Another photo from my new stash. This one was taken at the first banquet of the group I co-founded (with Don Rico and Sergio Aragonés), the Comic Art Professional Society. The date on the slide is 1979.
The man on the left is Mike Sekowsky, who drew the early issues of Justice League of America and who handled Wonder Woman during the only period I ever found it readable. Mike did countless other comics of all varieties. He was one of the fastest, most dynamic comic artists of all time and he had a wicked sense of humor. Like many comic artists of his generation, he fell into the niche of drawing the kinds of things that publishers wanted (or thought they wanted), rather than what his muse told him to draw. If he'd listened to her, he might have been a great black humorist in the mold of Charles Addams. Or something.
And on the right, we have Rick Hoberg, another artist I've enjoyed working with and just having as a friend. I worked with Rick when he was just starting out, which was a few years before this picture was taken. It was fun watching him just get better and better.
This dinner was held at the Sportsmen's Lodge, a place in Studio City that recently shut down its formidable banquet facilities. I was in charge of the arrangements and when it came time to decide on an entree, I made the mistake of bringing the menu in to a meeting so everyone could vote on what we'd eat. Believe me…you don't want to ever do this. If you're ever arranging a banquet, just pick something you think most people will like and go with it. You don't want to go through the arguments and debates.
Our wealthier members wanted the most expensive dinner and proclaimed it demeaning to our field to have anything less. Having filet mignon made the statement that we thought cartoonists and comic book artists were worthy of filet mignon. Meanwhile, our poorer members said, in effect, "If you have filet mignon, we won't be able to attend…so you're saying that you don't want us." One member who was allergic to asparagus felt that if we picked that as the side dish, it was our way of saying that all his hard work for the organization was unappreciated. Another member started lecturing everyone on the inhumanity of veal.
On and on it went, way longer than the topic deserved, which should have been in the ten minute range. I don't remember how long it took or what we wound up with but it was a bad compromise. We'd made it to the stage where it was obvious we couldn't please everyone so to keep the peace, we opted for something that pleased no one. It was the first time in my life I was acutely aware that, yes, there is such a thing as Too Much Democracy.