2024 El Paso Comic Con dates are April 12-14. It will occur at the El Pa...