by GalacticAgent » Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:10 pm
To all Dave's fans,
Let me tell you a little about my best friend Dave.
I first knew Dave when I met him in high school band. We both were seniors, played trombone and I was the new guy who just moved to Denver. Dave was the first guy that I made friends with and the two of us struck up a friendship that has lasted 46 years
We formed a little cadre of friends and every Friday we would try to go to a movie, usually grade triple z, and then to a Sambo’s (how unPC) restaurant. We were a strange group. Dave, George, Jim, another Dave, sometimes Mike, and myself. Dave, George, and myself were the closest. Can you imagine the 3 of us walking thru downtown Denver, on the way to a terrible movie, singing Stan Freberg's United States of America? It boggles the mind.
When I found out that Dave enjoyed cartooning, I knew I had found a soul-mate that I could relate to. Drawing and art are my passion and when you find another person who not only likes drawing and art but also loves comics and the same kinds of art as you do, the relationship becomes more then good friends.
Dave and I would sit for hours drawing out cartoon wars at George’s house. The cartoons would start very mildly and progress to the absurd. Dave was so talented. He would visualize an idea and then almost effortlessly put his vision on the paper. Next to his sketches, mine looked like scrawls. He said that he was envious of my metal rendering technique. That’s because he was the visionary and I was the technician.
After high school and college, we were both eligible for the draft during the Viet Nam war. He decided to join the Navy, which displeased his father who was hoping his son would choose an Air Force career. Dave wasn’t interested in a military career. He wanted to be a comic book artist. This was the single overriding goal that drove him.
When I joined the Navy, we were both based at NAS Mirimar, CA near San Diego. He was attached to a fighter training squadron based there and I was attached to a fighter squadron, which would be deployed to the war zone. I would visit him at his desk and we would sit and sketch and think of different types of superheroes. Many times he would do the sketches and I would do the inking. That is how the Galactic Agent cover was conceived.
Needless to say, we did quite a bit of running around in the San Diego area. We’d sometimes close a topless beer bar or get sunburned in La Jolla. When I came back from my first cruise, Dave had married! He met his wife in the letters section of a comic book, of course! Then it was the 3 of us, sometimes 4 if I had a date, still sketching and now watching Star Trek.
When I came back from my second cruise, Dave had been redeployed to Guam and he was a daddy! We corresponded for a short time but neither of us are letter writers so we eventually lost touch. In 1997, I was browsing the internet and plugged in his name in a search engine and out came 8 results. I remembered Dave’s middle initial was E and his phone number was listed, so I called him. I think both of us were dumbfounded. He wrote me a lengthy letter, sent me some autographed copies of his work and then I dropped the ball again. Dave had sent me all this wonderful examples of his work and as graphic artist, all my works are taken by the customer so I had nothing to send him back except my website address.
We didn’t reestablish contact until 2005, when I was browsing the internet, came across this wonderful site, and reconnected. By then Dave had moved to SC.
As you see, we have remained close friends. Sometimes you think you have all the time in the world to continue a friendship that has lasted over 46 years. You think that you will have plenty of time to have another cartoon war. You think that you will have time to again give a hug to great friend. Then you go to a black web page and realize you have let something special slip through your fingers. I was thinking of starting a cartoon war with Dave as an incentive for him to use his hands. Too little, too late.
Paty and Ivan, I cannot express enough to you my deepest sorrow at your loss. We will keep you in our prayers. I hope that sometime in the future we can meet, I can get to know you and share our stories and love of Dave.
Dave was my closest friend and I loved him dearly.
[Edited on 27/11/06 by GalacticAgent]
[Edited on 27/11/06 by GalacticAgent]
I'll just jump up here on the rigging. You mean on top of everything else, this ship is rigged? Rumble, rumble. Stop that rumbling down there! Rumble