Monthly Archives: July 2017

A number of e-mails this morning are asking me where on my site they can find the story about how June Foray helped my mother get an eye examination. The whole post can be found here but here's a truncated version of it…

During the last decade of my mother's life, her eyes and legs increasingly failed her. In-between those parts of her anatomy, there were occasional problems like Congestive Heart Failure but the eyes and the legs were the ongoing problems.  There were long stretches when her heart was fine but her eyes and legs were awry every waking minute.

Her doctors told her that if she would just stop smoking, both would get better…or at least, wouldn't continue to worsen at the pace by which they were worsening. She cut back on the Marlboros but didn't stop until a few months before her passing, by which point it almost didn't matter. One wrenching day about a year before she passed, I took her to an ophthalmologist appointment where she was asked, rather matter-of-factly, if she had or needed a document certifying that she was legally blind.

I can still hear her soft, stunned voice as she repeated, as if the term had never occurred to her, "legally blind." She could see but not much more than about two feet in front of her…and not well enough to read a book or make out my face unless our noses were practically touching.

Her eyes had been deteriorating for some time. Macular degeneration, they told her. And then one day while out with our mutual cleaning lady, my mother fell and sustained a big scratch on the retina of what had up until that moment been her "good eye." From that point on, she had to rely on her "bad eye" and worry that it would fail and leave her totally without sight.

Still, hearing those words — "legally blind" — came as a shock. Well, why wouldn't they?

She had what seemed like a most competent ophthalmologist at Kaiser Hospital — not the person who asked the above question — and he struck me as properly balancing compassion with honest assessment of her situation. Some of the other eye doctors she saw there were a bit clumsy with their wordage but they told her the same thing; that her vision would continue to deteriorate. Certain treatments (like shots in the eye, which she hated) might slow things down but if she lived long enough, she would one day be totally, not just legally, blind. One of the things that tempered my sorrow at her death was the knowledge that she was approaching that day and she dearly wanted to go before it arrived.

The only thing I didn't like about her main ophthalmologist wasn't his fault. It was how little attention he could spare us as he handled some ridiculous number of patients per hour. We always had to spend long stretches in the waiting room, well past her appointment time. Then we'd finally be shown into Examining Room A while he was examining a patient in Examining Room B. Then he'd come into our room and attend to my mother while nurses loaded his next patient into B. Back and forth he'd go between the rooms, unable to spend enough quality time with anyone. At the end of each examination, he'd ask my mother, "Any questions?" And if she didn't come up with one in two seconds, he'd be out the door and on his way to the next patient.

How I dealt with this: By blocking the exit.

I'm 6'3" and something of a wide load. When the doctor came into the room, I'd subtly move to a spot between him and the exit, the better to prevent his escape before my mother had a chance to ask all her questions. The doctor knew exactly what I was doing and didn't really mind it.  Once when I finally let him go, I heard him tell the patient in the adjoining room, "Sorry to keep you waiting but the patient I was just with…her son was blocking the door and wouldn't let me out."

But once he got past me. I wasn't in position and he gave my mother a half-second to ask him anything before he said, "Exit, stage left!" and headed for the room next door.

"Oh, a Snagglepuss fan," I remarked.

He stopped and said, "You know Snagglepuss?"

My mother said — in a dry delivery that Walter Matthau would have envied — "My son knows every cartoon ever made."

The doctor eyed me with skepticism. "Oh, yeah? What was the name of Jonny Quest's dog?"

I said, "Bandit. Hey, do you think my mother should be taking Lutein?"

He said, "Can't hurt to try" and he recommended a dosage. Then he asked me, "What was the name of the Jetsons' dog?"

I said, "Astro and his real name was Tralfaz. Hey, how about Vitamin D? You think that would do anything for her?"

That was how it went, not only on that visit but every one after that. Instead of giving us the minimum time, he'd keep others waiting and we'd talk about two topics: Cartoons and my mother's eyes. I'd trade him info for info. Sometimes, he had actual questions about the industry. Other times, he just wanted to see if he could stump me. Once, he tried the latter by asking, "On the Dungeons 'n' Dragons cartoon show, what was the name of the blonde kid who was their leader?"

I told him it was Hank. He told me I was wrong and that it was Frank. I told him it was Hank and added, "By the way, if you watch that show, you'll see my name in the end credits. I wrote the pilot for it." Whack!

But that wasn't my favorite exchange. My favorite was when he asked me where Bullwinkle Moose went to college. I told him it was "Wottsamotta U." He told me I was wrong. "Aha! I finally got you! It was Moosylvania University!"

I told him he was wrong. He told me he was right. I told him he was wrong. He told me he was right. I told him he was wrong. He told me he was right.

I offered to bet him.

The offer was this: If he was right, I'd give him a DVD of any cartoon show he named. Any one. If I was right, he'd give my mother a half-hour of his time. We'd come back at the end of the day after all his other appointments and he'd spend thirty solid minutes discussing things we might try to help her vision. He said, "It's a deal…but how are you going to prove it?"

Easy. I whipped out my cell phone and dialed a number. A woman answered and I asked her, "May I speak to Rocky the Flying Squirrel, please?" The ophthalmologist stared at me like I was…well, trying to phone an imaginary cartoon character about ten fries short of a Happy Meal. When a very familiar voice came on the line, I said, "Hi, Rocky. It's Mark Evanier. How's the weather in Frostbite Falls, today? Great. Hey, listen. I have a friend here. Would you please tell him where your friend Bullwinkle went to college? Here he is —!"

And I handed the phone to the eye doctor. You should have seen his face when Rocky said, "Hokey Smokes! Everyone knows Bullwinkle was a proud graduate of Wottsamotta U!" There are many advantages to knowing June Foray and that was one of them.

My mother, who understood exactly what was going on, got hysterical. I used to make her laugh a lot but I think that was the all-time best. And the doctor was not displeased about losing our little wager. He stumbled around his office for some time after in a happy daze, telling everyone, "You won't believe who I just talked to!"

June Foray died this morning, just 54 days shy of what would have been her 100th birthday. This was not unexpected. I saw her just six weeks ago and she was very small and very frail and just about ready to go. Her sister had died not long before and her brother-in-law died shortly after that visit.

She was, of course, the premier female voice talent of her era. I don't know who the runner-up was but whoever it was, she was in a distant second in terms of hours logged voicing cartoons and commercials, dubbing movies, doing narration, appearing on radio shows and records…even providing the voice for talking dolls. A few years ago when Earl Kress and I assisted her with her autobiography, we foolishly thought we could whip up a near-complete list of everything she'd done. Not in this world possible. I know more of June's credits than most people and I'd be surprised if I know 10% of it.

She was Rocky the Flying Squirrel. She was Natasha Fatale. She was Nell Fenwick. She was Jokey Smurf. She was Cindy Lou Who. She was Granny, owner of Tweety. She was Witch Hazel. She was Chatty Cathy. She was thousands of others.

Most of all, she was June Foray, a talented workaholic who for decades, drove into Hollywood every weekday early in the morning and went from recording session to recording session until well after dark. Everyone hired her because she was always on time, always professional and what she did was always good. It was her good friend, director Chuck Jones who said, "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc is the male June Foray."

June Foray was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on September 18, 1917. The talent she exhibited at an early age was encouraged by her parents and by age 12, she was appearing on local radio dramas playing children's parts. By 15, she was working steadily on a wide array of series and was playing roles that were often older — much older than she was.

When she finally graduated high school, her family moved to Los Angeles, California so that June could break into national radio, which she did in no time. A short list of the programs on which she was heard would include The Cavalcade of America, A Date With Judy, Sherlock Holmes (with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce), Mayor of the Town (with Lionel Barrymore), The Whistler, The Billie Burke Show, The Rudy Vallee Show, Stars Over Hollywood, The Al Pearce Show, This is My Best (with Orson Welles), Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge, Baby Snooks (with Fanny Brice), Dr. Christian (with Jean Hersholt), I Deal in Crime (with Bill Gargan), Jack Haley's Sealtest Village Store, Glamour Manor (with Kenny Baker), Phone Again Finnegan (with Stu Erwin), The Charlie McCarthy Show (with Edgar Bergen), The Dick Haymes Show, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Bob Hope Show, The Penny Singleton Show, Presenting Charles Boyer, Tex Williams's All-Star Western Theater, Red Ryder, The Screen Directors' Playhouse, The Screen Guild Theatre, The Lux Radio Theater, The Great Gildersleeve, My Favorite Husband (with Lucille Ball), Richard Diamond: Private Detective (with Dick Powell), and Martin Kane, Private Eye. She was a regular on the popular comedy series, Smile Time, which introduced her longtime friend Steve Allen to much of America.

When television came along, June was there with roles on Johnny Carson's first TV series, Carson's Cellar, and dozens of other programs including Andy's Gang, where she worked with the man she'd soon marry, Hobart Donavan. They were married until his death in 1976.

Experts disagree as to when June did her first animation work. She usually cites the role of the cat Lucifer in Disney's Cinderella (1950) and she did much work for Mr. Disney, both in front of the microphone and also posing occasionally as a model to aid the animators. In 1955, she began voicing dozens of characters for Warner Brothers cartoons and then in 1959 came Rocky and His Friends, the show on which she first played Rocky the Flying Squirrel. In fact, she not only voiced the plucky squirrel but most of the female (and even a few male) voices for the many cartoon shows produced by Jay Ward.

June was in fact heard in the cartoons of every major animation producer located on the West Coast for years, including MGM, UPA, Walter Lantz and Hanna-Barbera. She continued to work in animation well into her nineties and in 2012 won her first Emmy Award for her role as Mrs. Cauldron, a witch seen around the world on The Garfield Show. Some claim that victory made her the oldest performer to ever win an Emmy. She was later awarded an honorary one.

Her voice was also heard on hundreds of live-action TV shows, including Baretta, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Green Acres and The Twilight Zone. For the latter, she was the voice of "Talky Tina" in a memorable episode that called for June to play the evil side of the popular talking doll she voiced for Mattel Toys, Chatty Cathy. She has been heard (but not seen) in dozens of motion pictures including Jaws, Bells Are Ringing, The Hospital and The Comic.

June was active in the film community, having founded the Los Angeles chapter of Association Internationale du Film d'Animation (the International Animated Film Association) and serving multiple terms on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She was also a wonderful lady and someone I loved dearly. A lot of us are going to spend the rest of our lives bragging unashamedly that we got to know and/or work with June Foray.

Republicans have this problem: They've promised to repeal Obamacare but repeal means replace and they've never come up with an alternative that the Republicans in Congress can get behind, let alone one which will please most of America. Some G.O.P. reps demand little or no government-directed health care. Others, if only because they're afraid of being lynched by their constituents, want the kind of thing Trump promised but now doesn't care about: Cheaper, better, covering everyone, etc. No one can design a plan to appease both factions so the latest strategy, as Jonathan Chait explains, is to punt and delay having to come up with one.

Donald Trump says Amazon is a monopoly that pays no taxes. Politifact says that's a Pants-On-Fire Lie.

G.O.P. voters think courts should punish "biased" media — which these days pretty much means anyone who prints anything they don't want to believe is so. Such voters also think Trump won the popular vote and I'm guessing some of them think Elvis is alive and hiding out with Hitler on the set of the fake moon landing.

Trump's military ban on transgender people is not going over well with a lot of politicians and sectors of the public. Carly Sitrin has more.

Matt Yglesias reminds us that Trump demands loyalty from others but gives none back. Trump is all about advancing the interests of Trump…not the country, not the party, not even the issues. Just Trump. What's good for General Bullmoose is good for the U.S.A.

Conservative pundit Rod Dreher thinks Trump is showing signs of mental and emotional instability. Considering some of the looneys Dreher has backed, that's quite an admission.

Lastly for now: Daniel Larison says Trump is trying to renege on the Iran nuclear deal. Larison also thinks this would be a disastrous move that would make war a lot likelier and deadlier. Lovely.

You'll have to click on the above photo to see it enlarged but when you do, you'll see almost all the folks we had on this year's Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel which kicked off my Sunday. Here we go, left to right, starting with those standing: Athena Finger (granddaughter of Bill) is in front of Kurt Busiek, then there's me, Brent Anderson, Walt Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Jim Chadwick, Dan DiDio and Paul S. Levine.  Seated are Mike Royer, Louise Simonson, Marv Wolfman and Mike Thibodeaux.  The empty chair at one point contained Paul Levitz but he had to leave so we'll say it was for Elijah the Prophet, who I know to have been a huge fan of resurrection, bringing down fire from the sky, and Jack Kirby.

Paul S. Levine is the lawyer for the Rosalind Kirby Trust, which some folks mistakenly refer to as "The Kirby Estate." We also in the audience had Jack's daughter Lisa and three Kirby grandkids — Tracy, Jillian and Jeremy. And boy, we all had a good time.

I love this panel because I love talking about Jack. He was a wonderful man and if you think he was just a comic book artist — or even just a writer-artist — then you don't, as they say, know Jack. He was more like an industry catalyst, a guy who was always striving to "take comics to the next level," which was a phrase I just have heard from him fifty times. We talked about him Sunday morn for 75 minutes, which is enough time to barely scratch the topic. Many of those on the panel spoke of his influence on them — and not just in their earlier days but presently and ongoing.

I dashed from that panel in 5AB to 6A for Cartoon Voices II. Here's a pic of three of the gifted actors from that panel…

We had a little problem getting Chuck into the room thanks to a Security Person who reminded me of a Groo story we once did in which Groo is told to not let anyone cross a certain bridge and being pretty stupid, he refuses to let anyone cross, including the people who hired him after they tell him the guard job is over. This Security Guy refused to let anyone in a certain door including the moderator of the panel (me) and an 81-year-old show business legend (Chuck) — and he was pretty damned rude about it.

The following does not apply to all of those who work security at the convention. It probably doesn't even apply to 98% but there are people in this world who, once you give them the tiniest bit of power, become crazed with it. Something deep inside them allows arrogance and contempt for others to override the common sense that they need to do their job properly.

Years ago, I was invited to do a "ride along" in a Las Vegas police patrol car. It was supposed to be all night but it wound up being less than an hour because of a major emergency call which they felt they could not take me to, so I was dropped off near a casino where I could grab a cab back to my own hotel. Before that happened, the patrolmen and I had a nice conversation about the image of police officers. Both said that in their experience, that's what creates "bad cops" — that inner desire to just boss people around. One officer said, "They can usually conceal it long enough to get the job but once they get it, it comes out. They start giving people orders just because they can…and that's their answer to every problem — order people to obey like puppets."

Thinking back, the only negative moments I had in 4.5 days at the con were because of folks like that.  When we got there, my friend Amber and I were told we couldn't go into the hall where our badges were waiting for us because we weren't wearing badges.  A guard earlier in the day had reportedly done that to a senior official of the convention so I would imagine that will be corrected.  Admittedly, this is a minor gripe and I have absolutely no major ones about the convention.  Then again, I wasn't trying to get into Hall H.

We got Chuck in and of course, he was delightful on the panel.  In addition to Bob Joles and Neil Kaplan, we had Nickie Bryar and Debra Wilson up there for a program that went so quickly, Chuck turned to me at the end and said, "It's over?  But I just got here."

From there, I dashed downstairs to sign copies of the new edition of my book on Jack Kirby, then dashed back up to host Cover Story, which is a panel where fine illustrators discuss what goes into the creation of a great cover. Here's a photo of this year's fine illustrators…

Back row is me, Mike Grell and Arthur Adams.  In the front row, you have Erica Henderson, Joyce Chin and Joe Staton.  This is always an interesting panel because it involves what the late, loved Will Eisner used to call "shop talk" — artists sitting around sharing wisdom about how they do what they do. One thing we all learned: Because of deadlines, it's becoming increasingly the case that when an artist in comics draws a cover, he or she doesn't have the foggiest idea what's occurring inside the issue it adorns.

After Cover Story, I had to race all the way to the same room for The Business of Cartoon Voices, a panel I've been doing each year at the con for some time. As I explain, there are a lot of fine, honest folks around who can coach you on a career doing voices for animated cartoons. There are also many who don't really know what they're teaching but who somehow manage to relieve a lot of aspiring performers of a lot of cash without inching them any closer to a career. One characteristic they all have is that they'll tell anyone they have the necessary talent. Anyone with a checkbook, at least. Scrupulous coaches turn down a lot of people.

So each year, I do this panel which this time around, had these people on it…

The lady on the left is Julie Nathanson and the one in front of me is Debra Wilson — two of the "workingest" voiceover performers around today. At right is Sandie Schnarr of AVO Talent, one of the best agencies in the field. Sandie has all the qualities that a good agent has, one being that she doesn't just represent anyone who might get a job. She reps people she thinks are honestly good and because they are and she knows how to "sell" them, her clients work all the time.

We dispensed 90 minutes of honest advice about the business to folks who might someday join it. I have had people attend this panel and go on to careers. Some have even been successful enough to be panelists on my main Cartoon Voices panels, which pleases me greatly. At the very least, I hope we've stopped some folks from shelling out good money for bad coaching.

That's always my last panel of Comic-Con and then I wander to a fave restaurant to meet certain friends for a decompression dinner. Comic-Con has an odd way of always being too long but at the same time, not long enough. When I get home, I'm glad to be there but I wish I was back at the con with a few more days to look forward to. I can't believe how much I did but I have a long list of things I wanted to do and didn't, and people I didn't see. I can't wait 'til next year's but when it comes time to prep for it, I'll think, "Already? Didn't I just unpack from the last one?"

This was my 48th Comic-Con. I've been to at least one day of every one of them and I can't recall enjoying one more than this one because I enjoyed every minute. That is, except a few involving security people who thought they were like Robocop when in fact, they were a lot more like Groo the Wanderer.

• Watched John McCain's speech. You know, I'm starting to like people who don't get captured, too. Especially captured by the Tea Party.

A cat and dog getting together not like cats and dogs…

Amazingly, as I write this, the United States Senate is preparing to vote on a bill to repeal Obamacare and replace it with…well, nobody seems to know but a lot of Republican senators are certain to vote for it.  It's not certain they'll ever read it or know what's in it but they'll vote for it and Donald Trump has pledged to sign it, whatever it is.  Apparently, getting something done is more important than knowing what you're doing.

What do we need in this country in terms of health care?  Well, some people are saying "Medicare for All" but as Ed Kilgore explains, that's not what we need.  That wouldn't work very well without a lot of alteration of Medicare.

Chase Madar believes we need Universal Health Care and predicts that within five years, the American right will concur and we'll have it.  Read that article if you have time.  It's called "The Conservative Case for Universal Healthcare" and I like the line about how one reason they'll embrace it is because "If we switched to single payer or another form of socialized medicine, we would actually have more money to spend on even more useless military hardware."

Meanwhile, the newest prediction about what Trump will do seems to be that he'll dump Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, then make a recess appointment (no Congressional approval necessary) of someone who will shut down all investigations of anyone named Trump or anyone close to anyone named Trump. Yes, that's certainly the act of an innocent man. Jonathan Chait has more.

Matthew Yglesias says that Trump's approval rating is plunging. This may be so according to some polls but here at newsfromme.com, we're against poll-hopping. That's where you believe Poll A when it tells you what you want to hear and when it doesn't, you switch to Poll B which does. We're sticking with the 538 Aggregate, which currently has Trump at 39.0% Approval and 55.3% Disapproval. That's bad but it's not markedly worse than it's been for weeks. My feeling is that he's not going to lose a lot of his current supporters until such time as they see an alternative out there — someone they'd rather see in the White House in 2020.

You know, I'd forgotten how my body needs to sleep much of the day after I get home from Comic-Con. It could still use a few extra hours in a prone position.

Everyone thinks Saturday is the most crowded day at the con.  That was mathematically true back when the con didn't sell out other days but did on Saturday.  Now, at least in theory, it should be at capacity every day.  Still, Saturday does feel more packed, which is why I'm glad I have so many panels then to take me off the main floor.  In addition to the ones I'm mentioning, I dropped in on a few others for brief cameos.

Oh, before I forget, I have a photo from the Saturday morning Cartoon Voices panel…

Left to right, we have Josh Robert Thompson, Mick Wingert, Richard Horvitz, me, Grey Griffin, Kaitlyn Robrock and Jeff Bergman.  Moderator aside, this is a group of some of the most talented performers you'll ever see.  One of them is even the current voice of Bugs Bunny and I'll give you a hint: It ain't me, Doc.

Now then: As happens often at this con, I encountered some folks who have somehow decided that I am the official Complaint Department for Comic-Con. There is nothing I can do about the long lines except to suggest that maybe you don't have to stand in some of them. If the room for a given event seats 3000 and 3000+ people want to see it, there are going to be lines and someone may not get a good seat or any at all. That's simple math that applies not only at this con but everywhere, and Buckminster Fuller in his prime probably couldn't find a solution for that one. If you do, send it to the convention organizers…and maybe the Nobel Prize people while you're at it.

I had a couple of those on Saturday, including one guy who approaches me almost every year to kvetch that there aren't any panels about Golden Age comic book creators. This year, it went roughly like this…

ME: There are several panels this year about Jack Kirby and Will Eisner. Don't they count as Golden Age comic book creators? And there are panels on Reed Crandall and John Stanley and I think some others. I know there's at least one on the history of Wonder Woman.

HIM: No, I mean like the Golden Age Panels you used to do where they actually fly in the creators and you interview them? Why don't we still have those?

ME: Maybe because we don't still have enough of those people to do that. Aside from Stan Lee, who will only do events about his current projects, who at this convention worked in comics in the forties?

HIM: Well, they could have flown some people in.

ME: Names. I want names.

HIM: Well, I was thinking about Sam Glanzman. Now, I know you're going to say he died but that was just a few weeks ago. Why didn't they arrange a few months ago to fly him out?

ME: Let me get this straight. You're upset because they didn't try to bring in someone who would have been dead by now?

HIM: But they didn't know when he would die and they didn't try to get him. That's my point. Why didn't they try to get him as a guest a few months ago?

ME: A few months ago when he was in hospice care? You do understand that a man in his nineties, even if he's not dying, might have some limitations on his ability or even his desire to travel…

HIM: Okay, maybe Glanzman couldn't but I'm sure there are others who are able to travel.

ME: Names. I want names.

HIM: Hey, don't stick me with this. You're the expert.

Yeah, there are a few but not enough to have great panels like we once did. I don't know…I just don't understand people who complain before they pause to consider that there might be a good, simple reason for the way things are. Some people seem to feel important and empowered when they are demanding that others serve their desires.

We did have a panel of "older" comic book creators but it was folks who started in comics in the seventies. In the above photo, we have (L to R): Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard, me, Ron Wilson and Paul Levitz.  That's the back row.  In front, that's Joe Staton, Elliott S! Maggin and Mike Grell.  (Hey, in Jewish blogs and magazines, do they caption their photos R to L?)

All of us discussed our work back then.  I still think I could be given the bulk of the credit for ending the Silver Age of Comics just by my entrance into the field in 1970.

We had some good stories about meeting impossible deadlines, working with folks whose work we'd loved as readers, etc. Paul discussed the massive discomfort of having to tell someone — especially someone who was older than him and had a family — that there was no more work available.

I was darting all over the convention center all day and so was too weary to attend more than one party that evening before a bunch of us shuffled off to a nice dinner. It was one of the best days I ever had at a Comic-Con, in spite of the fellow who was upset I didn't do a panel interviewing dead guys.

• Cancer patient John McCain returning to demonstrate what a maverick he is by voting against the best interests of cancer patients.

One of my favorite magicians — Pop Haydn — favors us with a bit of amazement…

As much fun as I have at Comic-Con, there's something refreshing about being home — unpacked, sitting in my usual computer chair and typing on a real keyboard instead of my laptop.

Apart from a couple of unpleasant encounters with "security personnel," I had a wonderful 4.5 days down there. I could never live full-time at that pace, rushing from meeting to event to panel to meeting, but it's fun now and then. I saw so many people for five minutes and wished I could have spent an hour or two with them.

There's much more to write about the con but I'm playing Catch-Up right now and will try and write some of it later. In the meantime, I recommend to you this article in the L.A. Times about the Eisner Awards and this article in Rolling Stone about the early days of what we now call Comic-Con International.

Regarding the latter piece: I believe it is accurate except that I should not be described as "another person involved in the founding of Comic-Con." I was a reasonably-close observer of what went on but I did not do any of it. I want to make that point loud and clear because folks like Ken Krueger and Mike Towry and Richard Alf and Scott Shaw! and Barry Alfonso and others did the heavy lifting and too much credit for their efforts has gone to Shel Dorf. I sure as heck don't want any of it going to me.

Shel was a controversial figure and I knew the sweet side of him…the side that did a lot of nice things for a lot of people. I also knew the side that was furious that he could not be the unquestioned monarch of the institution that the Comic-Con became. I don't think he ever grasped that once the convention became a non-profit organization, he could not do any damned thing he wanted with the money it made. I was one of many folks who tried to bridge the chasm and negotiate some sort of arrangement whereby he could be involved and compensated but with Shel, it was kind of like, "Give me everything or go f*ck youself!" The end result was one of the sadder stories I've witnessed in my life and there didn't seem to be any way to rewrite the ending. I do not think he was ever wronged except somewhat by fate and an awful lot by himself.

Off-topic: I think all dictionary makers should include "f*ck" — spelled with the asterisk — as a legitimate word in their editions. It's certainly used often enough.

I'll try to get back here later today with more con tales.

A lot of things made me happy yesterday but none more than running into the two gentlemen in the above photo. The one on the left is Marty Krofft and the one on the right is Sid Krofft. In other words: Sid and Marty Krofft, producers of some of the most memorable, inventive TV shows of all time. I had the good fortune to be part of their little "family" — and at times, it really felt like one — for many years. I wrote and occasionally produced (under their supervision) a number of Krofft Productions, some even starring people who were (a) not puppets and (b) spoke English. It was occasionally maddening, usually wonderful and always interesting. I'll write more about these two great gents soon.

Other things which made me happy were how well Quick Draw! and my first Cartoon Voices panel of the con went. The latter went so well, I barely had to do anything as host; just introduce Jeff Bergman, Grey Griffin, Josh Robert Thompson, Mick Wingert, Kaitlyn Robrock and Richard Horvitz, then stay (mostly) out of their way. Every moment of it was fun and for the rest of the day, people were stopping me to tell me how much the loved it when Jeff and Josh engaged in Dueling Morgan Freeman Impressions.

I was glad I didn't have to work hard on that panel because I sure did on the one before it. I'd tell you about it and other things that happened on Day Three except that right now, I have to run out and have Day Four. I'll catch you up when I can…and I'll fix any typos in the above.

In less than a week, our friend Misty Lee will be debuting her new magic show with a too-short run at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood. We told you about it here and we highly suggest that if you can make it, you order tickets here.

We've also been featuring installments of a video diary of how the show is taking shape. Here's the latest installment which includes a cameo appearance by me. Stan Lee will be so jealous…

The above photo is from one of the best panels I've done out of umpteen zillion at Comic-Con. It was called "Jack Kirby: Friends and Family." The "friends" were artist Mike Thibodeaux and, I guess, me. The "family" consisted of Jack's daughter Lisa and grandkids Jillian, Tracy and Jeremy. In the above photo, the back row is (L to R) me, Jeremy and Mike. The front row is Jillian, Lisa and Tracy. Despite the indifferent look on my face in the pic, I thought it went great with each person talking about what being related to or associated with Jack has meant to them. Lisa and Mike especially shared personal stories about Jack and his beloved wife Roz.

At the end of the panel, there was a special treat. I introduced David Glanzer, who is Director of Marketing and Public Relations of Comic-Con and he presented the convention's highest honor, the Icon Award, to Jack Kirby. This has never before been awarded posthumously but Jack was a guy who rewrote almost every rule he ever encountered so it seemed appropriate for the convention organizers to rewrite this one. His family was thrilled to accept it on his behalf.

Earlier in the day, I presided over another important panel. Eric Reynolds, Maggie Thompson, Scott Shaw! and my friend John Plunkett joined me to speak of Pogo, Walt Kelly and especially my dear Carolyn Kelly. I'll write a little more about this one after I return home. I was very pleased with how this one went, too. We not only announced that the much-delayed Volume 4 of The Complete Pogo is off to press, we even showed pages of it on the big screen.

I'm running out of time to write this post so I'll cut to the awards ceremony…a great time. The lovely Athena Finger (granddaughter of the man it was named after) joined me in presenting the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. We gave one to Bill Messner-Loebs, who was present to accept it and who showed with his witty acceptance speech what a fine writer he was. The other went to Jack Kirby and to the delight of the audience was accepted by the above-named Kirbys. I believe Jack has now received every award he could possibly receive for his work so we'll have to invent some new ones.

I missed some of the show because I was backstage in the "green room," which of course was not green, talking with my fellow presenters. At some future convention, I would like to interview Jonathan Ross for an hour or so because he's one of the sharpest, funniest people I've ever known. Come to think of it, so is Wayne Brady, who was a surprise presenter there and so are Tom Lennon and Phil LaMarr and others who were back there at various times…Sergio Aragonés, Dave Gibbons, Paul Dini and Misty Lee, Phil LaMarr, Art Adams and I forget who-all-else. Jackie Estrada, who presides over the awards and the award show, did her usual fine job and I need to get in the shower if I'm going to make my first appointment this morning. More to come and I don't have time to proofread so if there are any tyops in here (like that one) I'll fix them later.