One of my favorite moments from the Phoenix Comicon was visiting with the lovely Julie Newmar, who continues to amaze all with her age-defying existence. When I was much younger, I — being male — appreciated Julie mainly for her jaw-dropping beauty…and certainly there was plenty there to appreciate. Eventually though, I came to realize that she was also a darned good actress in both serious roles and comedic, and as I've gotten to know her, I've discovered that she's pretty smart, too. It is rare to find all those gifts in one package.
She was brought in as a guest of the con and I was going to stop by on Friday and say howdy but I think the end of the line was somewhere in Scottsdale. People across a wide range of ages were queueing up to meet her and get an autograph, and the wait was long enough without me going up and distracting her from greeting and signing. Saturday though, a friend told me there was a brief lull there so I scurried over and spoke with her and met her brother who was assisting (I guess) with crowd control as there were usually crowds there that required controlling.
It dawned on me that another friend of mine who was at the con had told me it was a long-held dream to meet Ms. Newmar so I went and fetched Wendy Pini. You know Wendy, the beloved artist and, along with her partner/mate Richard, creator of Elfquest. I've known Wendy for over forty years…since before she met Richard, even. She is also quite lovely and smart…and lately doing things besides Elfquest. Check out the graphic novel/webcomic, Masque of the Red Death if you are of age.
So I went and asked Richard if I could borrow Wendy for a minute. He was good with it so I took her over to introduce her to Julie…and it was an instant mutual admiration society between the ladies — especially later when Ms. Pini presented Ms. Newmar with a copy of the Masque of the Red Death graphic novel. Julie thought it was wonderful.
Julie even hauled out her own camera and had someone take the above photo of the three of us — me surrounded by two fabulous babes. I wish Carolyn had been with me so I could have made it three…but she was back home working on the forthcoming Volume Three of The Complete Pogo. After that book goes to press, maybe I can take the three of them to dinner and look even classier.