Monthly Archives: May 2005

I shoulda mentioned that the new DC logo was designed by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios, and that the 70's version was the work of Milton Glaser, who's been responsible for some of the most memorable insignias in the field of graphic arts.

The earlier version went through several incarnations before it became the version I posted in the previous message, but I believe most of them were the work of Ira Schnapp, who was the in-house lettering genius at DC Comics or National Comics or whatever you want to call it. Mr. Schnapp also designed most of the famous logos, including the Superman one we all know and love.

As explained in this New York Times article, DC Comics is changing its logotype, effective later this month. Can't say as how I like the new one, which is seen at right in the above illo…but then, it took me at least a decade to get used to the one in the middle, which they introduced in the mid-seventies. I grew up on the one at the left and it will always spell Home to a lot of us, even if we could never quite figure out what it suggested the name of the company was — DC Comics? Superman-DC Comics? Superman-DC-National Comics? For that matter, since "DC" once stood for one of the firm's first publications, Detective Comics, you could say that the company name didn't make sense in most of its forms. It sort of stood for Detective Comics Comics, the way "The La Brea Tar Pits" translates to "The The Tar Tar Pits."

What I suspect is unmentioned in the Times article is the significance of what's unmentioned in the logo: Comics. The word wasn't in the 70's logo either, but it didn't have to be because back then, all it was really used for was comic books. That was the only business DC was in. Today, the entity we think of as DC is the division of Time-Warner that has the primary control of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, et al, and — oh, yeah — they also publish comic books of them and try to develop new properties in other comic books. Eventually, I'd wager, everyone will refer to the company/division as plain ol' DC…and then even that name will probably be deprecated in favor of Time-Warner or even Cartoon Network. (Just try and find the name "Hanna-Barbera" on a current Scooby Doo project.) DC is jazzing up with a new logo but what they're also doing is leaving the old logo, which was synonymous with comic books, behind. I'll bet they didn't even think of putting the word "comics" in this one.

But hey, I can live with it. Just wish the "C" didn't look so much like a "G."

I generally like Hillary Clinton. I continue to be amazed at the sheer hatred (some of it, outright misogyny) that she inspires in people who think it is beyond any question that she is guilty of all those accusations that no one could ever prove. I also think that most of us will live to see Republicans backing a system of National Health Care not unlike the one they all condemned her for advancing.

Nevertheless, I tend to agree with Joe Klein that I don't want to see her run for president in '08, and for most of the same reasons. This is not to say I have any better candidates in mind.

Tom Spurgeon offers some fine tips for attending the Comic-Con International in (gulp) sixty-seven days.

Which is what I am. Before I pole vault into bed, I'd like to thank all the folks who've written with good thoughts about my mother. She's doing still better, thank you…plus, I seem to be straightening things out with that medical supply outfit.

It's very annoying, when one is complaining about poor service, to keep talking to people who have no power to do anything but apologize. I don't need apologies from anonymous folks. I need action to be taken. The other day, in one of the few conversations I've had with someone who might actually be able to solve problems, I went through a laundry list of things that had been done wrong and then said, "You know, I'd be embarrassed to have this much inefficiency in my line of work…and I write cartoons for a living. Nobody dies if I screw up." I think that made a bit of an impression. At least, things got better after that.

Part of my mother's recovery involves treating her for Sleep Apnea, a condition which I also have. Several years ago, I wrote this article about it and now it seems to run in the family. And by the way, if you suffer from this, live in or around the Los Angeles area and have a prescription for the equipment, I would like to recommend my supplier. Home Respiratory Care, which is reachable at (310) 441-4640, came to my rescue when the Big Name Medical Supplier dropped the ball. The folks there are wonderful. I went through two other companies before I found them so I know what "not wonderful" is. The folks at H.R.C. are wonderful.

Thanks also to all who sent suggestions for a new dial-up Internet Connection. I'm trying one out in the next few days and I'll report back here if they turn out to be wonderful, as well.

Several people have written to ask if I'll be moderating my usual dozen-or-so panels at this year's Comic-Con International…an event that commences in (gasp, shudder) sixty-seven days. Yes, of course. Can't tell you what all of them will be yet but there will be the usual Cartoon Voice Panel, this time with some folks who've never been on one before. We'll be playing Quick Draw, and there will be a Golden/Silver Age Panel and a Jack Kirby Tribute Panel and I think I'm going to be hosting a panel on one of the greatest pieces of animation ever done for TV. I'll also be interviewing a number of top veteran comic book creators…and I should be able to give you a list here in a couple of weeks. So don't write and ask me what they'll be and, for the love of Paris Hilton, don't ask me where you can get a hotel room. What do I look like? Travelaxe? (If they can't help you, nobody can.)

Hey, does anyone have a copy they don't want of Rowan Atkinson Live? I'm looking for the stand-up special he did several years ago…the one with the sketch about the schoolmaster who beats students to death and the sketch about the ungracious award accepter and the one where he plays the Devil welcoming people to Hell. It came out on VHS and ran 300,000 times on Comedy Central…but I never got a copy and I'd like to find one and dub it over to DVD. There's a very funny man.

One thought before beddy-bye: Is it my imagination or did the following just happen in this country? George W. Bush ran around saying that we have a Social Security crisis because we will eventually have to reduce benefits by about 20%. So to fix it, he's proposing a new, much more expensive plan that will cut benefits by about 20%.

Is that about what happened? Naw, couldn't have. I must need sleep. G'night.

Frank Rich does another one of those columns on why contemporary journalism sucks.

Late tonight (or early tomorrow morn, if you're the kind of person who sees a glass as half-full instead of half-empty), NBC is running the fifth episode of Saturday Night Live. It was performed on November 15, 1975 and was guest hosted by Robert Klein. It's not one of the stronger early shows. Klein does two solid stand-up spots and performs his "I Can't Stop My Leg" number with the SNL Band. In addition to that, there are two musical guests — Loudon Wainwright III and ABBA. Wainwright's a great performer — and he's still out there, still touring — but I would guess the main interest here would be ABBA. They sing "S.O.S." early in the show and near the end, they return for "Waterloo."

What's interesting is that Robert Klein is largely disconnected from the episode. He's only in one or two sketches in the whole 90 minutes. The week before, guest host Candice Bergen was well integrated into the proceedings, appearing in bits and playing characters. You'd think Klein — who came out of Second City and who had impeccable credentials as an improv and comedy performer — would have fit neatly in with the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. The second time he hosted — two years later — he did. But the first time, for the most part, he does his turns and they do theirs. The following week, the host was Lily Tomlin and she was in almost every sketch.

Early in the show's existence, NBC really wanted to have a regular host. The execs there knew that Lorne Michaels' idea of a different host each week would never sustain in the long run, and they were just waiting for the right host to emerge. My understanding is that a lot of folks upstairs were assuming it would turn out to be Klein, who really seemed ideal: Strong in stand-up, strong in sketches, and he had that "crossover" appeal, meaning that younger viewers liked him but he didn't alienate the oldsters. Like I said though, the episode was weak. Klein, for some reason, didn't seem to meld with the program and they didn't have him back for a while. On the other hand, they booked Candice Bergen to host again a few weeks later, in part because some of the brass still thought she could be the regular host. Somehow, no one ever got the post — John Goodman, notwithstanding — and the show has done just fine.

I wish NBC was running these in sequence because it would be an easier way to study the show's evolution. Next week, they're running one from later in the first season, hosted by Dyan Cannon — also not a great episode, as I recall.

One of the great TV comedy writers, Herb Sargent, died this morning at the age of 81. Mr. Sargent had a long list of credits, some of which are itemized in this obit, but two biggies were That Was the Week That Was and the original Saturday Night Live. When Lorne Michaels assembled his first writing staff, he hired a lot of creative people who'd never written television before…plus one guy who had to show them how it was done. Herb Sargent was that one guy, and he was widely credited with teaching everyone there how to write and sharpen a script.

The last fourteen years, he had served as President of the Writers Guild of America, East. As you may know, WGAe is currently involved in a Tong War with the Writers Guild of America, West. Sargent was at the nexus of that battle and its associated lawsuits, and I'll bet no one has the slightest idea how his passing will impact matters except that, knowing the way WGA squabbles usually go, it'll probably make things worse.

Took the lovely Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Maltin to see the May edition of Totally Looped, a clever show of improv comedy that is done but once a month up in Hollywood. Here's a report I filed eleven months ago about this fun enterprise. Everything I said then is still true, especially the parts about it being very funny. You can find out about the June performance and all thereafter at the Totally Looped website, which looks a lot like this.

Over on Salon, Joe Conason summarizes the recently-unearthed British memo that sure seems to prove there was a lot of lying done to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq. You may (I'm not sure) need to register or watch ads to read the whole article but here's a taste…

What the minutes clearly show is that Bush and Blair secretly agreed to wage war for "regime change" nearly a year before the invasion — and months before they asked the United Nations Security Council to support renewed weapons inspections as an alternative to armed conflict. The minutes also reveal the lingering doubts over the legal and moral justifications for war within the Blair government.

It's kind of amazing how the standards keep changing for what constitutes a scandal in this country. They investigated Travelgate but they won't investigate this.

As announced in this news release, I have agreed to be part of a five-person "jury" (along with Denny O'Neil, Jules Feiffer, Roy Thomas and Jerry Robinson) that will decide on a new trophy — the Bill Finger Award, to be presented at this year's Comic-Con International and every one thereafter. Jerry convinced the necessary folks that it would be a good idea to honor someone for a lifetime contribution to the art/craft (take your pick) of writing comic books. It's also, of course, a good way to remember the late Mr. Finger, who wrote an awful lot of comics that were much better than his financial compensation indicated…plus, we can all make "finger" jokes. I think it's long overdue.

If you belonged to the old Merry Marvel Marching Society in the sixties, or if you longed to belong, you might enjoy Terrence Brady's article on that august organization. For those who don't know, the M.M.M.S. was a mail order deal where you could "join" (i.e., buy a membership kit for) the official fan club for Marvel Comics. There was a certain charm to the endeavor, courtesy of Stan Lee, even though the Merry Marvel Marchers never marched anywhere.

Also, fans of that era's Marvel Comics may be interested in Fred Hembeck's current column. In it, I correct him about a 1964 Marvel oddment and prove that there's nothing too trivial for some of us comic buffs.

In other news, Al Nickerson is posting a series of articles about The Creator's Bill of Rights, a 1988 brainstorm by a number of prominent comic book makers. My feeling about it, then as now, is that I agree totally with the goal and overall mission, but not necessarily with the methodology. (And I'm not sure I don't feel the same way about ACTOR, a charity set up to aid veteran comic book creators who are financially struggling.)

Many moons ago, there was a 78 RPM novelty record performed by Larry Vincent and the Pearl Boys entitled "Sarah Sitting in a Shoeshine Shop." Dr. Demento plays it every other decade but I'm looking for a copy — like, an MP3 file — for a friend. Anyone got one? I need the whole thing, not the 30 second excerpt that floats around the Internet.

The other night, Jay Leno's musical guest was Bright Eyes, singing a rather amazing song — amazing because it was allowed on network TV, I suppose. "When the President Talks to God" isn't much of a tune. There's very little melody and the ends of most lines feel like they should rhyme but don't. Still, it's kind of startling to hear someone go after George W. Bush that way…and on a show that's sufficiently Establishment that it welcomed the First Lady to its guest chair just a few nights earlier. You can view an online video of the number here.

Someone who did wrote me the following message…

I was amazed that Leno had him on to do that song and I got the feeling that Leno didn't want him there. Jay introduced the song and then you can see him getting up right away like he was walking out on it. Am I imagining something?

Yeah. Neither Leno nor Letterman — nor any current talk show host I can imagine — has on guests they don't want. Once upon a time, Dick Cavett was occasionally forced by ABC (which, in turn, was forced by the Nixon White House) to book certain guests for political messaging. In Cavett's case, it was sometimes a gent named Brent Bozell whose son of the same name, three decades later, is also making a nice living arguing that all news items unfavorable to Conservatives are biased reporting. But no, Bright Eyes would not have been on Leno's show doing that song unless Jay was comfortable with it.

What confused you was that the way the Tonight Show set is constructed, the performing area is way off to one side, so if Jay's behind his desk, he can't see the musical act well, and they can't see that he's watching at all. So he makes a point of always getting up and walking over to just in front of the last guest spot on the couch and standing there during the performance. I've seen him do this every time I've been at a taping. He was getting up to go watch Bright Eyes, not to walk out on him.

If you know what's good for you, don't click on this link.

(If that doesn't work, don't try this one.)