Memewhile: Eight Mindblowing Facts

So my pal Heidi at Comics Fairplay "tagged" me the other day with the latest meme sweeping the ranks of comics blogdom. 

In the spirit of fair play, who am I to refuse?

It's called "Eight Questions of Blazing Death" (we comic book people are a melodramatic lot), and here are the rules:

1.  Each player starts with eight random facts about themselves.
2.  Those who are tagged need to write in their own blog about their eight facts and post these rules.
3.  At the end of the post, choose some people to get tagged and list their names.

Got it?  Good.  Now gird yourself for my shocking revelations!...

1. I married my high school sweetheart.  Our first "official" date was the Halloween Dance of 1982, where we went as Superman and Lois Lane.

2. From about 1987 through 1992, I regularly drew editorial cartoons for The Comics Buyer's Guide.  The editors, Don and Maggie Thompson, were among the first people to print my cartoons in a "real" publication, and I'll always be indebted to them for that.  As for my editorial cartoons, I'll never forget a response John Byrne wrote to CBG's "Oh, So?" letters page that opened with the sentence:  "Mark Engblom is really starting to annoy me" (man, I wished I'd saved that page).

3.  I adore director Hal Roach's Little Rascals and Laurel & Hardy comedies of the late 20's and early 30's.   They're over 75 years old, but they're still just as entertaining to me as anything made today (if not moreso). I've amassed quite a collection of video tapes, and I'm now in the process of converting them all to DVD (since no decent DVD sets for collectors ever seem to be available).

4.  In addition to comic books, I also enjoy collecting "regular" books.  A couple of the highlights in my collection are an 1862 copy of Young Ben Franklin: A Boy's Book and a first printing (1914) of Tarzan of the Apes.

5. Despite working in "The Arts" for the past twenty years and living in the liberal stronghold of Minnesota, I'm a pretty staunch conservative (fiscally and socially) as well as a practicing Christian. Though I avoid political and religious talk here on the blog, I'm intensely plugged into state and national politics, grassroots conservative activism, and Christian apologetics. Hey!  Where's everyone going?  Come back!...

6.  Before getting married in late August of 1988, I spent the summer drawing live caricatures at Six Flags/Great America theme park outside of Chicago.  It was one of the most exciting, terrifying, exhausting, invigorating, and intense experiences of my life.  From that one summer alone I probably have enough anecdotes to fill a book.

7. I felt like Bobo The Chimp standing next to the giant Lou Ferrigno in 1995.  I recall trying not to visibly wince as he crushed every bone in my drawing hand. Click on the photo for a larger view (yeah, like Lou needs to look any bigger!)

8. Our beloved dog Sally was a rescue dog from Hurricane Katrina.  She and her brothers and sisters were all found huddled underneath a pallet somewhere, with mama nowhere in sight.  They were all brought back to an animal shelter here in Minnesota, where my wife and I saw her at a "meet and greet" at a local pet store.  Needless to say, we fell in love instantly.  The people at the shelter's best guess was that our little mutt is part Shar Pei (that's obvious with those cute wrinkles) and (maybe) part Akita. We're thinking it's probably something like Golden Retriever or Yellow Lab...but whatever the combo is, she's 100% loved. Click on her photo for a burst of concentrated cuteness!

So, there you go.  Eight unforgettable, mindblowing facts about me. As for who to tag, I'm not sure who's left out there in blogland.  How about this: If you're reading this and want to participate, consider yourself "tagged".  Just be sure to say who tagged you. 

I think it's a Google pay-per-click pyramid scheme (kidding).

Comments

[cinephile]

Mark-- You're a brave man to out yourself as an elephant. (: Even though our votes totally cancel each other's out politically every four years, this is still a fun list (love those linked CBG cartoons)!

[Mark Engblom]

Cinephile-

Glad you liked the list and the cartoons. As for "coming out" as an elephant, people who are familiar with me on various comic book message boards probably figured out I'm conservative (I tend to raise a few hackles), and people reading between the lines here on my blog could probably figure it out as well.

But THE COMICS CAN UNITE US!

[Matt]

Although I'm pretty liberal by Christian standards, I'm happy that we can be united in our love both for comics and the Christian faith.

Keep up the great work here. I love reading the blog as well as your work over at Comics 101.

-M

[Mark Engblom]

Thanks, Matt. Oh, and I did see that you'd also tagged me earlier in the week...I guess Heidi's tipped the scale and got me off my butt to do it. Didn't mean to ignore ya.

Glad you like the blog and the Comics 101 stuff. I've got lots more ideas for stuff at Tipton's site, so keep stopping by!

[kevjohn]

Boy, that Lou Ferrigno character looks like a hulk.

Sorry, I absolutely could not resist. I mean, I tried to. Couldn't do it.

[Mark Engblom]

Hah! Yeah, he's was definitely a hulking figure when I met him.

[Heidi Meeley]

Mark, you are so my hero! #5 - Yay! Also, #7- I met Lou about five years ago- big dude. I was too humiliated to even try and flex. Yikes!

Thank you for doing this! I had a blast reading your list!

[Mark Engblom]

Thanks, Heidi! Glad you enjoyed it (such as it is). By the way, when I met Lou (at an event sponsored by my employer at the time), I also got to meet a woman named Shelley Beattie, who was known as "Siren" on the old American Gladiators TV show. As you know, Lou Ferrigno has always had severe hearing problems, but Shelley was completely deaf. Needless to say, both of them are very inspiring people...but Shelley really impressed me that day, both her spirit and, of course, her incredibly muscular body. Wish I'd gotten a picture with her as well.