STAN'S SOAPBOX - NOW WITH MORE OPINION AND LESS EFFORT

ITEM! It’s True Confessions time here in Soapbox-land, pilgrims. As faithful readers of this blog already know, Yours Truly doesn’t do everything around here, especially anything technical, graphical or more temporal-lobe taxing than rebooting my old Dell. Much of the web-wizardry that you see is accomplished by my adopted great-grandson, the Imitable Irving Forbush III. What you may not have know is that I have also occasionally used an anonymous co-columnist to cover for me when other obligations have kept me scripting away on pressing projects. Your Uncle Stanley taking complete credit for a collaborator's work... whatta shocker, right? In my defense, we did it Marvel Style, with me giving him the gist of what I wanted to go on and on endlessly about, and my collaborator would actually write up the occasional blog entry based on our brief “plotting session.” Usually all I had to do afterwards was a brief edit to crank the adjective count and hyperbole up to truly Stan-worthy proportions!

But this system didn't always work. A good example was this open letter blog to Marvel Studios Chair David Maisel. We both talked about how we hated the direction Daring David was heading the studio into with his recent antics, and then off my co-conspirator went to write up our “plot.” The only problem was that what he wrote didn’t exactly sound like your ol’ Uncle Stan... as much as I may have agreed with his rant. 

Well good news, Frantic Ones! I’ve finally convinced my clandestine contributor, convivial compatriot and comic-creating cohort to come clean and contribute some columns all by his cranky self. His only condition? Your Uncle Stan has to let him call ‘em as he sees ‘em. And when you read his blogs, you’ll know what he means! Who is this mysterious maverick of all things Merry and Marvel? A nebulous non-sequitur No-Prize to the first commenter who can guess his identity before his first column appears, which should be any day now. I know, I know... it’s a tall order based on the few clues given, but so is our guest columnist! So get going and start guessing, Tigers and Tigrettes! Those No-Prizes don’t grow on No-Trees, yah know!

Excelsior!

Smiley