Yazidis

One of the nicer people I met in San Diego during the con was a real Yazidi. He really enjoyed the character King Peacock in Top 10, who's supposed to be Yazidi. I think Alan made KP a Yazidi because it's such an obscure sect. They're often accused of devil worship and KP was definitely a devil worshipper, but that was in part to show how little effect theology has on everyday behavior. King Peacock is a decent and loving man. Real Yazidis worship an arch angel called Melek Taus, who is loyal to God.

It was pretty hard finding information in Yazidis in 1998 when I began work on Top 10. I probably would have made him look less black African and more like a typical guy from Iraqi Kurdistan, where most Yazidis hail from. This Wikipedia article did not exist back then. (Hey, just noticed that the article mentions King Peacock!).

Today about 175 people died in a terrorist bombing of a Yazidi town in Iraq and many more were injured.

I have a lot of affection for the Yazidis and the larger Kurdish community. They like us, even after all the ways we screwed them over (helping Saddam Hussein build his 1980s WMD program which he used against the Kurds, convincing the Kurds to rebel against Saddam after the first Gulf War and our long delayed help when Saddam retaliated, and finally not sending enough forces to secure the peace after we invaded this time).

It tears me up inside to think of what will happen in Iraqi Kurdistan after we pull out We're definitely going to pull out as I still haven't heard a serious proposal to win the war beyond "kill more terrorists!" It'd be great if we could separate out the murderers from the innocents in Iraq and have a fair fight. But any credible plan will have to explain how we'll find the terrorists before we kill them. The best plan we have now is to hand power over to a Shiite Sunni coalition supported by Iraq's neighbors. I doubt that will work, but even peace won't help the Kurds: all of those groups hate the Kurds.

This is a bit of a ramble. Reading about those deaths really upset me.

Things are going pretty well in my life, thank God. We finally sold our old home so we won't be paying two mortgages anymore. Our dog Georgia escaped from the backyard because I didn't notice the cable guy had left the gate open, but she came back safe and sound. And the Chicago Comic Con went well. Started some work on the small projects I need to get done before I start on the new Top 10 series (starring King Peacock!).

Scott Dunbier

I'd known for a bit that something odd was up at Wildstorm. I was assigned a new editor, Scott Peterson, and told my previous Scott was out of the office. Scotty P is a great editor and I'm happy to be working with him. And I'm excited to draw Zander Cannon's Top 10 scripts. But I do miss Scotty D.

I asked folks at WS if he or his wife or kids was seriously ill. They knew no one was sick but couldn't say why Scott was out of the office. I was also afraid Wildstorm was being downsized or shut down, but I came back from San Diego knowing WS is fine.

I just got some news today. CBR's Lying in the Gutters reports that Scott Dunbier has been on forced leave because of disputes about Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier. CBR considers their source(s) reliable on this one. (Thanks for the heads up, Lowell!).

I'm not working on that project at all so I have no insider news to report. I will say that Scott is the superhero editor who best combines artistic integrity with love of the art. He's also a passionate professional, combining managerial and diplomatic finesse. I don't know anyone else in the DC hierarchy who could have kept Alan Moore working for Time-Warner as long as Scott did.

I'd lay good money down he fought for Alan Moore's creative vision. I don't know if that's why he's on leave but that's what Scott always did on Top 10. We didn't always win but I knew where Scott stood.

A lot of people assume I've signed an exclusivity contract with DC. I haven't. It's just that I developed so much trust and loyalty to Scott Dunbier over the years that I rarely turned down a project from him. Scott and Eddie Berganza are my main men at DC. Now DC is losing one of them.

I'm eager to read Scott's side of the story, including why he hasn't spoken yet.