You ever have one of those days where you’re doing something and all of a sudden it just becomes so surreal that you have to blink and shake your head? This was me today as I was weeding Jerry Siegel’s yard. The Glenville Development Corp., headed by the amazing Tracey Kirksey with National Service Day (or some other name, I’m tired) had a big clean-up on Kimberly Avenue where the Siegel house is. And I could go on about that and all but the main thing is that it was very cool — kids helping out everywhere, weeding, planting, mulching, even the owners of the house, the Grays, were moving down the street with us with rakes in hand. But when I was pulling the weeds with this little kid and we were arguing about Superman vs. Spider-man video games and I look up and see my Dad edging the Siegel house front walk — pretty nuts.

We had a nice turnout of our Siegel & Shuster Society as well, which, as I’ve said, has totally revitalized my feelings about Cleveland. These are all class-A people and have turned into good friends. Clockwise: Steve Presser, the owner of the great Big Fun, Leigh Goldie and her very helpful daughter (both relatives of Joe!!) Jamie (king of Super-Retail who brought in two volunteers from Michigan!), Dick Pace, our electric, fearless leader, Tracey “Flash” Kirksey, and a tired me.

Have I mentioned the tired?

This article in the New York Daily News came out over Labor Day and tells part of the story of the film so don’t read it if you want *spoilers* but I’m still really really happy with how this turned out. This isn’t a gossip story, this isn’t a vs. story, this is a real story. And it is definitely a Justice Story. With all the strange press the story of Jerry’s father has gotten lately, Dave was the perfect guy to tell it with his combination of pulp, genuine respect, and an old-school nose for the facts. Plus he actually visits Cleveland for a ballgame once in awhile. Once I heard that, I knew he was the guy.

Read the sad story here.

This was a good story on the local ABC station. They showed Brad M’s website which was excellent and had some really great shots of the Gray house itself. Just ignore me. I talked towards Joy Benedict the whole time so it looks like I’m speaking to imaginary bugs on the wall. Afterwards we had a huge debate over whether or not the board game Sorry! had a Pop-o-Matic dice roller or not. I totally thought it did…but I was wrong. I can admit that. Click the old TV.

Plus my coffee table makes a surprise cameo — I was really excited about this. For one, it was around during the actual Superman years….but that’s another story for another time (lowers straw hat, chews on piece of grass).

LAST SON is on Twitter now. No appliance is safe.

So I was in this…place…today and someone grabs me and says “you’ve got to see this,” pulls me around a corner and I see a huge, 7-foot tall military packing crate with one word stenciled in on the top: Kryptonite.

True story. This is my life now.

For close to a year now, we’ve had a group here in Cleveland that’s come to be known as The Siegel & Shuster Society. We’ve done some stuff, but it wasn’t until a skinny prophet (who also happened to be a NYT bestselling author) emerged from the wilderness and offered his help. His name is Brad Meltzer, and his new book “The Book of Lies,” is out today and is a fictionalized thriller built around the death of Jerry Siegel’s father. Buy it. But that’s not it. In addition to his book, Brad has unveiled a philanthropic organization called Ordinary People Change The World, with a STUNNING month-long auction of comics stuff designed to raise money to restore Jerry Siegel’s house (pictured above). Lots of other people are writing about this so go see them. It is a noble thing. And if you can’t afford some art, buy a CHIP KIDD t-shirt!! Are you kidding? For those of you who aren’t design freaks, just buy one — it is one of a kind.

Captain’s Log: When I first heard that a bestselling author with the same name as me was working on the same thing as me, I groaned and slumped (or maybe the other way around). But then I met Brad and over chicken parm and gelato we talked comics, ALF, and Megos. And I realized that none of that other stuff mattered — what mattered was not only the house and the dream of hovering school buses, but just that talking about comics and dreaming of the hopeful reality they suggest was really the good stuff. He’s a humble, great guy with big-time ideas and he’s given us a cause that everyone who’s ever been inspired to dream by a comic book is already, automatically, a part of.   Brad convinced me the cape is just for show.

And hey, if they can preserve the house of the guy who created GOOGLE, then surely we can do this…so gets with the clicking!