Cool online graphic novel!

I recently found this online graphic novel (AKA a really good comic book) by the name of Roswell, Texas. As of today, I'm on chapter four, and it's a pretty good story. It's set in an Alternate History, where Texas won the War for Independence on better terms with Mexico (Santa Ana died at the Alamo), the geography of North America is a bit different (Texas is the Federated States of Texas, stretching from Cheyenne in the north, to New Orleans in the southeast), and it's a libertarian homeland, when a unknown flying craft crashes is the western town of Roswell in 1947. Then things get interesting....

I guess it's well-enough known among my friends that I love alternate histories, especially those set in worlds where the CSA won the War between the States (those tend to be the most popular). Harry Turtledove has written several novels in an extended series in this style. Roswell, Texas is the first I've found that focuses on an independant Texas. I'm looking forward to reading more of this, for as long as it lasts (into 2008, from what I've read on their forum).


PS Phoenix reminded me of this: I did like the second comic book mini-series "Captain Confederacy", set more-or-less in modern day, and the new "Captain" was a black woman, with her sidekick "Kid Dixie" looked like a poster boy for the Swedish men's swim team or something, muscular, blonde, blue-eyed; also, he's her lover. The nations of that world seemed to be in a technology race, with their superheroes as representing the best of their country. Mexico's superhero dressed like one of their wrestlers, Texas' was a version of the Six Million Dollar Man(TM), Imperial Germany's was a woman with a jetpack, and her name translated as "the flying mouse."

I also liked (somewhat) the "Republic of Texas" series from Daniel Da Cruz, starting with The Ayes of Texas, followed by Texas on the Rocks and Texas Triumphant. Written in the mid-80s, they had a wealthy Texas industrialist restore the Battleship Texas (with a few tech updates, like laser cannons!) and Texas declares her independence in the face of the Great Soviet Fleet touring the world's port as a show of their supremacy. We, of course, blow them the hell up. The other books continue Texas taking on the world's tyranical superpowers.

National Ammo Day and the elections

We've got less than a week before we get a chance to vote for who our next Governor is. The main candidates are still current Gov. Rick "Good Hair" Perry, current Comptroller "Grandma" Carole Keeton Stayhorn-Rylander-Smith-Kline-Barney, Congresscritter Chris Bell (D-Houston), and singer-novelist Kinky Friedman. There's also a poor Libertarian making a stab at it, just so they can stay on the ballots in Texas for the next elections. I think Kinky's got everybody scared that he just might win, or at least get enough votes that they won't. There's the point that Perry's campaign was scaring sportmen with Kinky's old anti-hunting stance, which the Kinkster had rescinded (the press release is in his site's FAQs; warning: it's a PDF file). There's the next point that Chris Bell left a message on Kinky's answering machine asking him to consider dropping out of the race! Jeez Louise! That's as dumb as the convict writing a threatening letter to the judge from his jail cell demanding that he be released or else, then closing by saying he'll deny writing that letter if the judge reveals it to anybody else!

Phoenix posted before I could about this next item: National Ammo Day. It's the brainchild of Kim du Toit, a proud US citizen and Texan of South African birth and adamant gun owner. He feels like all the gun owners across the US buying 100 rounds of ammo on the same day (which adds up to over one billion rounds in private ownership) will send a message to business owners and the politicians, that gun owners are here, and we will be ready if they pass any funny laws to tax gun owners into submission (since they haven't yet figured out how to ban them outright); until that day, we're acting upon a Constitutional Right and a legal business transaction.