An omen? Hours before I head down to Comic-Con, I stumbled across a brilliant exchange in Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers. Background: In this Eisner Award-winning series, legendary figures ("Fables") have been exiled from their native lands to the mundane ("Mundy") world. Here's a dialogue between a fresh-off-the-boat Fable immigrant, and two long-term Fable exiles - a father and son:
Fable Father:We'll put you on a plane to Saskatoon.
Fable Immigrant: A plane? Do you mean a flying machine? I'm actually going to fly?
Fable Son: Of course. Don't worry, it's safe enough. Everyone does it.
Immig: They were right. This is a land of miracles.
Father: You don't know the half of it. People can talk to each other from across the globe, for less than the cost of a single meal. And every house has a box that plays music and another box that gathers information and another box for - well, I guess you might describe it as endless puppet shows.
Son: Whatever kind you want, comedies or tragedies, at the push of a button.
Father: And not just for the gentry. Even the peasantry has these things.
Immig: Astonishing. And yet we call this the Mundane World.
And people wonder why I prefer comic books to newspapers?
P.S. Any last-minute answers to this question will be much-appreciated.
People take way too much of the incredible in our lives for granted. It's partly what makes them support bad economic and political policies - because they think that invention and discovery are cheap and easy.
Right. As sung by Paul Simon, "these are the days of miracles and wonder" but many of us have developed immunity to the wondrous. Excepting perhaps Japanese tourists.
Q. What's the best way to transport success?
A. Considering where you're going, you'll get farther with a kind word and a gun than you will counter-signaling alone.
The Mundane World. Did he really write that? Funny!