Okay, I knew it had been awhile since I'd posted an update, but nearly 2 months? Jesus, lol.

So, yeah, here's where shit stands with me right now. Due to the pain in my lower back, hips, and right leg I was put on medical leave at my job until my doctor clears me to return. I'd been waiting on Anthem insurance to approve a surgical procedure where the damaged nerves in my back would be burned out to eliminate the pain, a procedure that the insurance had already refused to pay for twice before. Well, a letter of appeal from both my orthopedic doctor and my surgeon worked and Anthem finally approved the surgery. Finally!

Well, I had the surgery on December 13th. Pretty painful to go through, because I had to be awake during it in order to help the surgeon determine my levels of sensation. Recovery was supposed to take about a week, and two days after I was doing remarkebly well...until my leg pain returned, about 200% more painful than before. I couldn't sleep, couldn't drive, could barely fucking walk by the end of the week. A week to the day after the surgery, I returned to my surgeon's office to find out what went wrong.

Apparently, they destroyed nerves in the wrong joint, and the subsequent trauma of the surgery on my nervous system amplified the damaged nerves that were still there. I was given a hardcore heavy dose of Prednisone and a month's worth of Percocets and sent on my way, with the hope that once I healed from the last surgery I could come back and try and get the procedure done again. It wasn't the doctor's fault that the wrong joint was operated on, it was apparently a 50/50 shot on which joint the damaged nerves was in. Now we know for sure, but I've got no idea what's coming in the future. What truly sucks is that I was hoping to be back to work by the first of February, because I really miss my job.

So now I'm still not working, I've had to move back in with my parents again because my meager medical benefits weren't enough to pay my rent (though thankfully, when I'm working again and back on my feet, my roommate is letting me move back to his house), and my pain level is now back to the level I was at before the surgery.

Sigh.

Sadly, with all this that's been happening, any desire or ability to write has gone the way of the dodo bird. I've tried, oh how I've tried with my laptop sitting open on a blank word screen (oh, that's something else, the harddrive on my desktop died, so I've lost all my website work and writing from the past, yay!), but nothing comes out. Anyone who may be waiting for me to finish something for them, well, I can't do anything much more than apologize profusely. How someone can have so much free time that they can't accomplish anything is beyond me, but that seems to be where I'm at right now.

So how's everyone else been? lol

Well, its been quite a long time since I've posted anything here, or even logged on at all. I've still yet to have my surgery, as I'm still fighting with my insurance company because they keep throwing stupid stipulations in my way to try and keep from paying for it. At this point, I have no idea when or if I'll get the surgery at all.

On a better note, if anyone is attending the Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus OH this weekend maybe I'll run into you. I'll be there on Saturday with my girlfriend, so let me know if you'll be there and maybe we can say hey to each other.

For those who were concerned, I'm happy to report that my mother made it through her surgery with flying colors. They did a complete mastectomy, removing both breasts and the lymph nodes, and so far all tests have revealed no cancerous cells remaining. This is her second bout with breast cancer, and hopefully her last.

As far as I'm concerned, I've finally been scheduled for my own surgery on October 11th. Here's hoping that after a year of pain and walking with a limp that I'll finally be back on the road to normality.

As my crippling depression continues to build and gather strength, I've found myself once again lured into reading the comics work of the greatest author the medium has ever seen: Steve Gerber. After digesting such great works as his runs on Man-Thing and Son of Satan, I finally turned my attention toward the masterpiece that was Howard the Duck. It's difficult to give any kind of review or commentary on the HtD series, because it was (and still is) just so damn different than any other comic out there. Suffice it to say, if you've never read Gerber's Howard the Duck, rectify that immediately.

But that's not what I'm really wanting to write about. Last week I lucked into an eBay auction of magazines I'd long heard about but never owned nor read. For a measly 25 bucks, I won the full 10 issue set of the late 1970s Howard the Duck Magazine that Marvel produced after the color comic ended (and after Steve Gerber was fired from the series). Naturally, my immediately inclination was that they would undoubtedly be terrible, because Howard was such a character that only Gerber could truly write him correctly. But, as I've just finished the fourth issue of the mag, I'm genuinely pleased and surprised at how decent Bill Mantlo's work on the Duck really was. While it certainly doesn't reach the heights of Gerber's work, Mantlo at least kept the spirit of the book intact with his stories. My one caveat so far is that he spent way too much time resolving Gerber's abandonded plot lines; HtD is a book that should be concerned less with continuity and more so with the tone of the satire. Anyway, if you've never read these and you're a Howard fan, I'd actually recommend tracking them down.

And for those Howard fans out there (Derrick, I'm looking at you), a special surprise gift:

http://www.nemsworld.com/howard/

A scanned collection of the entire Howard the Duck newspaper strip from the 70s! The Gerber/Colan/Mayerick stories are wonderful, just as entertaining as the color comic. But stay far away from the Marv Wolfman/Alan Kupperberg strips, because they're horrifyingly awful! Seriously, all the support needed in the argument that no one other than Gerber should write Howard is contained in those terrible comic strips, lol.

Oh, and just to bring all this back to me for a second, I suppose this is the perfect place to announce that I'll be writing a Howard the Duck limited series for Marvel Anthology! I may not be as good as Steve Gerber, but I'll hopefully do a damn sight better than Marv Wolfman! ;)

Okay, so, the last time I did a post like this things got waaaaay out of hand. Let's all be nice to each other this time, 'kay? ;)

-- Friday the 16th was my 31st birthday! I actually had a really good weekend, too: my girlfriend and a group of friends took me out to see Predators (which was FUCKING AWESOME) on Friday and on Saturday I went to see a friend's band play a gig. Corielle (the aforementioned girlfriend) also got me two radical presents: the GRENDEL ARCHIVES hardcover book and a Marvel Secret Wars t-shirt! I have the bestest girlfriend in the world.

-- Next Monday I have my evaluation for surgery, which is being done at a pain clinic referred by my orthopedic doctor. The procedure involves them using a needle to burn out the damaged nerves in my back and right hip, and the recovery period is said to be a week to two weeks. It can't come any sooner, as now the pain has moved down into my right leg, causing me to walk with a limp because I can't put any pressure on it without it shooting pain up the back of the leg. If this nerve burn procedure doesn't work, my only option left is bone fusion surgery, which will put me in recovery for THREE MONTHS. I hope to the God I don't believe in that I don't have to experience THAT mother fucker, lol.

-- I've been trying to keep active with my writing during all this, though the two weeks I'm recovering from surgery will probably mean an absence from here and other sites for that period of time. I recently had an issue of WILDCATS posted at JLU/Wildstorm (co-written by Dino Pollard, of course) and issues of X-MEN and NEW X-MEN at Marvel Omega. I still have to finish STARMAN # 4 for JLU, and any hopes of me getting issues finished for SECRET SIX or HELLBLAZER are probably slim to none (Steve, Curt, I am so sorry for this).

-- Something that's been on my mind a lot lately when it comes to fanfiction is how long its been since I've written my personal favorite genre: Marvel Horror. In fact, its been since Strange Tales closed up back in 2007, with most of my projects either being DC or X-Men related. Thankfully, that's ALLLL about to change. Starting in the next month or two will be my run on GHOST RIDER for Marvel Omega, which I am hella excited about! I'm also doing work on some MOON KNIGHT stories for Omega, though they're of a much lower priority at the moment. Even more exciting is the deal I recently sketched with Erik Fromme and Marvel Anthology, where I'll not only be writing my long-promised DRUID series but also releasing a remastered version of my WEREWOLF BY NIGHT series that originally went up at Strange Tales! Those early WEREWOLF issues were written back in 2000-2002, when I was a much weaker writer, so I'm going back to rewrite sections of the 12 issues that originally saw print. I'll also finally be finishing the final four issues of WBN that were never released due to Strange Tales closing down!

-- Speaking of Strange Tales, a recent e-mail from a good friend sparked something in me and I came SO CLOSE to re-opening the ST site for business again. Thankfully, common sense prevailed, as there's no way I could manage a site like that again with surgery imminent, but wouldn't Strange Tales coming back just kick SO MUCH ASS?

-- I recently slashed my comic pull list to miniscule proportions due to a severe lack of monetary funds. Remaining on the list are: HELLBLAZER, SECRET SIX, MOON KNIGHT, WILDCATS, and X-FORCE. I can't remember the last time my pull list consisted of only 5 titles, but that goes to show just how shitty comics are these days. I am picking up SHADOWLAND as well for the Ghost Rider appearances (ditto ULTIMATE AVENGERS), but fuck all those tie-ins right in their asses.

-- I did finish buying the remainder of "Second Coming", and I thought it to be a pretty decent crossover. It wasn't as exciting or well-written as "Messiah Complex", and I thought Nightcrawler's death was completely unnecessary, but on the whole I enjoyed it quite a bit. Of course, I won't be sticking with the X-books for various reasons (Matt Fraction's Uncanny sucks, New Mutants is pointless, even Legacy has gone downhill). I picked up the first issue of the new X-MEN series as well and found it to be a healthy mediocre. Mutants V. Vampires isn't a concept that really entices me, and again: fuck tie-ins in their stupid asses.

-- Best comic purchase of the last few months? ESSENTIAL MAN-THING vol. 2, which has provided me with weeks of Gerber goodness! Now if only I could afford that HOWARD THE DUCK OMNIBUS...

My girlfriend dyed her hair this week. Isn't she adorable?

Well, that last post got a bit out of hand, didn't it?

I'm not sure why people continue to try arguing their points with Mick (well, I do it 'cause I like fucking with him) when you know he's just going to respond with insults and statements that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. So everyone just, y'know, chill out on that last post - the idiot deleted his account again, so replying to him will do no good. He took his ball and went home. Again.

-- Marvel Omega had an extremely awesome update of its X-Men line of titles this week, 3 of which had my name attached to them. X-MEN # 45, NEW X-MEN # 2, and ASTONISHING X-MEN # 1 (which I just helped to plot) are all available for reading nirvana as we speak, so hop to it people. And while you're there, be sure to check out the debut issues of WOLVERINE, X-FACTOR INVESTIGATIONS, and DISTRICT X!

-- It looks like late next year is when you'll be seeing "Intelligent Design", the huge X-Men crossover at Omega. All us X-Writers have been having plot sessions over the last couple of weeks, and I'm just getting more and more excited about this story as we move forward.

-- Mark Millar has finally managed to do a Ghost Rider project after years of wanting to write the character, in the new issue of Ultimate Avengers that came out this week. I'm reserving judgment since I haven't got a chance to read it yet; though I'm not a fan of Millar on most things, I admit to being a fan of his Ultimates stuff. So here's hoping he does good by ol' Ghosty.

-- If I read one more comment about how "great" Brian Bendis's dialogue is, I truly believe my head may explode. Seriously, Chris fucking Claremont writes more natural dialogue than that guy.

-- Speaking along similar lines, has anyone picked up the first issue of the new Hawkeye and Mockingbird series? I'm avoiding all this "Heroic Age" crap like the plague, but a new Hawkeye series (written by someone whose initials aren't BMB) has my interest piqued.

-- It's looking more and more likely that I'll be getting back surgery sometime in the coming year. I'm getting another MRI on Monday that will determine if I can get the simple laser procedure to shrink my damaged nerve, or if I have to get a bone fusion surgical procedure. The latter, I'm man enough to admit, has me scared to death. But if its a choice of a painful surgery or taking painkillers the rest of my life, I'll take the surgery. These pills are destroying me, but I can't function without them due to the pain. Sigh.

-- The best thing about "X-Men: Second Coming" so far? The kick-ass "Hellbound" mini-series! The worst thing about it so far? Greg Land on X-Men Legacy. Ewwww.

-- I'll be spending the next three days out of town with my girlfriend, whom I haven't seen in over a week due to work, so if you send me anything I likely won't receive it until Monday evening.

After a few months of down time, it seems I'm finally getting back into writing whole-hog once again. Here's what's currently on my plate and where each series stands at the moment:

JLU 2001:
Hellblazer: This is a series that I need to be in a certain kind of mood to write. I need to feel maudlin, a little depressed maybe?, and a whole lot of pissed off in order to channel my version of John Constantine. It's been awhile, but hopefully a new issue will be coming soon.

Secret Six: Sigh, poor Secret Six and poor Steve Seinberg. I've been holding this series up for months and months due to my sabbatical at the first of the year, despite Steve's numerous attempts to get me back on the horse. But # 2 is coming along, albeit very slowly. Here's hoping it will be finished before the sun burns out.

Starman: I honestly have no idea what's going on with this book. I've half of # 4 and all of # 5 written; the rest is in the hands of my co-writer Mike Franzoni (sadly, more on him in a bit). Franzy? Are you there, buddy?

Sandman Mystery Theatre: This one's been on the drawing board for ages now, but I just can't find the right time to get it started. It's a series that's very near and dear to my heart, so when I work on it I want to really devote a lot of attention to it. Alas, that doesn't possible right now. This series will happen, I swear it.

Green Lantern Corps: Another one that's been long promised is my 2-issue kick-off arc on GLC. Unfortunately, the series can't begin until Starman # 4 is released, as Alan Scott's presence in GLC # 1 hinges on his subplot in Starman. I think Ed Ainsworth might be taking the series on once I reboot the franchise, which will be awesome.

Wildcats: I've written half of issue # 5 and passed it along to Dino (who hopefully hasn't forgotten about it, lol). This is another book where it seems as if I have to be in a certain mood to write. It's certainly not one of my easier titles, that's for sure.

Deathblow: This one's not coming for quite some time, as it will be the inaugural launch book for the "World's End" event. We'll also being seeing Jae Lizhini's Wetworks book launching at the same time, and it will be awesome!

Marvel Omega:
X-Men: Dino and I are still rocking out on this series, and I scripted the newest issue myself (which I haven't done on this series for quite some time). The first issue of my now-cancelled Gambit series has been folded into the frame work of X-Men, but there's also plenty of new scenes AND a completely different ending; so don't ignore the new issue thinking its just a reposting of Gambit # 1! Dino and I are gearing up for the big blow-out in issue # 50, and following that arc will be some huge changes to not only the team line-up but the concept itself (and I haven't even mentioned "Intelligent Design" yet!).

New X-Men: When I quite correctly got called out on my lack of production on my Omega X-titles, it was decided that one of my titles had to go. I chose NXM as the book to keep with poor Gambit falling on the wayside, but its a choice I'm happy to have made. Issue # 2 is written and awaiting its posting, and I'm starting work on # 3 soon. Around the end of the first year will be a crossover called "Devilution" with the new addition to my plate...

Astonishing X-Men: I'm really sad to say that my good friend Mike Franzoni has stepped down from Marvel Omega (there's a backstory there, but I'm not in the position to tell it). Along with his great Mutant Underground series being pulled from the site, it also left AXM without a writer. Because it IS the core X-title, it was decided that Dino Pollard, Hunter Lambright, and I would write the title together. So far we've got a solid year plus of plots, the first issue is written (because Dino is a fucking scripting maniac, I swear to god, lol), and we're moving close to the X-Men crossover to end all X-Men crossovers. It's called "Intelligent Design", and will be a crossover between Astonishing X-Men, X-Force, New X-Men, and X-Men done in the "Messiah Complex/Second Coming" chapter-to-chapter style. I cannot WAIT to start plotting this bad boy out, people.

Ghost Rider: Not to be forgotten in the midst of all this crazy X-Stuff is my favorite character of all time getting a regular ongoing writer once more. We've two chapters left in the awesome "Spirits of Vengeance" arc (seriously, if you haven't been reading this then go and do so NOW!), the last of which will be written by me as a sort of prologue to my ongoing run on the series starting with # 24. Expect a special crossover with Derrick Ferguson's HULK series and a trip to the future alongside the Ghost Riders Immortal.

Marvel 2000:
Thunderbolts: My lone contribution to M2K these days is the title that first started my affiliation with the site. Tbolts is being scripted by Steve Crosby, who is always uber-busy so I don't fault him for taking such long breaks between issues. There's only one arc and an epilogue left to the run, so hopefully it'll see completion sometime soon.

Whew, and I think that's it!

I'm trying to put together a complete set of the X-Men "Shattering/Twelve" crossover, and apparently those issues are really hard to find these days. If any of you guys have the following issues and would be willing to part with them for a reasonable price, please let me know.

Gambit # 8
X-51 # 8
Wolverine # 145, 146, 147