I was sitting in a Dreamweaver class at a community college when the security guard busted into the room. Now I thought he was going to scream on me for having coffee in the computer lab. Instead he announced, “Michael Jackson is dead!”.

In the interest of honesty, I haven’t paid much attention to Michael Jackson in a looooong time. I lost interest when his music was eclipsed by his tabloid lifestyle. Still, I can’t discount the cultural importance he played in the lives of all of us who grew up in the eighties. He was the eighties and I loved it as much as anyone. I may have even choreographed my own little Thriller routine in my family’s living room and blocked the door with cushions so no one would watch. So I’ll try to remember him for those good times.

As my girlfriend and I watched the mourning crowds form on TV (and the rapid appearance of people selling Michael Jackson tribute T-shirts) I realized I had the urge to try and do a tribute comic. So many, many hours later, I present this very special bonus comic to you.

Now I tried to embed Thriller in here, but THE MAN shut me down. Still, he didn’t get to this version… yet…

Another great loss. Richard Wright, keyboardist and founding member of Pink Floyd died last night. This morning I had my entire 12,000+ song catalog on shuffle and the third song that came on was “The Great Gig In The Sky”. I felt a little better after that.

This week saw the passing of yet another person I admired greatly. Tim Russert, long time host of “Meet The Press” died suddenly on Friday. “Meet The Press” has been a Sunday ritual of mine for over a decade and I will sorely miss him. Sad times.

What a loss. For those of you who never role-played, perhaps Carlos the Dwarf can explain it better than I can…

Unfortunately, the first of many tributes to the passing of people I admire.