I would like to ask all of my fellow M: AA players for a favor. It's nothing too onerous. Just a simple holiday greeting.
Many of the longtime comic nerds, such as myself, will know the name Bill Mantlo. Bill was a comic creator when I was a kid (back when dirt was new). He created such characters as Jack of Hearts, Cloak & Dagger, and everyone's favorite procyon, Rocket Raccoon. He also took toy licenses, such as Rom the Spaceknight and the Micronauts, and created entire universes, fully fleshed, for them to inhabit. He wrote everyone in the Marvel Universe, from Spider-Man to Iron Man, Ka-Zar to Moon Knight, and Fantastic Four to Deadly Hands of Kung Fu (woot). In short, if you're a comic fan, he had a hand in creating characters that you read and love today. If you're just a fan of the game, the stories he wrote touched on virtually every character in the game, or at least had fewer degrees of separation than from me to Kevin Bacon. I loved his work when I was a kid, and I still enjoy it today. It's no exaggeration to say that he was a creative genius.
In the summer of 1992, Bill was struck by a hit-and-run driver while rollerblading. Because of the severity of the head trauma he suffered, Bill's brilliant mind was taken from him and us. For over 20 years, he has resided in a long term care facility because he cannot see to his own daily needs.
Bill's brother, Michael, operates a facebook page dedicated to Bill. He posts somewhat regularly, letting fans know what's going on with Bill, and passing on well wishes from fans to Bill. If you scroll down far enough, you'll see Michael's heartfelt thanks to the people at Marvel, who went to the wall with parent company Disney to get Bill a pre-release screening of Guardians of the Galaxy, so that he could see his creation, Rocket, brought to life.
Which (finally) brings us to the favor. I'm gonna post the link to the Facebook page here, and ask that you visit and wish Bill and Michael a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukkah, or whatever winter solstice greeting fits your current celebratory paradigm. It would mean a lot to me, and it would be nice for Bill and Michael to hear from the fans.
Here's the group, open to the public.
I may get my tuchas chewed for all this, but...totally worth it.
Merry Christmas to you all,
Brick.
