Matt Taibbi writes about Capital Punishment and then segues to Racism. I think there are more analogies between those two topics than even he draws.
• Posted Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 8:07 AM · LINK
Comic-Con Memories
Super Retailer Joe Ferrara took this pic of Comedy Legend Chuck McCann posing with the three cartoonists who competed in Quick Draw! at the Comic-Con on Saturday. The three fast 'n' funny sketchers were, left to right, Sergio Aragonés, William Stout and Scott Shaw, who spells his name "Scott Shaw!" with the exclamation point.
We had a great Quick Draw! panel at the con on Saturday. Quick Draw! is always great...and I can say that because it's not great because of me. We get three speedy cartoonists and I throw challenges at them and more than 2000 people watch as they draw and howl with laughter.
Here's one thing that happened there. Our cartoonists onstage were Sergio Aragonés, William Stout and Scott Shaw. I then brought three more up: Katie Cook, Sam Viviano and Tom Richmond. The idea was that one cartoonist would draw the top half of someone — a character, a monster, an alien, an animal, whatever — and then we'd cover over that drawing. Another cartoonist, who hadn't seen what the first one drew, would then draw the bottom half of the "someone" without having any idea what the top half was. Then we'd uncover the two halves and see what resulted. Here is one of the drawings done that way. Tom Richmond, who is the star caricaturist in the new generation of MAD, drew this...
We then covered Tom's drawing — everything but the belt — and had Sergio draw the bottom half. Remember now: Sergio had no idea what Tom had drawn...
Once Sergio was done, we unveiled the joint creation...
See? That's how it's done!
• Posted Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 11:52 PM · LINK
Uncut Palin
During the last presidential election, Sarah Palin did a couple of interviews in which she seemed so clueless that...well, she pretty much gave up doing interviews with anyone who'd be more probing than Sean Hannity. Of the interviews that caused her to retreat, she has sometimes claimed that they were edited to make her look bad...especially that ABC one with Charlie Gibson where, among other failings, she didn't seem to know what the Bush Doctrine was. She claimed that again recently and in response, ABC has released the full, unedited transcript of their two taping sessions. Palin actually comes across a little smarter in some of the exchanges that didn't make air...but those also don't make news, which is why they don't make air. In short, she was edited the way all those things are edited.
I'll be writing more here about my panels at Comic-Con in the days to come but here's a little taste. This is from Sunday's Cartoon Voice Actor panel...me introducing the legendary Janet Waldo. The fellow you see seated next to her is my co-host, Earl Kress...
I've been waiting to see what Fred Kaplan had to say about the recent dump of documents relating to what's really happened with the War in Afghanistan. Here he is.
A friend of mine who didn't attend Comic-Con this year wrote, "I hope you're not going to fill your blog with stuff about what a great time you had." Well, yes, I am. (This same friend, who once thought George W. Bush was the greatest president ever, writes me similar notes about how it's cruel of me to remind him how that played out.) I couldn't have had a much better time in San Diego this year. The paucity of posts here was because every minute was filled with something fun to do, usually just conversing with a good chum or a great talent.
I continue to be amazed at how little goes wrong at these conventions. I've been going to cons, good and bad, for four decades now and I think I know a little about how difficult they are to organize and how many disasters can occur. Even when things go wrong at Comic-Con International, the crew knows what to do, how to do it, how to keep things running smoothly. That was one thing that was often on my mind this year. Another was a new (to me) way of looking at the attendees...
This may sound odd but I think an awful lot of folks who show up at this event do not come, at least primarily, because they're interested in comics or cartoons or in the movies and TV shows being promoted. I think their main impetus to be surrounded by all the creativity and talent. There's an energy in the building that is infectious: All those artists, all those writers, all those performers. Everywhere you look, someone has created something. It can be as basic as a guy in the Small Press Area who's self-publishing new comics of his new characters...or it can be the next (maybe) movie blockbuster that's going to take your head off in ways that your head has never been removed before.
Obviously, a lot of those who are already writing, drawing or otherwise creating walk in that door and get something out of the experience...and not just some promotion or a key business contact. I just wonder how many people who aren't already creating stories or visuals in some medium go home from Comic-Con determined to start. I'll bet a lot.
In posts to come, I'll be doing more of what my absent friend asked that I not do and I'll tell you more about my panels and adventures. Right now, I leave you with one of many favorite moments of the last few days. It occurred when I was in a men's room. Behind me by the sinks, I heard an adult male voice say, "Wash your hands." And then I heard a rather young male voice reply, "I'm Harry Potter. I don't have to wash my hands."
And by the time I turned to look, there was a twelve-year-old boy...dressed as Harry Potter and washing his hands. I don't know why that struck me so funny but it did.
