Memorial

R.I.P William R. Davis, Jr.

I first met William R. Davis Jr. quite by accident almost twenty years ago. William, Rick D as we called him back in the day, was rooming at Ball State University with Brian, one of my buddies from high school.

One weekend my buddy, Saint Swantner, and I went down to Muncie to visit Brian. Brian, Saint, myself, and a few other people spent the evening getting hammered and other things crazy college kids are known to do. I eventually passed out on Brian’s couch but was awoken by their landline (that’s right kids…pre-cellular device) ringing at three in the morning. I had no intention of answering my buddies phone, let alone while half drunk at 3 a.m., but it never stopped ringing. I’m not exaggerating when I say it literally rang right by my head for at least fifteen minutes.

Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and picked up the receiver.

“Hello?”, I asked.

“Who is this?”, a strangers voice fired back.
And the rest is history...

It turns out it was William, calling from some random cubicle where he was working as the campus telephone operator.
He was tripping balls, alone in that cubicle, and it was freaking him out. I remember we talked about comics, music, movies, and everything else under the Sun. We talked until his shift was over.

If you knew William, that probably doesn’t surprise you, but if you know me it probably does. I don’t like people and especially don’t like talking to people I don’t know. In fact I’ll go out of my way to avoid people in general, but not William.

William loved the art of conversation and was unquestionably the best listener I have ever met. He also gave everyone the benefit of the doubt and could find the good in anyone. Qualities I am seriously lacking in.
In truth our first conversation never ended. Twenty years later we were still having that conversation about comics, music, and movies.
Little did I know before I answered that phone I would gain a friend for life.

Life happened, as it tends to do, and we lost contact for a few years after the Muncie crowd graduated and went their separate ways.
Then on September 11th, 2011, my phone rang.

“Hello?”, I asked.

“Is this Madman?” the mysterious caller responded.

“Yeah.”, I replied.

“This is Rick D. I’m going to start a site and review comic books. Do you want in?”

That was it.
That’s how the Hammond Comics Blog was birthed.
From then on we talked everyday about comics and just about any other thing dudes talk about. More than anything I will miss our neverending conversation. I don’t recall exactly how long it was before Will D. joined the blog, but we never stopped the conversation, Will just joined in along with Art Bee.

The HCB has been evolving ever since that random phone call and William was extremely proud of what it has become. Even after he had to quit actually writing for the blog, he continued to support us, and the conversation never ceased.
It is rare to meet someone with as much passion as William had, not just for comics, but for absolutely everything in his life, and I really do mean everything.

William was one of the good ones; generous beyond belief, funny as hell, full of adventure, larger than life, and a truly amazing human being. Simply, he was the best of us.

Much love, William. Rest in peace, my friend.

Written by Cody "Madman" Miller