I have read TONY'S ONLINE TIPS for a number of years now. I may not have agreed with everything you've said, but I have always found your column entertaining and informative. Lately, however, you have disappointed me.

Your most recent column [March 1] and a recent message board post indicate you pre-judged Mel Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST and hopped on the "It's anti-Semitic" bandwagon.

I'm under the impression you have yet to see the film. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I thought you knew better than to just blindly accept others' judgement of something before you see it for yourself. I had my own doubts all along that THE PASSION was actually anti-Semitic, and, now that I've seen the film, I'm still not convinced.

As near as I can tell, the movie is no more anti-Semitic than the Gospels themselves.

There are two scenes in the film that would seem to indicate that no, it is NOT anti-Semitic. One is the flashback to Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, in which he states that no one takes his life, he will give it. Indeed, if Jesus sacrificed himself for the sins of all humanity, then the Jews and Romans who were actually there were just doing their part in God's plan.

The other is where Jesus says "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." The emphasis on Caiphas in this scene indicates that Jesus is not just talking about the Roman soldiers, but the Jewish leaders who demanded his crucifixion.

I agree Gibson shouldn't excuse his father's denial of the Holocaust, but I decided not to judge the film based on that. I decided to see the film first, and then decide what I thought about it. The film is very well done, but it does assume one is already familiar with the life of Jesus going in. I also wouldn't recommend it to young children, as the cruelty and gore may be too much for them. I didn't find the violence to be gratuitous; I'm pretty sure the actual torture and crucifixion happened more or less as it is depicted in the film, and to clean it up would be to miss Gibson's point entirely.

The point, unless I'm mistaken, is that Jesus went through torment no sane person should wish on anybody, all to save humanity from its sins.

Anyway, I'm disappointed that you appear to have decided the film is anti-Semitic without seeing it for yourself first.

I'm not one of "the right." I believe Bush has more important things to worry about than gay marriage. However, just because "the right" is wrong doesn't make everything that "the left" says right. Think before repeating the judgmental statements others make, even if the others are people you have great respect for. And before you pass judgement on any film, TV show, or comic, be sure to see it for yourself and make your own judgments afterward.

I didn't want to be the one to say this, but I felt I had to. If at all possible, please address my objections in a later column. If I'm jumping to conclusions myself (as I'm accusing you of), then at least try to set the record straight.

This is an attempt to list significant events in the history of DC Comics in as chronological order as possible. Most dates are the cover dates from the comics themselves. It should be recognized these dates tend to be two months after the actual release date. Other dates come from various published sources and have varying degrees of precision. Everything is relative. No attempt is made to list everything that ever happened. More detailed information is contained in the various works cited in the bibliography. Non-DC comics events listed are included because of their relevance to the history of DC Comics, not to their own companies. An attempt has been made to refer to the company by the appropriate name in each period. This is not an attempt to explain super-hero continuity. There are other web sites that do that. All opinions given are mine and probably can't be changed. Factual errors will be thankfully corrected.

Just FYI, Rufus Dayglo *is* Rufus Dayglo's real name, as far as I'm aware. I also understand that Rufus has a remarkable set of tattoos - the head of Judge Dredd as drawn by each major artist to have worked on the character! Thanks as ever for your interesting and perceptive reviews!