Snell posted everyday to SMotD with pages of comic book art from across the spectrum of the medium with looks at comics from DC and Marvel as well panels and pages from other publishers.
In his blog's bio, Snell described himself as "old enough to remember when comics were "Still Only 25 Cents!" Which means Snell began reading comics about when I did.
I'm writing about Snell and his blog because he is no longer with us. As I noted above, he posted everyday which meant it was a very curious and unusual event for the several days to go by without a new post.
A check of the comments for Snell's last post from Friday, December 14th revealed others were worried about him as well. And the post that confirmed Snell (aka Brian) had died over the weekend at age 55.
This hit me kind of hard.
I didn't know Brian and Brian didn't know me. We followed each other on Twitter where I liked some of his tweets and he liked some of mine. But that was the extent of it.
But we were two men of the same age with a common interest forged at about the same time when comics were "Still Only 25 Cents!". Maybe we could've been friends.
One of the recurring features Snell ran on his blog was a review of stories featuring Kid Eternity. Snell took an odd delight in deconstructing this goofy off center series from comics Golden Age. Kid Eternity had the power to summon anyone in the afterlife from history to assist him fighting crime and solving mysteries. The rules of how the afterlife worked in Kid Eternity persistently defied logic and complete understanding.
I hope, Brian, that whatever heaven you find yourself, the rules make sense and the comics are as good as they were when they were "Still Only 25 Cents!".
And if Kid Eternity did exist, I would ask him to summon you back long enough to let you know you had an impact. Snell, I didn't really know you and we never met but I will miss you.
Hey there, just wanted you to know that I read this back when you first released it. Going through my bookmarks and realized I'd never mentioned how glad I was that you'd written this. Like you, I read Snell religiously and for years and years. I'd usually login on weekend night and catch up on all his posts. Very fun blog, seemed a wonderfully decent man. I still miss reading him in 2023. Always brightened my day.
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