I just spoke to Len, who seems to be in a lot better humor than most of us would be if we'd lost our homes to fire. He has okayed me to begin collecting donations of comics on which he worked. All the copies he had were either burned or hosed down by firefighters.

Insurance will restore the house. I think it would be great if Len's many fans and friends restored his shelves of comic books written and/or edited by Len Wein. In a day or two here, I will post an address to which they can be shipped…and I'm thinking of posting a checklist (if I can put one together) and of appointing folks to accept donations at comic book conventions. Watch this space for details. But in the meantime, you might want to look around. If you read comics, you probably have a lot of Len's in your collection. You may even have duplicates you'd be willing to part with or you can ask your local comic shop owner if they'd be willing to send a few.

Start seeing what you can donate to the cause. I'll tell you where to send it shortly.

To little notice, the movie of Howard the Duck came out on DVD recently. My pal Steve Gerber was both frustrated and perversely amused by the fiasco that was the film made of his greatest creation. He was largely excluded from the conversion job but he saw enough that, about halfway through its filming, he smelled a possible flop coming, mainly due to the filmmakers' inability to deliver a convincing duck. I remember a lunchtime discussion we had. I'd seen nothing but Steve had seen enough to believe that whatever the merits of the script and other performances, the star just came off as a midget in an unconvincing duck mask.

The topic was whether his reaction was because they really hadn't created a on-screen duck you could accept or if Steve was just being too proprietary because they weren't replicating "his" version from the comics. He was trying so hard not to cause trouble for the project that he leaned towards the latter, figuring that the producers must know what they're doing; that it couldn't be as wrong as it seemed to him. As it turned out, it was…and Steve's hopes that the film would succeed and a lot of that success (and revenue) would rub off on him were for naught.

That day over lunch, I suggested that what the producers should have done was to engage Frank Oz to create and maybe perform the title character. Steve didn't much care for that thought. Nothing in any of Mr. Oz's famous puppet characters reminded him of his Howard's voice or manner. Still, he later told me that even if Howard had wound up looking like Cookie Monster and sounding like Miss Piggy, it would have been closer to what he had in mind than what he got.

In this article, Keith Phipps takes a look back at Steve's duck and what Hollywood did unto it. And this might be a good place for me to insert an Amazon link in case you want to order a copy of the DVD for some reason. I can't imagine what that reason might be but people do a lot of things I don't understand. It came out four weeks ago with a $14.98 pricetag and has already been marked down to eight. The insults continue.

I've been trying to focus on other work and other topics but my mind keeps coming back to today's tragic news…the fire at the home of my friends, Len Wein and Chris Valada. I've been in that house and seen a wonderful, lived-in shrine to their respective passions. The place was delightfully full of fun stuff which, I'm told, is now all gone.

You feel helpless in moments like this, wishing you had some brilliant idea that would magically undo all the damage. There isn't, of course…but we're all sending "If there's anything I can do" messages, knowing full well there's not much any of us can do. The insurance company can and will do plenty but all the rest of us can do is to just be there for our friends.

I feel a special note of…I don't know if you'd call it guilt or what. About six weeks ago, I had a tiny fire at my home, also caused by a faulty heater. All that happened was that a wall was charred and an outlet melted but it made me realize it was about time I had some rewiring done here. That's why my power was out today…and because of the work here, I didn't hear what had happened until many hours after it had happened. Nobody phoned to tell me. They all sent e-mails, unaware that my Internet connection was out while my electricity was off. Meanwhile, several of Len's friends ran over there to help and I feel bad that I wasn't among them. I doubt I could have done much there but it might have made me feel better. (And I also feel a little guilty for thinking that way…)

Harlan Ellison was over there wielding a shovel and he described the loss to me a little while ago on the phone. It sounds pretty total. To those who ask, "What can we do?" the answer seems to be "not much right now," though Len and Chris must know they have a lot of friends they can turn to. At some point down the line though, when they're settled into new digs or a rebuilding of the old digs, I'd like to see if we can restore some of Len's book collection — particularly copies of things he worked on.

I haven't spoken to him about this or anything because, goodness knows, he's got plenty to think about without me demanding his attention. But I'm guessing he will welcome this — and it certainly makes me feel better to think there might be at least something we can do.

Much of the home of Len Wein and Chris Valada was destroyed in a fire this morning triggered by a faulty heater. Len is, of course, the creator of many famous comic books and an award-winning writer, and much of what was lost was valuable and irreplaceable artwork he'd collected over the years. I'm told Len and Chris are more upset over the death of their beloved dog, Sheba. (No humans were injured.)

That's about all I know at the moment. Friends are rallying to be of aid but I'm not sure what anyone can do at the moment. About half of the house is gone and they're still assessing the precise loss of contents. What an awful thing to happen to two great people. I talked to Len just last night to get some info for the Frank Springer obit I posted.

And to further exacerbate the problem discussed in the previous posting, a nice electrician who's rewiring my home is about to shut off the electricity for most of the day. So my Internet connection will be off too and I'll be laptopping it as long as the battery holds out. Be back later…I hope.

I'm hereby announcing a new policy here. Whenever I post or even link to something even vaguely political, I get a slew of e-mails from folks who want to rebut or engage me in long, back-and-forth discussions.

One of the few downsides to doing a blog like this is that it brings a lot of messages…more than you might think and more than I can ever possibly answer. I mean, I suppose I could give up my career and do nothing but respond to e-mail all day but that doesn't seem like the wisest of options. For a time, I answered what I could and moved the rest into a "answer when I get the time" folder…and one day, that folder had more than 2000 messages in it. Obviously, a problem.

This bothers me more than it probably should. It reminds me of one time when I briefly worked on the TV show, MacGyver. One of the show's producers had idly said in a TV Guide interview, "We're always looking for good scripts" and the next thing he knew, there was an entire room at the office filled with "spec" submissions — at least three thousand, one intern estimated.

The studio lawyers wanted none of them read. The following situation is very common: A writer in Idaho submits a script that's set in a bowling alley. Two seasons later, someone on the show has an idea and writes an episode set in a bowling alley. The guy in Idaho sues. That happens an awful lot and it can be very expensive to deal with those threats and lawsuits. It helps a bit to be able to say, "No one here read the submission."

I'm not sure how the MacGyver show eventually dealt with those piles — I didn't get along with the folks there and went elsewhere after a month or so — but I can't imagine what they could have done other than to simply not read many…more likely any of the scripts. Even if the lawyers said it was okay, how do you begin to evaluate three thousand scripts? With more arriving every minute? Even if you could find and hire a couple of extra story editors with the wisdom to find gold amongst the pyrites, how many could those folks read per day and retain any sense of balance? Ten? Fifteen? Do the math. Most were at least fifty pages and I was told that there were some, written by folks who didn't know how long an hour script should be, in excess of 100 or even 200 pages.

The scripts in that little room represented a lot of effort and passion and dreams…and just by the law of averages, there was probably some great, undiscovered talent in there. I just can't imagine how anyone could locate it.

It's not exactly the same situation but my unanswered e-mail situation reminds me of that one. Some very bright folks have written me and received either brief replies or none at all. After mulling the problem a lot, I've decided to deal with it as follows…

First of all, I'm going to ignore all e-mails not signed with what at least looks like a real name. You have every right to be anonymous on the Internet but if you sign yourself "Beefhead" or "Socrates" (two recent correspondents), you should expect your mail to go to the bottom of the stack, never to be seen again. I have my real name on everything here. I don't feel the need to be that courteous to folks who want to not be actually responsible for what they write.

Secondly, I'm going to just delete all the nasty messages — I do, anyway — and thirdly, the ones that seek to alter my entire worldview and debate every aspect of it…well, those require way too much time for a worthy response. I feel the same way about them that I feel about strangers who come to my door and think that a brief chat on my porch will cause me to adopt their religion. You might convince someone of something small that way but there will be no major life conversion and abandonment of everything previously believed.

Those steps will get rid of about half the messages. I'm also going to ignore a number of guys who spent the last few years writing me that George W. Bush would capture Osama, win a glorious and inarguable victory in Iraq and leave the economy in such great shape that America would never again elect a Democrat to anything that did not involve dog-catching. One or two such correspondents have had the class/sense to send apologies and mea culpas but a couple still think their fantasy has almost come true. No point discussing anything with those boys.

That still leaves quite a stack that will have to go unanswered. I'm sorry about that. I don't know what else to do but I do read them and every so often, someone (never an anonymous or hostile person) writes something that causes me to rethink a position or view something in a different light.

Still, please don't spend a lot of energy writing me a message if you'll feel cheated by a lack of response. I have to change my approach to my e-mailbox and treat it less like a collection of communications that, spam aside, etiquette demands I answer. There's no way to do that so I'm just going to try to stop feeling guilty about it. If this sounds unreasonable or arrogant or pigheaded to you…well, fine. Just don't write me as much and expect a reply.

Nate Silver has a post up about how this country is moving slowly — very slowly — towards the legalization of marijuana. Says he, the percentage of the population that has ever used the stuff is increasing. Logically, if you used it, you're a little more likely to favor allowing everyone to use it…especially if your experiences convinced you that it doesn't automatically lead to psychosis or heroin addiction or any of those dangers we were warned about in high school.

The stat he gives that most interests me is that about half of 55-year-olds have used marijuana at some point in their life. I'm startled it's that low. I've never used marijuana or any other recreational drug. Matter of fact, I've never smoked anything in my life. First of all, I don't like the basic idea of smoking at all. As Bob Newhart once described in a routine, it's taking old leaves, shredding them, sticking them in your mouth and setting fire to them. I still don't see why anyone thinks that's a good idea and I also don't warm to the idea of being even a wee bit intoxicated. This is in no way a condemnation of anyone else who does these things as long as they don't do something a-holish like get stoned and drive a car. It's merely a personal choice…me deciding for me.

I'm amazed that only half of folks aged 55 have tried pot. I'm about that age — I'm 57 — and since about '67, people have called me a liar for claiming I've never "experimented" (as we used to say) and told me, "Everyone in our age bracket has used marijuana." Well, I knew it wasn't everyone because I hadn't and I had friends who I'm pretty sure hadn't…but I thought we were a much smaller group than half. I met people who acted like I'd told them I'd never urinated or something the sort. Like it was close to biologically impossible not to have smoked marijuana, at least for a puff or two. Once or twice, they were so unpleasant about it that just to get rid of them, I'd lie and say, "Okay, okay…I tried it a few times and didn't care for it." And they'd go, "Of course!"

Silver says in his piece, "…one can plausibly support its legalization without having ever inhaled…" That's me. Never inhaled but I think that if adults want to and they aren't operating a motor vehicle or heavy machinery, the government has no more business forbidding it than the drinking of whiskey. We've seen how well that worked out. And I think the efforts to deny it to folks whose pain might be alleviated or health improved is positively inhumane.

I figure it'll be a while before it is legalized…and I kinda hope it isn't just because we need the tax revenue. That would be doing the right thing for the wrong reason. At the moment though, I'm just surprised that I'm not as alone in my generation as I thought.

Veteran comic book and strip artist Frank Springer died last Thursday at the age of 79. The cause is being reported as prostate cancer.

Born December 6, 1929 in Queens, New York, Springer graduated Syracuse University with a degree in art in 1952 and promptly went into the army, where he did mostly illustration work at Fort Dix. Upon his discharge in '54, he began assisting George Wunder on the comic strip, Terry and the Pirates, a post he held until 1960 and returned to on occasion when Mr. Wunder was behind and needed help. In later years, Springer also occasionally worked on other strips including several years of Rex Morgan, M.D., plus ghosting on The Heart of Juliet Jones, On Stage, Friday Foster, The Phantom and many others. He also did strips he originated like The Virtue of Vera Valiant, written by Stan Lee.

His comic book career began in '60 and he later recalled Brain Boy, a Dell comic, as his first assignment. He drew many books for Dell including Charlie Chan, Ghost Stories and Toka, Jungle King. He also began drawing for DC and later, Marvel. Fans recall his byline on the DC series, The Secret Six, and for a time on Marvel's Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD and later on many Spider-Man titles and Dazzler. He also did a lot of uncredited work, including a few Batman tales under the "Bob Kane" signature.

In the late sixties, he teamed with writer Michael O'Donoghue and produced several adult comic features for Evergreen Review, the most notable being The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist, the episodes of which were collected into a best-selling book. When O'Donoghue became an editor for National Lampoon, he brought Frank in and soon Springer was drawing many of their comic book parodies to great acclaim.

Frank was admired and loved by his peers, and the National Cartoonists Society three times awarded him its trophy as Best Comic Book Artist of the year and once elected him its president. He was a guest of honor at the 2004 Comic-Con International in San Diego where I had the privilege of interviewing him twice before his many fans. On one of those panels, he said of his career, "There were some raggedy times, but I always had work, raised five kids, bought some houses, bought some cars…I've been lucky." Personally, I think skill and dedication had a lot to do with that.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Barbara, as well as four children and seven grandchildren.

An early, unfinished copy of the new Wolverine movie has apparently been making the rounds of the Internet, downloaded by many…including a Fox News columnist who wrote and released a review of it. He was promptly fired for "promoting piracy," which makes sense. He might also have been faulted for reviewing an unfinished, unreleased work…which is unethical even if you come by a copy honestly.

I don't altogether understand the mania of those who can't wait for a movie, who have to have it a few weeks early even if it means going to all sorts of trouble to obtain a bad or incomplete copy. I can't think of a single movie that would ever prompt that yearning in me. Matter of fact, it's quite the opposite. If I care at all about the project, I want to wait until I can experience it in its proper form and presentation.

When Monty Python's Life of Brian came out, a friend who worked on the advertising campaign gave me an advance copy — on 3/4" video cassettes, which I could play since I had a machine that played those. He didn't, which is why he gave them to me. Some friends came over and we brought in pizza and made an evening of it…watching a copy that was a little too dark on the TV I owned then, which had a 19" screen. We enjoyed the film but did no backflips. That was not the way to see it, I later realized. The advance copy was also missing a few scenes that were in the final release and must have included some that weren't, since it was around ten minutes longer.

A month later, I realized what I just said I realized. It was the weekend Life of Brian was formally released and I took a date to see it at a theater in Westwood. That was the way to see that movie. I loved it but felt sure I would have loved it even more had the advance copy not diminished many of the best moments for me. In hindsight, there was a childish feeling of privilege because we got to see the movie before anyone else we knew…and it wasn't worth it.

Obviously, there's a legal wrong in bootlegging material like this…in spreading or even just receiving stolen goods. There's also the downside for the audience in having the film spoiled a little or a lot. And there's one other thing: It's just unfair to the filmmakers. They offer their work for public consumption and once they release a movie, it's fair game for everyone to review it and say it's great or that it sucks moose or whatever. But before they release it, it's theirs in that sense. It ain't finished. It's like sneaking a peek at a novelist's working draft before he's ready to show it to anyone. I don't particularly want to see anything until the person creating it declares it's done, or at least until they decide it's far enough along to invite public inspection. It's not good for me as a consumer and it's not good for those who create what I consume.