Review of Fatale #4

I'm happy to announce that I recently started writing for the folks at Broken Frontier. (Budget cuts at Comics Buyer's Guide caused the cancellation of my column, The O'Brien Factor, but I'm still writing comics reviews for my longtime friends at CBG and reading each issue cover-to-cover like always.) It's been a smooth transition to writing for a web-based publication, and the biggest adjustment is getting used to how fast my words go live. No time spent at the printer means a very small lag time between submitting a piece and its appearance.

My first review is for Fatale #4, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' supernatural noir masterpiece and it is HERE. I'm a card-carrying noir junkie, so this series appealed immediately and it didn't disappoint! If you like a bloody good mystery that makes you shake your head and question all of the "whodoneits" in your head, this is the series for you.

If you do give it a read, please leave a comment at the bottom of the Broken Frontier page. Or leave one here. I'd like to know what you think.

Surviving the Creative Life

I know a lot of creative people -- musicians, writers, artists, and even a few actors. Most of them are semi-pros, indulging their creative sides because they have "day jobs" responsible for making ends meet. But a few have made the leap to full-time creative pursuits as a sole source of income. It takes a special kind of fortitude to do that, and it requires considerable sacrifice.

While most are overjoyed to discuss the upsides of making a living in the arts, few are ever asked to elaborate on the downsides. Last week Twitter came alight when Heidi MacDonald at The Beat directed our attention to a brilliant blog post by Faith Erin Hicks. Hicks, a full-time freelance cartoonist, got brutally honest about financially surviving the creative life. The post is on her blog, Friends With Boys, where she posts her webcomic of the same name. It's quite an interesting perspective, and I recommend you also read the comments at the end as Hicks answers questions and offers additional insights.

The Allan Handelman Show

My apologies for not updating this blog. I keep running across interesting bits of info in my work and travels that I should share, and I'll do that here more often.

It was a pleasure once again to be a guest on the Allan Handelman Show. The live show was on December 23, and Allan honestly didn't know if the WZTK-FM listeners would be off to grandma's house or tuning in to Christmas-music-only stations given the very close proximity to the holiday. He needn't have worried, his audience is amazing. As with so many of our other interviews, we had a lot of callers that didn't get to talk about their toys on-air. If you're one of those folks, my apologies. If you leave a comment below, I'll do my best to get information on your old toys.

And if you have toy train questions, the Train Collector's Association website is http://traincollectors.org/. Just click on that link and you'll probably be able to find someone in your area who can offer advice.

Happy New Year, everyone!