Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
If you are experiencing infinite loop problems, please return to the beginning of this sentence.

Today's News:

Dork Tower is updated Tuesdays and Thursdays. For as little as $1 a month, you can join the Army of Dorkness – and help bring more Dork Tower to the world! We’re nearly 80% of the way towards three comics a week! Become a Dork Tower Patreon backer – you get everlasting gratitude. Oh, wait – and also swag!

_{-- Delivered by Feed43 service}

Dork Tower is updated Tuesdays and Thursdays. For as little as $1 a month, you can join the Army of Dorkness – and help bring more Dork Tower to the world! We’re nearly 80% of the way towards three comics a week! Become a Dork Tower Patreon backer – you get everlasting gratitude. Oh, wait – and also swag!

Do you enjoy following this blog, and want to ensure that it keeps going?  Here's your chance!

It is time once again for my yearly reminder about how you can support this blog- while it is a labor of love for me, it is still a one-man operation and can be quite time consuming to keep up on a daily basis. Every little bit helps!

The blog will of course always be free, but if you would like to help support it, there are a couple of ways to do so - by by making a one time contribution by clicking on the "Donate" button at the bottom of the page, or by becoming a Patron at Patreon.  While I take suggestions from anyone, Patrons of course will get special consideration.

I truly appreciate everyone who takes the time to check out my covers, and those who participate in the comments sections. 

Thanks for coming by for your daily dose of team up fun!

This is a good example of a cover that was a bit trickier to accomplish than may look at first glance.  One might think that all that needed to be done was to add in an image of Iron Man on top of the Phantom Stranger splash.  As you can see below, I used the splash page from DC Comics Presents #72, which had a lot of captions and text that needed to be removed and replaced with background elements first.  Sometimes even the simple looking covers can be a challenge to create.

_{-- Delivered by Feed43 service}

Morrigan by AnnaSinthetic

As found at:

http://annasinthetic.deviantart.com/art/Morrigan-681084248

Simply an amazing work of Morrigan art…

It was Mother’s Day … Sunday. I’ve written many a story on, or about, this day. It’s a difficult day for me, been so for a long time now … For my Eternal it’s been … difficult for a shorter time, no less so. Perhaps this year we’ll try to …

 

Be Together
By TeraS

 

There is no question of a mother’s love.

Specifically, there is no question of the love two Eternals know: the unconditional love from two mothers to their children, love through which everything came to be. That seed brought about the ability of those two Eternals to share themselves with their family, to offer their love, again and again, unconditionally.

Love isn’t perfect, though in the so-green eyes of one and the so-blue eyes of the other, they see it to be as close to that mythical state of perfection as possible. It’s telling, when they think about it, how the words spoken, the lessons taught and, yes, the moments shared in the past, so deeply effect the here and now. It’s especially felt on the one day each year when mothers are celebrated—though, as is so very clear, they should be for always.

The day was especially rainy this year. The winds blew a chill into the air—not exactly the best of days for a celebration, as a whole. Still, the day was important, and no poor weather or inclement bluster was going to bar a daughter and a son.

Not on this day nor any other.

While there wasn’t a day that passed when they didn’t each think about their mothers, not a moment, and from time-to-time they both knew, as one, that the Goddess held both mothers with her … there still was the hurt inside. Oh, it was not anything like it once was, to be clear. But, from time to time, a tear would come unexpectedly, the memory of their voices would nip at their thoughts before fading.

But the thing about the Realm is that nothing ever really fades away, no good things are truly forgotten, and, most importantly, sometimes … things happened.

Tera had, for many years, visited her mother’s resting place on this day. She’d started to bring her a cup of tea, exactly how she liked it, every year, soon after becoming Queen of the Realm. The tea would be placed on the headstone, Tera would talk to her mother, telling stories, thoughts, fears, and, always, her hopes. Sometimes the wind would toss an unruly lock of hair back into place and a warm breeze would kick up against her cheek as she turned away.

It was, in a way, Tera believed, her mother, answering.

Keith took things a bit differently as a whole. He’d spent many a year with Tera when she visited. Each time, he remained respectfully aside: this was something personal for Tera, and he didn’t want to break the bonds and memories that she’d made for herself.

His own visit on this day didn’t involve a cup of tea, though he did make sure to plant flowers—white carnations—every year. He’d talk, muse, wonder, and discuss, not expecting an answer, but somehow knowing that his mother would, somehow, hear his words.

Keith knew, in a way, that his mother was listening.

This particular Mother’s day came just shy of three years from when Keith’s mother had gone to be with Goddess. It was also just shy of forty-two years since Tera’s mother had slipped her mortal bonds for the embrace of Goddess.

She wasn’t alone this time. Her Eternal stood beside her, holding an umbrella as the cup was placed. From time to time, a droplet from above fell into the tea, disturbing the beverage. Neither really paid a lot of attention, however. The ebon-maned daughter’s thoughts were of a mother missed, of saying simple words and gaining some comfort from saying them.

The rain helped to mask tears from her Eternal.

He wasn’t alone this time. The ground was wet as he parted the soil, placing life among the remembered. Tera stood over him, holding the umbrella this time as he worked away, talking, remembering, occasionally looking over his shoulder to his Eternal to offer her a smile.

The rain helped to mask tears from his Eternal.

The rains continued throughout the day as the two returned home, finding two blue-tailed daughters awaiting their mother. It wasn’t the cards or the little gifts given that mattered. The simple words: “Love you, Mom” did, more than Tera really could manage to explain.

The rain, this time, could not mask the tears shed by two daughters thankful for the love of a mother. Nor could they hide the tears from so-green and so-blue eyes. It could not hide the memories of the past come calling. Of the love given from two mothers to their children in the hope that love would be passed on.

It could not disguise the warm breeze, as one mother, safe in the embrace of the Goddess, grabbed the hand of another, both so proud of their children, so grateful to see their love growing in those who stayed behind.

For the love of a mother … is … for always.

Morrigan - DarkStalkers by Jessica-Prando

As found at:

http://jessica-prando.deviantart.com/art/Morrigan-DarkStalkers-678366802

My favourite Morrigan art of the month…

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Honestly, I was a bit relieved when we cut this chapter, because of the twin dangers of pissing off anti-nuclear people and pro-thorium people. Wish me luck!

Today's News:

Thanks, geeks! We hope you like it.

_{-- Delivered by Feed43 service}

 

CHECK OUT D20 MONKEY  by Brian Patterson! It’s marvelous

Dork Tower is updated Tuesdays and Thursdays. For as little as $1 a month, you can join the Army of Dorkness – and help bring more Dork Tower to the world! We’re nearly 80% of the way towards three comics a week! Become a Dork Tower Patreon backer – you get everlasting gratitude. Oh, wait – and also swag!

_{-- Delivered by Feed43 service}

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Peak romance about children happens right around the month before pregnancy.

Today's News:

raedusoleil:

Our planet is getting way too warm, and it’s from us horribly wasting our resources and fucking up our air.  The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, which means the most hours of sunlight in a day in a season that is now becoming warmer and warmer and for many, the Summer Solstice is a time of extreme fire danger.

Having a bonfire on the Summer Solstice really isn’t a good idea when you consider the modern state of the world.  I was taught to have a fire on Litha too, but as I’ve moved more towards my cronedom, it’s become clear to me that for many Wheel holidays, we’re reenacting ritual actions based on past contexts (mostly imagined by us) and not creating rituals based on modern needs and context.

What if we didn’t celebrate the Solstice with the things that we have more than enough of (light & heat) at this time of year?  How about honoring all the plants and animals who burn to death in summer fires?  Why don’t we celebrate our incredibly precious and dwindling supply of fresh water when it’s hot outside?  

For those of you who live in locations where summer burn bans happen due to fire danger or poor air quality, how do you observe Litha, the Summer Solstice?

I don't think that any comic fan was satisfied with the Galactus that we were given in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (except maybe the producers of Green Lantern, who made the same villainous cloud mistake with Parallax). I guess the silver lining is that a true representation of the World Devourer will not seem like a re-tread if Marvel ever wants to explore that story line again, once the Fantastic Four is brought into the MCU.

Thank you to Bob Greenwade, a Patron of this blog, for suggesting this lopsided match up!

Dork Tower is updated Tuesdays and Thursdays. For as little as $1 a month, you can join the Army of Dorkness – and help bring more Dork Tower to the world! We’re nearly 80% of the way towards three comics a week! Become a Dork Tower Patreon backer – you get everlasting gratitude. Oh, wait – and also swag!

Fading affect bias

It turns out that in general, the intensity of emotion, or the affect, of our bad memories seems to fade faster than for our good memories. This means that, say, our happy memories keep us happier for longer and our bad memories don’t affect us as much in the future. It’s called the fading affect bias as the fading is biased more strongly for negative memories.

This is handy as it naturally gives us a more positive disposition. So, for instance, after some time has past, we may find we remember the good parts of a holiday — like an amazing beach — more clearly than the bad — like the mosquitoes at the beach. And thinking about the good parts keeps making us happy longer than thinking about the bad parts might make us sad. Brilliant!

PS: This is a different use of affect than the common affect/effect confusion.

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
This really should've been the ending to How to Train Your Dragon.

Today's News:

_{-- Delivered by Feed43 service}

Morrigan Aensland by zoeragez

As found at:

http://zoeragez.deviantart.com/art/Morrigan-Aensland-669914173

Love the details in this Morrigan art… Especially the fringe is amazingly well done…