Cumming's and Goings.

As many know I have a love for comics, comicbooks, books, raviolis and raves. I've matured to the point where I no longer feel the need to combine all five at the same time. I attribute many of my traits to the fine influences of my vices; my rapier wit, my noxious gas, my stunning physique and my sense of style. All of these grand attributes are derived from the fun aforementioned. At one time or another I have been moved to tears by one of these great five vices. I know that I'm not alone in this experience.

Alan Cumming, talented actor and bon vivant, has joined with his partner Grant Shaffer in a civil partnership ceremony in the UK. The UK legalized same-sex unions last year. Cumming was quoted as saying that the happy couple would have tied the knot in the United States were it legal. "It's a shame really. Gays really know how to throw a party." Among his many roles Cumming won a Tony award for the role of the Emcee in "Cabaret, portrayed Mack the Knife on Broadway in "The Three Penny Opera", Warren Frame in the movie "Josie & The Pussycats, and the merry mutant Nightcrawler in Bryan Singer's "XMen 2". Bryan Singer's movie shouldn't be confused with that really bad one by Bret Ratner who's third installment of the XMen trilogy isn't fit to line a kennel with. We wish the happy couple many years of joy and a better success rate than our heterosexuals' marriage.

We want to send our condolences to Paty Cockrum and family for the loss of Dave Cockrum who passed away in November after a long illness. Dave was the man who created Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus and countless other comicbook characters that have become household familiar. An amazing artist, Dave and writer Len Wein took on the XMen title at Marvel Comics and brought it new life. The title was created in the early sixties about a group of mutants that society outcast, educating themselves in an academy in rural New York. Cockrum and Wein brought the title out of the dark in 1975 and unleashed a phenomena for the comic industry as well as the XMen title. Their underlying themes of tollerance and acceptance speak volumes, and their contemporary take on a multinational "family" cemented the XMen as a cornerstone in Marvel's soon-to-be empire. Dave never received royalties on his characters but took great pride in seeing them on the moviescreen. Dave was a true fan, he died in his favorite chair, in his superman pajamas, with his batman blanket. He was to be cremated in his greenlantern shirt, He gave us his children of the atom, and won't be forgotten.

Also to be missed are Iwao Takamoto and Joe Barbera. Iwao Takamoto was the creator of our most loved Scooby Doo. Takamoto started his career with Disney and worked on such classics as "Lady and the Tramp" and "Bambi". Takamoto actually got his interest in animation when he and his family were interred in the American detainment camp for Japanese immigrants at. He learned from the older artists and cut his teeth with Disney. Mr Takamoto went to work for Hanna-Barbera studios in 1957. He worked on such classics as "Josie & the Pussycats", "The Harlem Globetrotters" and of course, "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?". Scooby was based on a great dane's physical qualities, with a coward's brain and an adventurer's heart. Mr Takamoto was 81.

Joe Barbera and William Hanna met at MGM in the late 30's and worked on a project called "Puss Gets The Boot". This evolved into a 17 year collaboration on the "Tom and Jerry" cartoons, winning the studio 7 academy awards and countless nominations. They left MGM to form Hanna-Barbera Studios in 1953. From here they corrupted the minds of many an impressionable youngster. Their honest characters, top notch animation and impeccable comedic timing formed a cult of personality on a very willing audience. Their animation no longer sat on moviescreens or saturday morning television but took over primetime viewer slots. We can't thank them enough for "The Superfriends", "Huckleberry Hound and Friends", "The Jetsons", "The Flintstones", "Scooby-Doo", and "Yogi Bear". Mr Barbera was 95.