I thought I would pass along this news on the development of a Harvey Milk graphic comic novel:
Reprinted from email sent by milehighcomics.comNew Harvey Milk Graphic Novel Art – More Scarce Comics ArriveHowdy!
It is already well known that our Jason St. Mega-Store is an amazing Mecca of comics. What is not common knowledge is that we also are offered an unbelievable number of collections at Jason St. on a daily basis. Never, in my entire 47 years of selling comics, have I seen a single location act as a magnet for so much great material! In great measure, that is why our New-In-Stock and Premium New-In-Stock links have been so diverse of late…
Array #1 of Comics Instock Now!
I mention these collections for a couple of different reasons. First, I typically travel a great deal during this time of year, and had intended to spend a considerable amount of time this winter buying back issues at comics shops and smaller comics shows on the East Coast. We are receiving so much material at Jason St., however, that we are still trying to catch up on our processing of the semi-trailer filled with comics that I picked up in California and Las Vegas last November. Until we can sort through those 100,000 comics, it makes no sense for me to travel to purchase more.
Nicole the Great, Queen Mother of the Americas
The good news is that my not traveling eastward means that I can instead fly to San Diego this weekend, to present a business plan on my proposed Harvey Milk graphic novel to Nicole the Great, Queen Mother of the Americas. In case you missed it in my convention newsletter, as the titular head of our entire 68-chapter International Court System, Nicole met with me at last year’s San Diego Comic-Conabout issues that had arisen with my local organization, the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire. After spending a couple of hours chatting about ICRME issues, Nicole took a walk with me around the convention. She became very excited, and suggested that I try to put together a graphic novel about martyred LGBTQ activist, Harvey Milk. The sketches you see below by the incredibly talented Thomas Haller Buchanan, are the direct result of that conversation.
Harvey Milk Sketch by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketches by Thomas Haller Buchanan
So you know, I have already received about a dozen very encouraging responses to my request for feedback about my Harvey Milk project. I thank each and every one of you who sent me feedback at chuckrozanski@gmail.com. There are quite a few major obstacles that need to be overcome before this project can come to fruition, however, not the least of which is approval by the Harvey Milk Foundation. Before I can even reach that point, however, I first need to gain approval this weekend from Nicole, and the ICS Board of Directors. Wish me luck!
What Thomas Haller Buchanan finished work looks like
As an aside, I think it is time to bring some clarity to my efforts with the ICRME. As a quick glance at ICRME-Denver.org will easily reveal, theImperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire is primarily an LGBTQ organization. It was founded 44 years ago to help validate the benefit to our communities of those who choose to perform in public venues in outfits outside of their birth gender. Simply put, drag queens (men who perform as women) and drag kings (women who perform as men). Our umbrella organization, the International Court System, consists of 30,000 members in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. ICRME itself is now a registered 501-C3 charity, and contributes upwards of $100,000 per year from our performances to those in need in our Denver community.
Chuck with the officers of ICRME Reign 42
So you know, I am a bit of an odd duck in ICRME, as I am the only straight man in an otherwise primarily gay organization. That having been said, after six years of hard work I have been accepted by most of ICRME’s members, and was allowed to serve last year in the #2 leadership position, as Prince Royale. It was also through my ICRME position that I first became aware of the awesome work being done by Jim Scharper’s “Feeding Denver’s Hungry” charity. That awareness, in turn, has changed my entire life. I now spend a goodly portion if my time each week working with “Feeding Denver’s Hungry,” seeking to help the poor.
Chuck, Jim, and some of the volunteers of Feeding Denver’s Hungry
All of the above having been said, the core of my life remains Mile High Comics. Serving your needs by seeking out the very best comics that I can possibly find, and then offering them to you at the least cost, is still why I get up and go to the office each day. I will be turning 62 in a couple of weeks, however, and I am quite aware that the time is upon me when I need to give back to my community. While joining forces with an organization like ICRME may seem rather out of the ordinary, I can assure you that my friends in the drag community are among the nicest and most giving people that I have ever been blessed to meet. I am honored to work with them every day to try to make Denver a better place for us all.
Happy collecting!
Chuck Rozanski,
Prince Royale 42
Imperial Court the Rocky Mountain Empire
January 30, 2017
P.S. Below are some arrays of comics that we were blessed to be able to purchase last Friday. All can be purchased at a full 30% off when you utilize our NEWHOPE! Codeword. Only new issues, a few variants, and our CGC’s are excluded.
Array #2 of Comics Instock Now!
Array #3 of Comics Instock Now!
Array #4 of Comics Instock Now!
Array #5 of Comics Instock Now!
Array #6 of Comics Instock Now!
Array of some of the MAD Magazines that will be Instock Tomorrow!
http://www.milehighcomics.com
Archives for 2017
Young and Old – time does make a difference!
Over the last 40+ years that I have been involved in the LGBTQ community, I have been privileged to witness the acceptance of gay people into the general community – young and old, we now have more freedoms; however this has only come about through the continued pressure from individuals, groups through lobbying and through legal cases. We have in most parts of the UK an acceptance and understanding that being ‘gay’ is normal, that it does not require “treatment” to correct an illness! Again I said in most parts, there are however still some groups and individuals who wish us to disappear or receive corrective treatment – in most companies LGBTQ rights are now accepted; but we cannot sit back on our backsides; if we do not keep monitoring and interacting with government (both local and national) then the rights that we have fought so hard to achieve will be taken away again.
What are your thoughts on this article; I would really like to hear what you think. Comment now or email us.
Source: Old and young see LGBT rights in contrast
Items for further reading:
Education Shortfalls – for better or poorer
Britain refers to just two parts of the United Kingdom, and only one of the two parts quoted in this article. However that should not detract from the figures and the relevance it has to the future of the United Kingdom. Brexit is here, the ink of the letter is dry, and now they just have to sort out the nitty gritty and we will know what impact it will have on the country. But again it will take a fair number of years before we manage to rise up from the ashes like a phoenix, and we won’t don it with ‘education shortfalls’!
For my part I am worried about the youth of today, and those following; they have to pick up the pieces and also try to extract the country from what will be in all probability a quagmire of bureaucracy and debt, and to do this they will need education. By this I do not mean this elitist ‘grammar’ school idea of our current Prime Minister (hopefully not for too much longer), but one that has the resources across the board in terms of financial, teachers, building etc – one that can deliver a revitalised, energised group of people who will know what to do and how they can manage a country that is demoralised and fighting against each other.
This report shows that currently that is not likely to happen. I was lucky during my life to be able to achieve the educational levels I set out for, not without hard work and money (which I provided), but also with the support of parents and friends, and on occasion even employers. I can only hope that we have employers left after Brexit!
Education Shortfalls
BRITAIN is facing a chronic skills shortage as the country’s teens languish among the worst in the western World at reading and maths. A devastating new report last night claimed England and Northe…
Source: UK faces skills crisis as teens ranked lowest for literacy and maths skills
A Taste of Freedom – Palestine is shrinking and a population is getting lost!
In 1995 the Guardian Education supplement ran an article by Jop Glanville ‘A taste of freedom’, which looked at Israeli troops leaving from towns on the West Bank, an area which they had occupied by force since 1967. At this time the figures quoted by Jop Glanville incidated that the number of UN registered refugees by areas were:
| Total West Bank |
504,070 |
| Gaza |
643,600 |
| Lebanon |
338,290 |
| Jordan |
1,193,539 |
| Syria |
327,288 |
|
2,502,717 |
In 2010 the figures were:
almost a 100% increase in Palestinian refugees.
So what is the situation today on the West Bank? Well today’s figures, nearly 22 years later, make harrowing reading:
| Total West Bank |
779,000 |
| Gaza |
1,100,000 |
| Lebanon |
425,000 |
| Jordan |
1,900,000 |
| Syria |
427,000 |
|
3,852,000 |
According to the IRIN, ‘Such is the scale and uniqueness of the Palestinian refugee problem that the UN has one agency for Palestinian refugees in the Levant countries and another for all other refugees across the world’…
But what is worse, is that systematically Israel is closing down the West Bank to Palestinians, there is no ‘taste of freedom’ as Jo Glanville wrote about in 1995; in February 2017, Israel authorised 3,000 more settler homes in the West Bank. According to Aljazeera, Israel, in practice, has confiscated Palestinian since its military occupation of the West Bank – including Jerusalem – and the Gaza Strip which started as a result of the 1967 Middle East war.
The following picture tells a more bleak picture of what Israel is doing:
(Palestine Awareness Coalition)
In effect it is systematically depopulating and land-grabbing the West Bank – it is further isolating Palestinians from other parts of the world, an example being the law passed by the Israeli government on March 6th, which gives Israeli officials authority to deny entry to foreign nationals who have called for, or belong to organisation which have called for a boycott of Israel or Israeli settlements.
Palestinians are a race without a proper home, under continuous threat, and the world needs to take notice and help resolve this problem, which was created by the Western powers walking away from their responsibilities to both Palestinians and Israelis!
Further reading:
- Israel/Palestine Events of 2016 – Human Rights Watch
- Palestine Refugees – UNRWA
- The United Nations and Palestinian Refugees
When is a Conflict of Interest not a Conflict of Interest?
So George Osborne is to become the Editor (for two days a month at a unknown salary, which I am sure is not a pittance)which if this was his only role would not raise an eyebrow from anyone; however he is a sitting MP with responsibilities to his constituents (especially in these dire times with Brexit on the horizon – we are just waiting for the ‘HARD’ date), so is there a conflict of interest?
According to Sky News he has currently six (yes 6) jobs running simultaneously:
- He’s a speaker at the Washington Speaker’s Bureau, where he has a lucrative contract to perform after-dinner speeches around the world
- He’s a chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (not an obvious position for the editor of London’s biggest newspaper)
- He’s an advisor to the American fund management firm Blackrock. He’s thought to be paid £650,000 a year (yes, you read that right) for working one day a week for the company (yes, you read that right as well)
- He’s a fellow at the McCain Institute, an American think tank
- He will be (as of mid-May) the editor of London’s Evening Standard newspaper.
- And oh yes … he’s (still) the MP for Tatton (a salary of £75,000 a year plus expenses).
Now we all think good on him for making a success of his life and looking after his family; but, and it is a big BUT, the Business Dictionary defines a conflict of interest as being:
- A situation that has the potential to undermine the impartiality of a person because of the possibility of a clash between the person’s self-interest and professional interest or public interest.
- A situation in which a party’s responsibility to a second-party limits its ability to discharge its responsibility to a third-party. (Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/conflict-of-interest.html)
It would clear to me, and to a good many others from the outcry that has arisen, that being an editor of a ‘Conservative’ ideological paper which clearly shows its stance as being in total support of Conservative doctrine, means that in all honesty he cannot be an editor who can give an unbiased editorial-ship to this paper. Never mind that as someone who has edited a paper and a magazine, I can tell you it is time consuming and tiring. I did it whilst doing my full-time job as an internal auditor and subsequent as a full-time student. I found it difficult doing two roles, and yet he is doing six – he clearly is superman!
It surely must now be up to his constituents to review his seat and decide whether he can and is fulfilling his MP duties fully, and they decide that he is isn’t give him guidance as to their needs, and if necessary request he stand down or give up these other roles which may be causing a distraction.
Further reading:
Civil Liberties and the World Wide Web
It is interesting to read this article, as it reflects the things that I have been writing and talking about over the last 20 years – of course I have been writing about Big Brother and the loss of civil liberties in part, and this is now encompassed in the world wide web and how government is using it to monitor and control what we do, see and hear. I make no bones about the fact that I distrust government in its attitude and continued use of phrases about we need CCTV to control terrorism, for your protection etc. That we don’t need personal encryption, as if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to hide, and we won’t maintain personal data longer ‘that is necessary’. There ares lots of more glib phrases, but they all come down to government control, and you losing your civil liberties 
It has taken all of us to build the web we have, and now it is up to all of us to build the web we want – for everyone
Source: I invented the web. Here are three things we need to change to save it | Tim Berners-Lee
Libraries need saving – NOW!!!
I am posting this article because I think there is a need for us to step back from the abyss in the United Kingdom and realise that the closure of libraries and associated resources (including school libraries) is detrimental to our future as a country and also for us as individuals. The first public library came into being with The Public Libraries Act 1850, and this gave local boroughs the power to establish ‘free’ public libraries. The Act was the first legislative step in the creation of an enduring national institution that provides universal free access to information and literature, and was indicative of the moral, social and educative concerns of the time.
Our libraries need saving now!
After nearly 170 years we are close to loosing that infrastructure for self education. The article below from Emily Prado, and in particular here paragraph just prior to the quote, ..Yet the recent election cycle and studies revealing Americans’ inability to sort clickbait from facts demonstrate how far from the truth this sentiment really is – ‘that libraries are not necessary’.
I am a long term self educationalist, with a passion for books and libraries. I access them through libraries, book shops, charity shops and also the internet. However without the library services of the past I would not be in that position today. Boys and girls require different stimuli and the libraries of the past allowed for this to happen, whether it was at school or in public libraries; now our future is looking bleak!
Further reading:
Libraries are radical, evolving resources that function with the sole purpose of providing free access to information for the masses and creating intellectual equality.
Source: Freedom of Information: Libraries in the Age of Trump
Dictatorship 1, Democracy Nil – The People Loose
Democracy needs to be nurtured and looked after, if not then it gets strangled and we end of with a barren land. (David McFarlane)
Law, as it had been known, was no longer decisive in legal proceedings. Judges, now more than ever, were working toward the Fuehrer. Judicial independence, once the ideal of the German state, nearly vanished….Jim Snowden (https://jimsnowden.com/2013/11/06/the-nazi-judiciary/)
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”..John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902)
The problem with being an ‘outsider’ to another countries politics, is just that, you are an outsider. I don’t profess to understand American politics, but I do reserve the right to comment on what I perceive to be a fundamental change to society and the impact that it is having on others. When Hitler came to power, even though he had been well treated by the German Judiciary, he set out to control the courts and to remove fundamental rights. He succeeded, and to those who suffered because of this came the ‘Holocaust’ and the ‘Death Camps’. The United Nations states ‘The Rule of Law and Democracy Section stands as OHCHR focal point for democracy activities.’ The rule of law is the legal principle that law should govern a nation, as opposed to being governed by arbitrary decisions of individual government officials. The decision by President Trump goes in the face of all legal precedents except when you look at dictatorships such as Nazi Germany etc. Indeed it bares direct comparison with Hitler,
I expect the German legal profession to understand that the nation is not here for them, but that they are here for the nation*, and that from now on, I shall intervene in these cases and remove from office those judges who evidently do not understand the demand of the hour. (Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, vol III, the Justice Case,Washington, 1951 Page 51″)
Most of the world did not stand up to Hitler and his political aspirations, and the world ended up in a world war. In all conscience I cannot stand by and say nothing, President Trump is going down a very dangerous road, and the problem is that he is taking people who didn’t vote for him with him!
Donald Trump has fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she ordered Justice Department lawyers to stop defending the president’s controversial immigration orders.
Source: Donald Trump sacks US attorney general Sally Yates for defiance over immigration ban – live
Further Reading:
- Holocaust Encyclopedia
- Why Adolf Hitler spared the Judges – Judicial Opposition against the Nazi State
Breach – A Movie Review
Name of movie: Breach
Date: 2007
Length (hrs) Approx 1 hr 45 mins
Film genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Thriller
Characters:
Chris Cooper as Robert Hanssen
Ryan Phillippe as Eric O’Neill
Laura Linney as Kate burroughs
Awards: AARP Movies for Grownups Awards 2008 – Best Actor ‘Chris Cooper’
Setting: FBI Headquarters, Washington DC
Plot information: Robert Hanssen was a high level FBI agent who spied for Russia for money and other reasons.
When does the movie take place? Approximately 2000-2002
What happens in the movie? The plot is quite simple in that Robert Hanssen is transferred to FBI HQ to head up a new section, but in reality his move is to sideline him and to enable the FBI to monitor more closely his behaviour. To this end O’Neill is brought in as his gopher, but in reality again he is to observe and report on Hanssen’s moves.
What makes the movie interesting? The interesting features of the movie is that there is not action sequences, it is all based around character; and to this end both Chris Cooper as Hanssen, and Ryan Phillippe as O’Neill are brilliant. It is the development of the character of both of these men, of how they are both living double lives, and how eventually both come to the end of the story having moved their personal life in a totally different direction
I was really surprised at Ryan Phllippe’s handling and development of his character of O’Neill (a young, enthusiastic agent who is looking to grow within the agency), and look forward to him doing more work which is character led rather than some of the light weight items he has previously carried out.
How do you feel when the movie ended? The movie didn’t bring up any surprises, but it did leave some unanswered ones, especially since watching the movie I have read up on Hanssen.
I would recommend this movie to those who are will to watch and listen, and enjoy character led stories.
On a scale of 1 (don’t like) – 5 (like), for me I would give this movie a 4 out of 5
Further reading:
Lifelong Learning and Education is the KEY!
Lifelong Learning
I have spent most of my life trying to educate myself; by this I mean I have been out getting those bits of paper which employers desire so much, and with which you hope to get that all illusive job and ‘salary’.
I have to admit that I have been successful, I have attended university three times and passed out with degrees and a post graduate diploma, and on top of which I have achieved numerous other professional qualifications. But, for all of these, and though I am now basically retired, I still feel the need to strive for more ‘education’.
Today I am doing MOOCs (Massive Online Courses) which i attend virtually online, and these are held around the world in numerous universities. They are short in duration, but no less enlightening and educational; and what is even better a lot of them are ‘FREE’.
I have studied art fraud, journalism, cyber crime, and I am now about to start project management and web design. The sky is the limit.
The blog article linked to at the end of my piece is from Srinivas Rao, and is about the same thing I have written about – continuous education – life long learning. With the changing face of the workplace, we need to debvelop tactics and abilities to keep ourselves fresh and valid for this workplace. Have a read, make an effort to learn more, go for your future.
Many people don’t read a single book after they complete their formal education.
Source: Give Yourself an Informal Education that Kicks the Crap out of Your Formal One – The Mission