All Hail the Arbiters!

Hi.

Just wanted to plug a big event from my benefactors at Prometheus Radio Theatre: the final episode of "Contents Under Pressure," the six-part series finale of The Arbiter Chronicles has been posted, and is available for free download from the Prometheus site, or via iTunes subscription!

I celebrate this for two reasons. First, without ruining your enjoyment of it one iota, it's a solid finish that marks a genuine passage into a new age for the survivors, uh, characters. Everyone involved delivers a terrific performance. Its creator, Steve Wilson, wisely left himself enough latitude to return to the Arbiter Universe in the future with more stories, at his leisure. I think you will want him to do so.

But not right away. Why?

That's the second reason I celebrate this event. With the deck clear of Arbiter, the return of SuperHuman Times is imminent! Imminent, I tell you! I'll keep you posted as "Once Upon a Times" comes together. As much as I enjoy listening to and chatting up Arbiter, I've missed hearing my stories brought to life by my gifted friends. I hope you have, too.

Stay tuned. (Can't wait? Relive old Times here now!)

-- L.

PS: The photo above is of some of the gang shortly after the troupe won its 2003 Mark Time Award Silver Medal. You've heard many of them in Times episodes. In case you care, the batting order, from left, bouncing between "rows", is: Eli Senter, Steve Wilson, Beatrice Kondo, Renee Wilson, Renfield, Scott Farquhar, the Head of Cindy Woods, John Weber, Cindy Shockey, June Swords and, in the front, Ethan Wilson. I grabbed this from the website and am using it without permission, because I took it, so there!

Progress Report/Quick Plug (for Comics!)

Hi.

I've messed with the website and moved some of that content to the blog. What other mischief can I get into?

Well, I turned in my first new Times script in many, many months to Steve Wilson last week. I'm pretty jazzed about it, mainly because it's the first one to feature Dunbar from "The Hot Property," the original Times graphic novel script. He was my first character, so I'm very curious as to who Steve picks to record him. I'll keep you posted.

While you're waiting for that and the rest of the Times scripts to go from stockpile to studio, take a few minutes to check this out: Ape Entertainment's Super Human Resources. The first issue hits in early '08 and the previews are hilarious, with very sharp writing and art. (Now if we could just figure out a way to do a crossover between a comic and a podcast...) I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this book. And I'm relieved that we don't spell "superhuman" the same way. Neither of us needs the brand confusion. Although if we gotta be confused with something, I hope it's something as promising as this.

Want something a little darker that's also hysterically funny? Give Cemetery Blues a try. If you know your Disney animators -- specifically the fabled Nine Old Men -- you may see hints of Ward Kimball's character designs for the Haunted Mansion in the art. And the dialogue is some of the funniest I've ever read in an all-out monster romp. Their miniseries came out this summer, so this recommendation is long overdue. But thankfully, you can get the trade paperback from any comic shop that knows what it's doing.

Need to find a comic shop? You can do it here.

-- L.