What becomes

of fear and wonder on a long late night in the annex.

{from http://scimaps.org}

Entitled to the Throne

The son of Yuga Khan and Queen Heggra, Prince Uxas, second in line to the throne of Apokolips, plotted to seize power over the planet. When his brother attempted to claim the fabled Omega Force, Uxas murdered him and took the power for himself; transforming him into a rock-like creature, and taking a new name: Darkseid. With his newly found power and ability along with his charge as ruler of Apokolips, Darkseid has since sought to wipe all free will from the universe, believing there to be solace for all living things in ubiquitous servitude under his rule. Henceforth Darkseid imposes his unwavering opinion that he is entitled to not only his own throne, but all thrones. Darkseid is in your chair.



I want to know how he came to be sitting on Swamp Thing in that last one. What the hell?

Well, tingle my spidey-sense - it's a whopper!

Economic downturn? Not if you you were the lucky seller of a private auction for a Silver Age funny book that happened to feature the debut of SpiderMan. . .

That's right folks - if your mom hadn't of thrown out your stack of comics when you were away at college you too may be a millionaire - just so long as you had a near mint copy of Amazing Fantasy #15. . .

$1.1 million.

Anyone selling?

Shaun Tan

As a perennial favorite here at Green Apple and elsewhere, you may have heard something about Shaun Tan. His stunning illustrations are imaginative and emotional; his words are thought-provoking. Lost and Found, the latest from Tan is a triple threat, with three of his previously out-of-print/hard-to-find stories bound together. " The Rabbits" is a cautionary tale of how destruction to the earth and to other beings will never end in happiness, while "The Red Tree", searches for something to hope for. As well as being a curious tale, "The Lost Thing" is also an Academy Award winning short film. Rather than babble endlessly about how much I admire this one, take a look at the trailer:



Not just for children, Lost and Found, is for anyone who can appreciate the beauty in everyday life.

How San Francisco was almost called Don Gaspar

From Chapter XVII, How the Leather-Jackets rode north:

During all those decades of the wars, the Spanish rule in Mexico had sunk further into languor, but at last the King sent a man to stir life up. This was Jose de Galvez, Andalusian-born of the fiery south, with full shares of Spanish pride and Spanish cruelty, and a triple share of restless energy. Wherever the tight-lipped Galvez went, the land seemed to break into a sweat of energy. No careful man wished to arouse the cold glitter of his eyes, and sometimes he crossed the line of sanity, imagining himself King of Sweden or of Prussia, or even God Almighty.

Most of his energy he loosed upon the western coast. He looked at what charts and reports were available, and saw the notations of harbors with the names Viscaino had given them--San Diego and Monterey. There was also a vaguely known bay, not mentioned by Visaino, called San Francisco.

It had come by its name in 1595. A certain Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeno, commanding the galleon from Manila, made a landfall far along the California coast, and sailing southward, entered a good harbor. On November 7, he landed and took possession. The time of year was well past the day of St. Francis, but there was with the ship a Franciscan father, whose own name was also Francisco. This father "baptized" the land, doubtless by pouring water upon it symbolically as in baptizing a child, and the bay was thus named San Francisco. The galleon itself was wrecked, but Cermeno and his men got back to Mexico in a longboat.

Seven years later Viscaino reached the same bay, but as usual, displacing the names of others, he called it Don Gaspar, for the Viceroy. Nevertheless the name San Francisco remained, somewhat dubiously.

* * *

I'm enjoying mentally substituting Don Gaspar for San Francisco: the Don Gaspar Giants, "I left my heart in Don Gaspar," Rice-a-roni would be a Don Gaspar treat, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Don Gaspar"... You get the point.

Also, we've just received Stewart's delightfully entertaining book, in which he uses expressions like the abovementioned "the land seemed to break into a sweat of energy," in remainder, which we're selling for $7.98.