"Face Front, True Believers!"

If, like me, you are of a certain age, then you'll most likely recognize the quote above as one of Stan Lee's favorite phrases. "Who's Stan Lee?" you ask? Well, if you've heard of Spider-Man, Iron Man or the X-Men, then you know Stan Lee. You could say what Miles Davis is to jazz, Stan Lee is to comics. Some fans grumble that Stan has received more than his fair share of the credit, and it's certainly true that artists Steve Ditko (Spider-Man) and Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four) weren't always given their share of the spotlight. I skimmed through a few biographies lately and found the behind-the-scenes tales fascinating. With Iron Man topping the box office, the timing is perfect to learn more about Marvel Comics and the origins of some of comicdom's greatest creations. 'Nuff said!

Another Thing That Makes Us A Little Different

The Camano Island Library Pilot Project was a departure for Sno-Isle Libraries because our collection of books, CDs and DVDs is a dedicated browsing collection, meaning unlike other branches, our collection stays at Camano -- our books don't get sent to other branches to fill holds. One reason for that is because our browsing collection consists mostly of the newest popular materials, and if they picked up holds, like Old Mother Hubbard, our shelves would soon be bare!

But another difference about the Camano branch is our rotating art collection. I've been told that Camano Island has more artists per capita than anywhere else, and while I can't find the numbers to back that up, it sure seems very possibly true. And not only are Camano artists plentiful, they're generous too. We had so many wonderful art pieces donated for our recent auction, and Jack Archibald's motley crew (The South End Cultural Oxymorons) loans us all the art you see in the library. Even if you never check anything out, you still should stop in once in a while to see what's hanging on the walls. We love it!