It’s been a pretty awful year for creative folks I like passing away, that’s for sure. Celebrities I don’t follow aside, it’s been Ralph McQuarrie, Jean “Moebius” Giraud, Adam Yauch (MCA) and now Maurice Sendak, who died yesterday. I did this quick piece shortly after I heard the news, then I remembered that Sendak’s works were pretty cool reads because they all dealt with life’s realities in one way or another, very much unlike those shiny, happy fairytale stories where nothing bad happens, evil gets the boot and there’s a charming price coming to save the day. Bah! That said, this is turning out to be a really depressing year, even without the stupid doom-sayers and their busted Mayan calendars…