"The Comic's Finished." "Surely you can't be serious." "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Ander with final pages for our short comic, "A Change is Gonna Come." They look absolutely amazing, Ander has really went above and beyond the call of duty, and not patting myself too hard on the back either, but we got a five page comic done in just a little over a week. That's... unbelievable turnover, and really had a lot to do with everything hitting just right, and me having an idea that was just waiting for something like this to come along, and Ander being so unbelievably talented and professional and, without speaking for my partner in this, getting what I was going for so quickly that everything could just be finished with ease, and really look just outstanding.

No clips, thumbnails, or pages yet, though. Going to keep this on the down-low for a bit. It's such a small story that even letting a little out would feel a little spoiler-y -- even though there's not much to spoil, story-wise.

Just want to take a moment, and do a big public "thank you" to Ander. For e-mailing me, for being so receptive to my script, to my changes, to improving upon the layouts and making the changes you did, for not having a problem with the script going from a requested three pages, to a delivered four pages, to an actual five. I'm really happy with what we did together, and I hope there's more work in our future.

And another thank you for Eric. His decision to put "Normal" together was the impetus to this collaboration. Wouldn't have happened without you, and I really appreciate that.

Another thing that's kind of crazy to think about when it comes to this comic? It was basically a collaboration with a perfect stranger, someone across an ocean from me. Without this blog, without Twitter, etc, this kind of project wouldn't have happened. Nice reminder that the world is a lot smaller, and what that can open up.

Now, on a more somber note, as I'm sure probably everyone's heard by now, Leslie Nielsen passed away yesterday. My first memory of any exposure to Nielsen was going to the video store with my Dad, and seeing the comedy section on the far wall, where it seemed like every other tape case had his face on it. I'd eventually watch all those movies, and even run into Nielsen, probably my only casual celebrity run-in [you know, in a setting where I didn't except to see one -- as opposed to them being someone I know's dad, or at a convention]. But when I think back to those VHS tapes on the wall, it really becomes clear why this feels so surprising, because Nielsen was really kind of a comedic institution, and he'd changed so little over the years, and never appeared off his game, even in some of the lesser roles he'd taken recently... it's really sad. And the man was just so talented, and he was in so much, even thinking about him not being here seems weird to me -- like when Jerry Orbach died, there's just so much of their work out there, so easily accessible, it's hard to believe either are gone.


Oh, and if you've only ever seen Nielsen do comedy? Go rent Romero's original Creepshow. He made a pretty good heavy, too.

Anyway, I won't go on and on about it. A lot of other people will, and then a lot of people will probably bitch about little one-off tweets and Facebook notes about his passing. I hope not, really, and hey, if you don't care, if you do find those things annoying... just realize, some of us very much grew up as part of the TV generation, and I know, especially for me, these celebrity deaths do sometimes strike a chord, because these people were like institutions in our homes, feel good movies, or things you could always count on being on cable each Sunday, or on HBO after midnight.

Maybe that does seem sad to some of you, that our third, or fourth parent was the idiot box, but I'm beyond lamenting it, even sort of glad for it, at times [I can hear heads shaking in disgust]. And since we now live in a time where we can live-tweet a bowel movement or dissect a Saturday morning cartoon rerun we downloaded, there are worse ways to use the platform the internet affords each of us than to remember a funny, great man.

Plus Sam, Hannah, and Julia... you girls really made me appreciate Airplane! all over again.

Oh, and one last thing before I go -- Justin has a new post up over on his blog, of another actor I'm a big fan of, in my favorite role they played. Presenting Justin's "Charles Bronson with a Sock Full of Quarters."