Year 2 Week #9 Puppies and Kittens Calendar - Calendar

This is one I've always wanted to do but probably will never get around to

Here's the original post: Puppies & Kittens Calendar

Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds

Year 2 Week #8 Struggle - Comic Book

The corresponding project from for this week from last year is too dorky and unfeasible for me to even approach right now. I mean I still think it's a pretty good idea but I don't think I'll be writing for Marvel any time soon.

So instead I'm going to post the "pitch" for a comic I've been working on as an editor with James Call. It's story of politics and intrigue in an afterworld peopled by famous movers and shakers from all through history.

Here's James' pitch:

Struggle [working title] is the story of politicing, deal-making, war, business, espionage, and ideological battles, in the afterlife. Set at first in the Sixth Circle of Hell, where heretics go,Struggle begins as three great departed figures of history - President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Huey "the Kingfish" Long of Louisiana, and Julian, apostate Emperor of Rome - rëenter political life in the land of the dead. These figures may not have eternal rest, but they have all the wiles and saavy that they did while alive, not to mention the same impulses that drove them - both the noble and the impure.

Witness the fiery dueling campaigns of the Kingfish and a certain frustrated painter from Munich as they compete for the Governorship of the Sixth Circle! Watch LBJ give "the treatment" to every last legislator in who stands in his way to bring civil rights to the despised Bashanites! See oil reporter Wanda Jablonsky have cocktails with the Mongols and survive! WAR! DEAL-MAKING! SCANDAL! This one has it all, folks!

Year 2 Week #7 12 Angry Batmen - Play

Okay so this idea really doesn't need that much really doesn't need much work. I'll repeat the concept:

The Idea is simple, we want to put on a production of the play 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose played entirely straight but with all the actors dressed as Batman.

And here's how the Character breakdowns would look:

• Batman #1 (The Foreman): A high-school assistant head coach and costumed vigilante, doggedly concerned to keep the proceedings formal and maintain authority; easily frustrated and sensitive when someone objects to his control; inadequate for the job as foreman, not a natural leader and over-shadowed by Batman # 8's natural leadership.
• Batman #2: A wimpy, balding bank clerk/teller/Batman, easily persuaded, meek, hesitant, goes along with the majority, eagerly offers cough drops and batarangs to other Batmen during tense times of argument; better memory than # 4.
• Batman #3: Runs a messenger service (the "Wayne Enterptises" Company), a bullying, rude and husky Batman, extremely opinionated and biased, completely intolerant, forceful and loud-mouthed, temperamental and vengeful; estrangement from his own teenaged son causes him to be hateful and hostile toward all young people (and the defendant); arrogant, quick-angered, quick-to-convict, and defiant until the very end.
• Batman #4: Well-educated, smug and conceited, well-dressed stockbroker & crusader of the night, presumably wealthy; studious, methodical, possesses an incredible recall and grasp of the facts of the case; common-sensical, dispassionate, cool-headed and rational, yet stuffy and prim; often displays a stern glare; treats the case like a puzzle to be deductively solved rather than as a case that may send the defendant to death; claims that he never sweats.
• Batman #5: Naive, insecure, frightened, reserved; grew up in a poor Jewish urban neighborhood and the case resurrected in his mind that slum-dwelling upbringing and his never ending war on crime; a guilty vote would distance him from his past; nicknamed "Baltimore" by Batman # 7 because of his support of the Orioles.
• Batman #6: A typical "working man," dull-witted, experiences difficulty in making up his own mind, a follower; probably a manual laborer or painter or dark knight; respectful of older batmen and willing to back up his words with fists.
• Batman #7: Clownish, impatient salesman (of marmalade the previous year), a flashy dresser, gum-chewing, obsessed baseball fan who wants to leave as soon as possible to attend evening game; throws wadded up paper balls at the fan; uses baseball metaphors and references throughout all his statements (he tells the foreman to "stay in there and pitch"); lacks complete human concern for the defendant and for the immigrant juror; extroverted; keeps up amusing banter and even impersonates Adam West at one point; votes with the majority.
• Batman #8: An architect, instigates a thoughtful reconsideration of the case against the accused; symbolically clad in white; a liberal-minded, patient world's greatest detective who uses soft-spoken, calm logical reasoning; balanced, decent, courageous, well-spoken and concerned; considered a do-gooder (who is just wasting others' time) by some of the prejudiced batman; named Wayne.
• Batman #9: Eldest batman in group, white-haired, thin, retiring and resigned to death but has a resurgence of life during deliberations; soft-spoken but perceptive, fair-minded; named Matches Malone.
• Batman #10: A garage owner, who simmers with anger, bitterness, racist bigotry & a hatred of criminals who are a superstitious cowardly lot; nasty, repellent, intolerant, reactionary and accusative; segregates the world into 'us' and 'them'; needs the support of others to reinforce his manic rants.
• Batman #11: A playboy millionaire, speaks with a heavy accent, of German-European descent, a recent refugee and immigrant; expresses reverence and respect for American democracy and costume adventuring, its system of justice, and the infallibility of the Law.
• Batman #12: Well-dressed, smooth-talking business ad man with thick black glasses and a black cowl; doodles cereal box slogan and packaging ideas for "Rice Pops"; superficial, easily-swayed, and easy-going; vacillating, lacks deep convictions or belief system; uses advertising talk at one point: "run this idea up the flagpole and see if anybody salutes it"