Welcome to this year's Holiday Greeting!
 
 

Welcome to this year's online card.

(Yes, I know I'm horribly late...get over it...)

For you newcomers, what follows is a recitation of how I came to create this page.  If you've been here before, nothing's changed from last year...or the year before that...

Originally, my custom of hand-drawing cards began when I couldn't find greetings applicable to my fellow Superman collectors.  So, I began to draw my own.

Let me tell you, that idea got pretty old pretty fast before I bought my first computer and scanner.  Much better results once I got the hang of those gizmos.

As I became more familiar with the computer, I started to toy with HTML and building webpages.  Not surprisingly, the focus began on Superman-related topics - still is, for that matter (it's a time-constraint thing) - but I found there were other things I could do with my handy dandy AOL webspace.

One of these was to post my holiday greetings here.  Sure, I still sent my printed cards out to friends and family, but given the nature of cyberspace, it was more convenient - if not appropriate, in its way - to put my cards online.

Traditionally, I've tried to make these greetings as generic as possible for the benefit of those visiting who might celebrate December holidays other than Christmas.  A "PC" concession, I suppose (though I loathe the "PC" concept).  Yet, I've still used in my artwork Christmas-based themes.

Why?  Simply put, they're what I know.  I think the holiday season has by and large more to do with commerce than religion.  I personally don't view it as a religious occasion at all.  The religious aspect is a bit erroneous from a historical standpoint, given that the holiday has less to do with the actual date of Christ's birth (which probably didn't occur during the winter at all) than it did with the early Christians' desire to draw attention away from the Roman celebrations of the sun god Mithra - or the Saturnalia, depending on your source (similar events I'd explain if I wasn't concerned about little eyes viewing this page).  Bottom line is, Christmas is just one of the many winter solstice-related festivals celebrated since the civilization of man, with religion being a marginal aspect at best throughout much of history.  But I digress.

Regardless, I'm dispensing with my usual disclaimer from this point on.  Those who know me should - I would hope - know by now that I'm not pushing any sort of religious agenda if I should absent-mindedly happen to wish them a "Merry Christmas" instead of a "Happy Holidays".  Those who don't know me should've been tipped off by the "VartoXmas" in the site address, fer cryin' out loud...  ;)

While you're here, please take a look at these other items of interest:

Check out my greetings from years past.  Well, some versions of them, anyway.  Though I believe what I've shown here in the past falls under "fair use", the thought occurs that I'd rather not have to argue the point.  Haven't had any contact with DC Comics regarding anything on my pages so far, and I kinda like it that way.  But you'll get the gist of my inspirations at the time.  ;)

I'm not a real big afficionado of "fan fiction", but one literary form I do have a weakness for is exposed in the worst New Year's Eve Super-story ever written.  You have been duly warned, LOL.  (Note to DC:  This one's sooooooooo bad, it just has to fall under "fair use".  Besides, the thought that I'd even dare to claim authorship has gotta be punishment enough...)

Being a part of the television generation, some of my fondest holiday memories are courtesy of the small screen.  For most of this year, I've been posting some of them whereever I could find the webspace. Check them out here.

Have Santa start the season off right here.

Looking for Christmas merchandise? Click the icon above or check out my picks for Christmas items at Amazon
 

You are Elf Number  to visit since Christmas 2001. (OK, so I forgot to reset the counter.  Again...)