On matters

[Gary Leach]

Leo:

> I warn my students about the possibility that "sane people can do  
> terrible things" and I also warn them about "morality by body count."

The enormity of the difference between a psychopathic killing spree  
(Cho) and cold, calculated genocide (Hitler, Mao, Stalin) is not one  
that needs to be elaborated here, but there is one awful similarity:  
one human being making the willful decision to cause the suffering of  
other human beings. What's truly terrible is how often, in both ways,  
it happens.

M.J. Prior:

> If any, Rosa should have the Eisner Award for Cramming the Highest  
> Possible Amount of Information in Twenty-Five Pages.

One certainly does get one's money's worth in that respect :-)

Larry:

> 	Nils  mentioned several Bark comics with gun violence.  It  
> reminded me that in The Magic Hourglass, 4C291 Sept. 1950, Donald  
> and Huey, Louie and Dewey were actually hired by the leader of the  
> camel caravan to be riflemen guards.  How old are HDL supposed to  
> be in these stories?  On page 16 their shooting diverts an attack  
> on the caravan by the raiders of No Issa.  Huey actually advises  
> the caravan camel drivers how best to aim at the raiders.

Carl Barks, like my own grandparents, grew up in a time and place  
where pre-teen kids were expected to be adept at firing and  
maintaining the rifles and shotguns commonly found on farms and other  
homesteads. And this sensibility was still quite widespread in the  
American population when Barks drew The Magic Hourglass. I myself was  
eight when my father first took me hunting, and I even had my own  
"junior" .22 into the bargain. While I ultimately didn't gravitate to  
the "sport", there was nothing unusual at the time I grew up about  
getting one's first training in firearms at a fairly early age.

Kriton:

> To get the award, the story only needs to be better than the other  
> five
> nominated stories, not better than Don's previous stories. I would  
> assume
> that, the Eisner award being a prestigious industry award, these  
> six stories *are* some of the best stories published last year,  
> even if their creators have produced better stories in the past.

Perfectly true, and a key point that too often gets overlooked.

Gary