Monthly Archives: July 2009

Several news sources (like this one) are reporting that the voice cast of Futurama has signed on for the new series. Congrats to the actors…and to everyone involved with the show, since they now have a good shot at making it a success. For reasons I explained here, it was always extremely unlikely that they wouldn't make a deal with the talent…but it's always nice to get these things resolved.

Here's a report on two panels that I did at Comic-Con…two panels which miraculously turned into one long one.

Need a place to stay next time you go to Disneyland? Well, maybe you could spend the night in The Haunted Mansion…

I won't tell you what a great time I had because if you weren't there, you don't need to hear that and if you were there, you had your own great time. But I'll serialize some memories and anecdotes over the next few days.

Please, folks: I am not the Complaint Department for the Comic-Con, nor has anyone sent me a complaint with which I agree, let alone one I could do anything about. Yeah, it's crowded…and you know what? It's going to be crowded next year, too. If that's going to bother you, go somewhere else where it isn't crowded — like a Rob Schneider Film Festival or something.

That said, I do think there are a couple of things that could be done to unclog the aisles. There are always a couple of booths that stage giveaway games that seem calculated to gather a mob in the rows. Those exhibitors oughta be forced to either buy larger displays (so the fans can be within) or to stop doing that. And you could fit another thousand people in that hall if you limited the size of the giveaway bags some exhibitors give out.

We seem to have a new round of rumors that the con is moving to Las Vegas. I still do not believe that will ever happen but I'll spare you the ninety reasons why. Here's one, though: Yesterday, the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for the city, announcing that temperatures were expected to reach 113°. Meanwhile, it was 73 in San Diego.

I'm behind on all sorts of stuff so posting will be light for a while. But we'll get back to normal around here, soon. Just as soon as I figure out what "normal" is.

Tomorrow night (Wednesday), the Aero Theater in Santa Monica will be screening a new documentary, The Legends Behind the Comic Books, directed by Chip Cronkite. It's a collection of interviews with writers and artists who labored in the so-called Golden and Silver Ages of Comics.

The Aero is located at 1328 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, and the film starts at 7:30. Following it, there will be a live panel discussing the film and the era, and I will be part of that panel. After that, the Aero will conclude its double feature by screening the animated feature, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.

Earlier in the evening, there's a signing at a bookstore across the street from the Aero. I had been announced as participating in that but for personal reasons, I have withdrawn. So don't blame the store for my non-appearance. It was my decision.

Yesterday was great, even though Marv Wolfman and I wound up hosting a Gene Colan Spotlight without Gene Colan. Through some miscommunication, Gene and his wife Adrienne were still at their hotel when he was supposed to be over in Room 8 at the Convention Center, being quizzed by Marv 'n' Mark. Amazingly, it went rather well without him…or at least, almost no one left as Marv and I just talked about Gene's awesome body of work. He arrived in time for the following panel, also hosted by moi and which Marv was on, which was about comics in the seventies. Since Gene drew comics in the seventies and we still had most of the audience for the Gene Colan panel there, we folded him into that one and pressed on.

Following that, I moderated a terrific panel which gathered together Sheldon Moldoff, Jerry Robinson and Lew Sayre Schwartz, the last three surviving Bob Kane ghost artists on Batman. It was the first time all three were together, the first time Lew and Shelly met. For those of us obsessed with Golden Age history, it was Candy Store Time.

The highlight of my day was the presentation/talk by Stan and Hunter Freberg, delivered to a turnaway crowd in a nowhere-near-large-enough hall. Stan was (and remains) one of my big idols and when I'm asked in the future to rattle off my fave Comic-Con moments, don't let me forget the joy of being able to introduce him and his lovely spouse to a huge room of Freberg fans. The time ran out way before the anecdotes he was prepared to tell and we never even got to the video clips he brought, except to open with the Warner Brothers cartoon, "Three Little Bops." So I think we need to have them back. Like, every year if they can stand it.

The Eisner Awards were held this year in a new venue — a lovely ballroom over at the new Hilton Bayshore, right next to the Convention Center. The hall was better, the hors d'ouevres (I was told) were better, the mood was better…but some folks were unhappy because the cellphone reception inside was such that one could barely Twitter. Bill Morrison did his usual fine job as emcee and his wife Kayre was stunning in her role as Prize Model or whatever the proper title is for looking great and handing out statuettes. I got one but the best part for me was still Frank Jacobs of MAD Magazine accepting the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Writing, a lifetime achievement honor presented by Jerry Robinson and myself. When oh when will someone wise up and publish a collection of Frank's brilliant poems and song parodies for that mag?

Have to run and do five (ohmigod, five) panels today, starting with Quick Draw!, which is always a fun sprint to the finish line. I hope for your sake you're here at the Comic-Con today. Because if you are, you're having a real good time.

A couple times yesterday, I found myself trying to articulate just why it is I enjoy this convention so much. Me trying to articulate anything is always dicey but it goes something like this: It's invigorating to be in an environment where so much is happening, where so many people are having such a good time, and there's so much raw creative energy filling the space. Yeah, it's loud and if you hit the wrong aisle, it can take upwards up a month to traverse ten feet…but you're not a prisoner of any of that. You're in it because you love it and I'm a little weary of folks who bitch 'n' moan about it year after year after year. This is what Comic-Con is, people. No one brought you here at gunpoint.

I wouldn't/couldn't live in this environment all the time…but four days per year is invigorating. Look left and there's someone you want to meet or haven't seen in way too long. Look right and there's something you want to buy. Behind you is a kid in a brilliant homemade costume. And up ahead of you, just down that row you can barely squeeze through, there just may be an exciting career opportunity. (Or not. I think the surest way to let yourself down, and maybe even to make it not happen, is to come here expecting to land a job. If it does occur, great, but you need to let it be one of those unexpected bonuses in life.)

Years ago, I wrote a piece about Guilty Pleasures and why I think they're emotionally dishonest. There's some really stupid movie that you know is stupid but you love to watch it again and again. You're afraid to just admit that…afraid someone else will say, "Oh, you like that kind of crap?" So you call it a Guilty Pleasure and somehow you're supposed to be able to enjoy it without it counting against you. That's trying to have it both ways, which is how too many people want to have their Comic-Con. They can't wait to be here and when they leave, they can't wait for the next one. But to cut themselves away from the herd, to pretend they're somehow above what some see as geekery of the highest order, they belittle the con and join the throngs who dismiss it all as the Grand Festival of Nerd-dom. (I tried typing that with one "d" and no hyphen and it didn't look right.)

This is the 40th one of these and it's my fortieth…a fact which some seem to envy. It means I got a larger piece of cake than they did, or maybe that I found this wonderful mystical land before them. I've had my gripes with the convention and there were years there I didn't enjoy it as much as I felt I should. Those years were all before I came to realize that my problems were mostly with me; that I was approaching it with the idea that the con was there to entertain me and enrich my collection and career. When I figured out it was just a place I could have a good time — that's when I began to really have good times at these things. And I became unafraid to admit that I love this convention.

Gotta run. Four panels to do today, one of them the Stan & Hunter Freberg Spotlight, plus there's the award ceremony tonight and I'm presenting. Also, June Foray's autobiography makes its debut (and June arrives to sign it) and I have two meetings and one interview and don't you think I'd better stop blogging and get over there? If you're around, say hello. I'm easy to spot in the hall. I'm the one with the badge and the big smile.