AcroRay, one of the more obsessive and informed Micronaut fans, found a really unsettling and well written story about Bill Mantlo, a comics writer from the 70′s and 80′s who was responsible for the Micronauts comic and ROM The Space Knight comic, among many, many others.

I was a huge fan of Bill’s as a kid and probably read more comics with his name on them than any other writer. It never occurred to me what might have happened to him. Comic writers come and go. So it was illuminating to find out about Bill and his odyssey through a health care system that really isn’t designed to help people who need long term rehabilitation.

I’ve always felt that you can take the measure of a people by the way it treats its neediest. I frequently think America fails to live up to its potential in this regard. This story only reinforces that belief for me – and makes me want to do more to try to address it. Enough sermonizing. Links below. If you ever read a Micronauts or Rom comic, you owe it to yourself to read about Bill.

Link to AcroRay’s story, where I first found out about Bill

Link to the actual story about Bill

Signing at the DC booth

Totally off topic for BEM, but if you’re curious about my trip to SDCC, head on over to Conform And Obey.

I do a quick recap of my trip with some good pictures for the nerds and geeks out there (that includes me btw.)

There is a picture of a TOTALLY hot Tinker Bell if you need a reason to look…

I do sometimes diverge from the realm of toys on BEM. But usually only with a good reason.

The return of one of the seminal computers of my youth seems like a good enough one. Commodore USA just announced they were bringing back the C64. Not the original one, but a brand new computer in C64 housing. I don’t normally get PCs. I’m a Mac guy. But this one I just might have to have.

Read more about it over at my other site: Conform and Obey.