Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Harmony and me


On 2/4/14, I had the pleasure of speaking at Harmony Middle School in Hamilton, VA. My kind host, librarian Cori Rovang, completed the trinity of DC Comics for the day—I brought Superman and Batman, she provided Wonder Woman. (She’s a huge fan and had her WW mug in tow…a mug, it’s worth mentioning, that refers to the Greek goddess Athena, who shares a name with Bill Finger’s lone grandchild. Dizzy yet?)

Cori prepared a snazzy display for my visit, the first I can remember that emphasizes the mystery aspect of my approach.



And speaking of mystery, principal Eric Stewart saw something in the opening slide of my presentation that I hadn’t in the two years I’ve been using it. 


He asked if I show Easter Island because my superhero books are about unearthing mysteries. Easter Island, of course, is an almost mythically mysterious place, particularly in terms of this: how did the natives move the gigantic stone heads they carved?

Some of the heads are not only heads; they have torsos, too…torsos that have been buried over centuries. To see them whole, statueologists must literally unearth them.

Which brings me back to Eric’s astute theory as to why I included Easter Island on the splash screen. While wild, it was not my intention…at least not consciously.


Boys of Steel, Men of Stone.

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