question: CHAPTER XXX 



On the way back from the sick mare, Dick paused once to listen to the restless stamp of Mountain Lad and his fellows in the stallion barn. In the quiet air, from somewhere up the hills, came the ringing of a single bell from some grazing animal. A cat's-paw of breeze fanned him with sudden balmy warmth. All the night was balmy with the faint and almost aromatic scent of ripening grain and drying grass. The stallion stamped again, and Dick, with a deep breath and realization that never had he more loved it all, looked up and circled the sky-line where the crests of the mountains blotted the field of stars. 

"No, Cato," he mused aloud. "One cannot agree with you. Man does not depart from life as from an inn. He departs as from a dwelling, the one dwelling he will ever know. He departs ... nowhere. It is good night. For him the Noiseless One ... and the dark." 

He made as if to start, but once again the stamp of the stallions held him, and the hillside bell rang out. He drew a deep inhalation through his nostrils of the air of balm, and loved it, and loved the fair land of his devising. 

"'I looked into time and saw none of me there,'" he quoted, then capped it, smiling, with a second quotation: "'She gat me nine great sons.... The other nine were daughters.'" 

Back at the house, he did not immediately go in, but stood a space gazing at the far flung lines of it. Nor, inside, did he immediately go to his own quarters. Instead, he wandered through the silent rooms, across the patios, and along the dim-lit halls. His frame of mind was as of one about to depart on a journey. He pressed on the lights in Paula's fairy patio, and, sitting in an austere Roman seat of marble, smoked a cigarette quite through while he made his plans. 
1. Who was travelling?
2. Where was Dick coming from?
3. Did he stop?
4. To do what?
5. Listen to what?
6. What was Mountain Lad?
7. Did Dick go into the house?
8. Did he sit down?
9. Where?
10. In what kind of chair?
11. Did he do anything while sitting?
****
answer: 1. unknown
2. from the sick mare
3. yes
4. listen
5. the restless stamp of Mountain Lad and his fellows in the stallion bar
6. stallion
7. yes
8. yes
9. Paula's fairy patio
10. Roman seat of marble
11. made his plans


question: A lot of kids have dreams they'll never achieve due to the limitations of their little bodies. They want to fly, or to become a dinosaur, or to learn how to act like Spiderman. Luka Tavcar, 12, has muscular dystrophy and is totally dependent on his wheelchair. Nevertheless, late last year, he had an inspired plan: to be photographed walking around and having fun. He approached Matej Peljhan, an amateur photographer and a psychologist at CIRIUS rehabilitation center near Ljubljana, Slovenia, where Luka is a patient. At first, Peljhan was perplexed. How could he photograph a boy who can not move or act in motion? "Luka wanted to see himself playing and having fun, but it seemed impossible," he says. Then Peljhan had a brainstorm: Luka could lie down on a piece of cloth and, with the help of an assistant, Peljhan would pose the boy as if he were jumping, climbing stairs, moving downhill on a skateboard, and playing basketball. Then Peljhan would shoot these images from above. The photos took about a month to produce; all were shot early this year. Peljhan, who lost his right arm and left eye as a child, says his own disabilities motivated him to make the photographs. "I understand people with limitations," he says. He named the series "The Little Prince" after the French story by Antoine de Saint-Exupery in which a boy teaches a man about trust, hope, and friendship. Luka loves the photos. Matej himself understands what it is like to live with limitations--he lost his right arm and left eye as a child."Luka wants to stay positive and his imagination helps him forget his physical limitation," says Peljhan. "He's fragile, but he can see the world differently."
1. What is Luka's impairment?
2. How does he get around?
3. What did he want to do last year?
4. Who would take the pictures?
5. Where did he work?
6. Where is that located?
7. Did Peljhan think this was a normal request?
8. What did Luka lie down on?
9. And what did Peljhan do with him?
10. How long did it take to make all the photos?
11. What was Peljhan's disability?
12. What did he call the photo series?
13. Was Luka satisfied with the pictures?
****
answer: 1. muscular dystrophy
2. his wheelchair
3. to be photographed walking around and having fun
4. Matej Peljhan
5. CIRIUS rehabilitation center
6. Ljubljana, Slovenia
7. no
8. a piece of cloth
9. Peljhan would pose the boy as if he were jumping, climbing stairs, moving downhill on a skateboard
10. a month
11. he lost his right arm and left eye
12. The Little Prince
13. yes


question: (CNN) -- "There is a sense that he is 'one of us,' a true fan of comics." 

That's how John Mayo, co-host of the Comic Book Page podcast, describes Geoff Johns, the chief creative officer at DC Comics and one of the most influential figures in comics today. 

All those trailers you've been seeing for the upcoming "Green Lantern" movie? A good chunk of the credit should go to Johns. He's a co-producer on the film, but he's also responsible for giving the character top billing recently in comics and, ultimately, in pop culture. 

Johns brought Hal Jordan back to life in the "Green Lantern: Rebirth" series and went on to cast the emerald warrior's world as the focal point of the DC Universe in the popular "Blackest Night" comic event. 

Now, he's taking on DC's newest large-scale series: "Flashpoint," a world in which everything you know will change in a Flash. The first issue hits shelves Wednesday. 

"I didn't want to take the DC universe, put it in a box, shake the box and pour it out," Johns said. "I wanted to take the major characters and show what they could be like if they were put on a different path." 

The one constant is another fan favorite that owes his recent reincarnation to Johns: the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen. 

Some Flash Facts about the scarlet speedster: Allen is a police scientist who, thanks to an accident, was imbued with the Speed Force, an energy that turned him into the fastest man alive. He sacrificed his life during one of DC's first mega events, "Crisis on Infinite Earths," back in the 1980s, but returned in recent years as a regular fixture in the DC world. 
1. Can characters come back to life in comic books?
2. Do you have an example?
3. Who's he?
4. Anyone else?
5. And who is he?
6. What comic publisher are they both from?
7. Who there has had a major impact on these characters?
8. Who's he?
9. What has he worked on?
10. So does he just work on films?
11. WHat else?
12. How has he changed the Green Lantern's role?
13. What has he done to the characters' stories?
14. How so?
15. Do people like this?
16. When is the next round of story coming out?
17. What hero will play an important part in that one?
18. What is his power?
19. How did that happen?
20. What about it?
21. Is that a silly name for something?
****
answer:
1. yes
2. Hal Jordan
3. Green Lantern
4. Barry Allen
5. The Flash
6. DC Comics
7. Geoff Johns
8. chief creative officer
9. Green Lantern movie
10. no
11. comics too.
12. made him the focal point
13. changed them
14. show what they could be like if they were put on a different path
15. yes
16. Wednesday.
17. The Flash.
18. He is the fastest man alive
19. an accident
20. He was imbued with the Speed Force
21. unknown