Captain America – Chris Samnee

Because of the time difference between the UK and the USA it is already the fourth of July here in Great Britain.

The highlight for me of Inktober since at least 2018 has been Chris Samnee’s Batober drawings. For all fans of Batman the individual drawings encapsulate a piece of history or a storyline in a single image. Some drawings are better than others but every one is perfect and any Batman original art collector would be very happy with owning a single one of the images. It is testimony to the high regard in which the drawings are held that you rarely – I won’t say never – see them being resold in spite of there being literally dozens and dozens of them around. Frustratingly for non-US-based collectors CS did not accept non-North American eBay bids (not sure about Canada). There are methods of getting around this – where there is a will, there is a way – but this would inevitably involve a third party which would have made things more complicated and I am no longer so fanatically obsessed with owning comic art to go down those roads. In any case it was nice for a change to stand on the sidelines and just spectate on the prices the individual drawings went for knowing that I was prohibited from participating. But when the opportunity to win this Chris Samnee Captain America, a character he had some previous with, came up then I leapt on it. I could be wrong and someone who drove up the bidding for me might be able to correct me but I think that this drawing was auctioned in aid of The Ed Asner Family Center. People nowadays probably know Ed Asner mainly from him voicing Carl Fredricksen but I am old enough to remember him for playing the domineering patriarch of the Jordache family in the US TV miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man back in the 1970s. I will also remember him as facilitating my opportunity to pick up an original Chris Samnee; one is all I require. Ed Asner seems to have been a fine humanitarian and I was pleased to support such a worthwhile charity and also get a terrific Chris Samnee at the same time. Chris Samnee said on his Instagram last November that the 2023 tranche of Batober drawings would be his last. We should use the old perception switcheroo and not be sad that they have come to an end but be happy that they ever took place.

For those uninterested in British politics or gambling you should stop reading now.

The fourth of July for the first time in as long as I can remember has special significance on both sides of the Atlantic this year. Not because it is the silver wedding anniversary of British Royalty – Posh and Becks – but because the Prime Minister on May 22 called for today to be the date of polling day. The last I looked bookmakers have the Labour Party (roughly the British equivalent of the Democratic Party in the US) as 1/50 to garner the most votes and so form the next government or at least have a commanding presence in a coalition. For those as uninitiated with betting as I was 20 years ago the previous means that you would have to place a stake of £50 to win a single £1 (you obviously get your stake back as well, just so long as you win). Those are very short odds. I know from bitter experience that 1/50 shots do not always come in. Switzerland were 1/50 in 2008 when they had home advantage against Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier, not a meaningless “friendly” match, when they managed to lose 1-2. That is not a result a seasoned gambler forgets in a hurry. So the Labour Party are not yet “home and dry”. But if the polls are to be believed then the Conservative Party (roughly the British equivalent of the Republican Party in the US) will be ousted after 14 years of uninterrupted governance. What a sad indictment of the British public that will be and an indication of their ingratitude after all the accomplishments and achievements of the Conservative Party since 2010. One needs to run through only a list of some, but not all, of this government’s “greatest hits” to show what an unmitigated success they have been: Austerity, Brexit, Partygate, the 49 days, and my current personal favourite for reasons you might be able to deduce from what I have already said in this paragraph, the chart-topping smash, Gamblegate.

I would exhort anyone in the UK who is eligible to vote and reading this on the day I am posting it to exercise their franchise, and it is none of my business who it is for.

A search on the internet notes that one of the reasons for Britain losing the American War of Independence in 1776 was “weak and incompetent … political leadership”. Just quoting. Roll on July 5th.

Thanks to Chris Samnee for his generous donation to The Ed Asner Family Center charity auction, and a happy July the Fourth to everyone.