I'm quite aware that most of you are only coming to this site for reports on the health of Lydia, the feral pussycat I've been feeding in my backyard since they aired the last episode of The Sopranos. I am not suggesting any connection there. Recently, she disappeared for a most-unlike-her amount of time and I feared for her demise. Then she showed up acting very sick and refusing to eat and seeming for all the world like other feral felines I've had around who were not around for long after they started acting like that.
I hauled her off to an after-hours vet who kept us waiting a long time to tell me (a) she was very old, (b) she would likely be dying soon, (c) there was nothing that could be done for her, (d) to please pay on my way out and (e) they didn't accept American Express.
Oh, yes — and I should keep an eye on her, which is one of those things that never would have occurred to me had not a trained and licensed professional suggested it. So I've been keeping an eye on her and it seems to be working because she appears to be pretty much back to normal. In fact, she's eating enough to make up for that week-to-10-days when she hardly ate at all. Maybe it was just a touch of that kitty flu that I haven't heard has been going around.
The above photo was taken ten minutes ago and she seems to be Lydia again. Sorry if I put any of you through needless concern or worry but I'm glad it ended like this.
WonderCon convenes next Friday in Anaheim. As I write this, Saturday-only badges are sold out but you can still buy one for Friday, one for Sunday or one for all three days. Those options may narrow shortly. The entire programming schedule is online here and here are the six I'm hosting…
The Sergio, Mark and Tom Show Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragonés, and Tom Luth bring you the long-running, award-winning comic featuring the ship-sinking, everyone-slaying Groo the Wanderer. This is a panel where those three people talk about what they do, how they do it, why they do it and how one or two of them actually gets paid for doing it. It's just a very silly panel featuring silly people who do a silly comic book. Friday, March 23, 2018 from 1:30pm to 2:30pm in Room 208
Writing for Animation
Interested in writing for cartoons or video games? Then you'll want to hear three people who've done it tell you how they've done it: Marv Wolfman (Epic Mickey 2, The Adventures of Superman), Shelly Goldstein (Shelldon, Flying with Byrd), and moderator Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show, Scooby Doo). They'll talk about script formats, breaking a story, getting the assignment, dealing with sinister forces, and everything else. Friday, March 23, 2018 from 3:30pm to 4:30pm in Room 300D
Quick Draw!
It's another battle to the death—or at least until dinnertime!—with three lightning-fast cartoonists armed only with Sharpies and sharp senses of humor. The three cartoon combatants are Sergio Aragonés (Groo the Wanderer, MAD magazine), Lonnie Milsap (bacön, Silly Comics)), and Tom Richmond (MAD magazine's star caricaturist). They'll be drawing the suggestions of you, the audience, as well as the Quizmaster of Quick Draws, Mark Evanier. As always, no wagering. Saturday, March 24, 2018 from 4:30pm to 5:30pm in North 200B
Cartoon Voices
Once again, your host Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show) gathers five masters of speaking for animated superstars to demonstrate their talents. The dais will consist of Neil Ross (Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, The Transformers), Eliza Jane Schneider (Final Fantasy, Skylanders), Wally Wingert (Batman: Arkham Asylum, The Garfield Show), Julie Nathanson (Marvel's Avengers, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, Far Cry 5), and Townsend Coleman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Tick). Saturday, March 24, 2018 from 5:30pm to 6:30pm in North 200B
Cover Story: Art of the Cover
What constitutes a good cover on a comic book? How are the best ones created? Be there for this "shop talk" discussion with artists who've been responsible for some of the best, WonderCon special guests Ryan Benjamin (WildC.A.T.S, Batman Beyond), Mitch Gerads (Mister Miracle, The Sheriff of Babylon), Dan Jurgens (Superman, Batman Beyond), and Ed Piskor (Hip Hop Family Tree, X-Men: Grand Design). Moderated by Mark Evanier. Sunday, March 25, 2018 from 1:00pm to 2:00pm in Room 300B
The Annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel
They call him the King of the Comics and maybe it should also be King of the Cinema, since so many of his co-creations (like Black Panther) have made it so big in the movies. As always, WonderCon takes time to talk about arguably the greatest superhero artist of them all. Joining in the discussion this year are film critic-historian Leonard Maltin, Kirby museum curator Tom Kraft, attorney Paul S. Levine, former Kirby assistant Steve Sherman, and moderator (another former Kirby assistant) Mark Evanier.
Sunday, March 25, 2018 from 3:00pm to 4:00pm in Room 211
As always, things may change. In fact, the participants in a few of my panels have changed since the program guide went to press and was posted on the convention website. The above is correct as of now.
I will be there all three days. I do not sell things at conventions and I refuse to sit at a table for long periods but I will be wandering the hall and if you see me, please say howdy. I can often be found in the vicinity of Sergio Aragonés' table, which is located at A-01. He has a new fake mustache which is much more convincing than those cheap ones he got a case of at Costco years ago.
I've received a number of e-mails from folks asking me about reports (especially this article) that Stan Lee is in bad financial and/or emotional and/or medical shape and that there are those around him who have abused him, robbed him, exploited him or otherwise done wrong by him.
I think I know what's going on but I don't think I know it with enough certainty that I should be repeating it for public consumption, plus some of it is just plain none of our business. There's too much of that going on already…and please, could we all agree that if you haven't been in the same room with Stan lately, your opinions about his medical condition are largely worthless? I mean, we all know he's 95 years old and that he's been ill lately (ill enough to cancel on a few convention appearances) and that he lost his beloved wife of almost 70 years. It's safe to say that did some damage.
Beyond that, a lot of it's speculation from afar and that's not helpful. I personally have some very mixed feelings about Stan Lee but I have enough affection for him to not add to the pile of rumors, some of which are obviously wrong or askew. I'm convinced there are enough lawyers and law enforcement officials and benevolent friends of Stan swarming around this matter that he's now as protected as he can be, and that the truth will eventually come out, though maybe not in his lifetime. What matters most now is his health and comfort…and I'm thinking he could also do with a little privacy.
Trump's gone too far. It's bad enough I have to listen to him when I'm awake but last night, he turned up in a dream I had. It wasn't much of a dream but it was in three acts…
Act One was Trump announcing something about fried chicken. It wasn't clear what he was going to do about fried chicken but he was going to do something.
Act Two was all the news shows and all the pundits discussing just what Trump had in mind about fried chicken and trying to parse his vague, ambiguous statements. Stephen Colbert was doing jokes about Trump's new laws governing fried chicken and all my friends were calling me to ask, "What do you think Trump's going to do about fried chicken?" and there was a general panic that he was going to ban it or insist we all buy Trump-brand fried chicken or maybe he'd deregulate gravy — oh, and he was going to put Jared in charge of chicken soup except that he couldn't get a security clearance from Colonel Sanders…
And then Act Three was the walkback the next day when it turns out that Trump probably isn't going to do anything about fried chicken or if he is, he doesn't know what or when yet and might still change his mind. I think the whole dream was inspired by the announcement that he's maybe possibly going to do something about Korea which might include a meeting or might not and might possibly include a predetermined agenda if it happens at all which it might not.
Once again, I am reminded of my favorite quote about covering the news, which was uttered by the late Jack Germond. He said, "The trouble with reporting is that we aren't paid to say 'I don't know' — so we have to say something even when we don't know."
WonderCon in Anaheim starts two weeks from today and they've just posted the entire programming schedule. I'm hosting six panels and I'll be posting the list here in a day or three. I need to make a few adjustments in who's on a couple of my panels because of certain folks suddenly not being able to be there.
If you're thinking of attending, get your badges now. Saturday is sold out…can Friday and Sunday be far behind? Whatever admissions are left can be purchased here.
And if you're going, spend some time on the WonderCon website. A lot of people who have complaints about this convention and Comic-Con International come to me with them, in a few cases wrongly thinking that I'm part of the staff or that I have the power to make more parking spaces magically appear. I would say that a good 70% of the complaints sent in my direction fall into two categories, the first being Unrealistic Expectations.
Unrealistic Expectations can range from the big to the small. The small can be to expect that dealers will have all the merchandise you seek at prices you'll be happy to pay…and it's somehow the fault of the convention if they don't. Or to think that you can go to an event that will attract a dozen thousand attendees and you'll never have to wait in a line or not be able to get down an aisle without someone bumping into you.
Yes, it's crowded. That's because you're not the only one who wanted to be there. They could reduce the crowding by not letting as many people obtain badges but then you'd be joining the group complaining you couldn't get a badge.
The Really Unrealistic Expectations? Well, I can recall a guy a few years ago who went to several San Diego conventions and was steamed that Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko was not present and signing autographs at any of them. The following conversation ensued…
ME: Steve Ditko doesn't go to conventions, sign autographs, grant interviews or even allow his photo to be taken.
HIM: Well, the convention should do something about that.
More recently, I got a long, rambling e-mail from a gent who was parboiled that he went to Comic-Con International with the intent of hooking up with someone at Marvel who would hire him to write the X-Men comic book. He admitted that there just might be others in the hall who had the same wish-dream but he was upset that he never found a way to even apply for the job. I'm guessing that was because the convention was too busy sending a squadron to New York to capture Steve Ditko and drag him to San Diego against his will. The Unreasonable Expectations people need to appreciate what's there — and believe me, there's plenty — rather than to bitch 'n' moan over what's not.
The other category is the Criminally Unprepared…and if you're going, you can do an awful lot to avoid joining this throng. Do a little research, starting with the convention's most-informative website. Take the time to look over that Programming Schedule I just mentioned and make a list of events you must see, events you might see and events you might go see if your first choice is full.
Look over the list of exhibitors, note where they're located and spend enough time on the map of the hall to get a little sense of where things are.
Plan when you're going to get there, where you're going to park, where you're going to eat, etc. If you want to meet up with others, see if you can make appointments in advance instead of hoping to run into them or finding them at their table or panel. Just put a little time into it and you'll maximize the joys of your visit.
Comic conventions have gotten incredibly diverse. This is good because there are lots of different things happening there, some of which will enrapture you and some of which could cause drowsiness faster than a fistful of Ambien. It's bad because you have to do a little more work to locate the stuff that's of interest to you and to avoid that which is not. The videogame aisles can be a very good place to visit if you're sick of being able to hear.
But do the work. You'll be glad if you do…and so will I.
In or around 1931, the Chicago Tribune produced a promotional film called From Trees to Tribunes about how their newspaper was produced each day. We have here an excerpt from said promotional film. It's the segment about various comic strip artists who were then producing strips that ran in the Tribune and were syndicated by the company. Some of them — like Harold Gray of Little Orphan Annie and Gus Edson of The Gumps — you may have heard of. Many of them are so obscure, even I never knew of them.
Thanks to Anthony Tollin for telling me about this. I wonder how many of these guys actually drew their strips each day wearing a suit and tie. If they worked in an office at the Tribune offices, they probably did…
Lately, I find myself not driving as much as I used to. Since I do most of my work at home, I've never put a lot of miles on my car but in recent years, even that total has diminished. One reason is how bad traffic has gotten in some areas around me. Another is the rise of services like Lyft and Uber. It's simply easier to use them for some appointments, like when I go to my ophthalmologist, as I did last week for my annual check-up.
Driving there costs me some unknown amount of cash for the gas but it also costs me $12 to park in his building. Round trip by Lyft came to about $15 so it's less than three dollars to save myself the aggravation of driving myself. I've also had some great conversations with Lyft and Uber drivers.
Other reasons for driving less: I now have a real good assistant to run errands and then there's my still-relatively-new knee which works well but occasionally is not in the mood to work the pedals, especially when it's likely to be a lot of stop-and-go and stop-and-go and stop-and go. I didn't drive at all in the months after I got it and I got used to alternate modes of transportation. Plus, it was good for the knee to walk some short distances I might otherwise have driven.
And then there's the bus. Yes, the bus. There are some destinations in L.A. that are hell to get to by bus but many which are a breeze if you have two things. One is a Tap card, which you can buy and reload on the net. The other is the Google Maps app I have on my phone. At least in my experience, it's great at telling you which bus to take, where to wait for it, when it'll be along and when it'll get you where you're going. You also can read your iPad as you travel on the bus and you sometimes get good anecdotes.
Yesterday, I journeyed into Beverly Hills to meet with my Business Manager Person. I do this every so often so I can make sure he's still in the country and hasn't absconded to Peru with all my money. I probably shouldn't worry since all my money would actually get him about as far as Hermosa Beach and only if he took the bus and used the senior discount.
On the way there, I was running late so I took a Lyft. The driver overheard my end of a phone conversation with Paul Dini and figured out I was involved in comic books. We then had such a nice chat about conventions that I was almost disappointed when we arrived at my destination and it had to end. On the way home, I took a bus. Sitting next to me was a person who looked like Steve Bannon would look if Steve Bannon had a gender-reassignment.
She was telling everyone — not just me — how screwed-up the world was and especially "those idiots in Washington." She was harsher on Republicans than Democrats because Republicans are in power, but not fond of either. At one point she said, "Trump oughta bring me to Washington and let me tell him what to do" and I told her, "The way things are going, you may get a call any day now."
Not that any of us passengers were that interested but she told us all what she would do. "Locked rooms," she said. "You want to solve health insurance? You take all the people who have to agree on health insurance and you lock them in a room. Nobody gets out to eat or pee until they solve it.
"Taxes?" she said. "Put 'em all in a room, lock the door and nobody gets out until they get a deal!" For about eleven blocks, she ticked off the issues of the day — guns, gay rights, defense, election fraud…all of them are instantly solvable if we just start locking people in rooms without snacks or toilets.
As she was saying all this, I was exchanging looks with other passengers. There was much eye-rolling on that bus and quiet tolerance of the crazy lady in our midst. But as I got off, another passenger was getting off at the same stop and I said to him, "Gee, I'm almost sorry the ride's over. I wanted to hear about locking the leaders of Israel and Egypt in a room until they agree on what to do about Gaza."
The man chuckled and said, "You know, what scares me is that I don't see anyone around these days who makes a whole lotta sense more than she does!"
Sean Howe has a nice article in the New York Times about Billy Graham…and no, not the evangelist who just left us. This Billy Graham was a comic book artist who worked for Warren and Marvel and a few other places…and as Howe reveals, also did a lot of other things besides drawing for comics. He worked at a time when there weren't a lot of other black artists in the field and so was assigned to a lot of strips starring black characters, including Luke Cage, Hero for Hire and Black Panther.
I never met the man so I have little to add to what Sean writes other than that his teaming with writer Don McGregor was fortuitous for both of them. And I'm sure Don agrees.
This reminds me of something I've been meaning to write about here for some time. There is much wonderful scholarship going on about old comic books. I can't believe some of the data and info that some have dug up about the history of the form and the people who wrote and drew the comics. But there is a tendency to ignore the unknown.
There are men and women who worked in comics who never or only rarely signed their work or got their names in any credits. I've written here about a man named Owen Fitzgerald — a great talent who drew hundreds of comic books. I think he got credit on about six of them. Pete Alvarado, who may have been one of the ten most prolific comic book artists who ever lived, probably got his name on even fewer. This was true of folks who worked mainly for Dell, Gold Key, Harvey, Archie or other companies that rarely or belatedly gave credit. There are even writers and artists who worked for DC and Marvel who are still unidentified.
Those who write about comics sometimes forget that we don't know who did some comics. When Billy Graham was active in the field, I occasionally saw him called "The only black artist currently working in comics." I don't think he ever was. Some people knew about Wayne Howard (who worked mostly for Charlton) and a few others but hardly anyone knew about Joe Prince, who was inking several comics for Western Publishing's Gold Key line including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Donald Duck.
I employed Joe occasionally when I edited comics for Hanna-Barbera and I suspect the credits we gave him on those books were the only ones he ever received during a long, usually-employed career. They seem to be the only credits listed for him in the Grand Comics Database and I'll bet he worked on hundreds of other issues of mainstream comic books. (I lost touch with Joe in the seventies. If anyone knows his whereabouts, there are those who'd love to do interviews and research.)
In the same way, when articles are written about the insufficient number of women who've worked in comics, I almost never see any awareness of Eula Mae Hardesty Liggera, who surely inked well over a thousand issues of Disney, Warner Brothers, Walter Lantz and Hanna-Barbera comics during her lifetime. Here is everything I know about her…
Eula Mae Hardesty Liggera
She was born May 15, 1925, possibly in Indianapolis. She attended various art schools and worked in commercial art. In either the late forties or early fifties, she married John Liggera, who had worked in animation for Disney, M.G.M., Walter Lantz and the Ub Iwerks studio. Mr. Liggera began moonlighting from those studios drawing comics for Western Publishing around 1940, probably commencing with stories of Barney Bear, whose cartoons he was concurrently animating.
John segued from animation into full-time work for Western on their Dell Comics, eventually doing a lot of inking of other artists' pencil work. He never stopped drawing but after he married Eula Mae, the two of them team-inked several comics per month for Western throughout the fifties and sixties. One editor at Western told me that between the two of them, they sometimes inked the equivalent of 4-5 comics a month. After John died in 1972, Eula Mae continued inking on her own until the early eighties when Western shut down.
My entire contact with her was that around 1977, I got her phone number and called to offer her work on the Hanna-Barbera comics I was editing. She very graciously thanked me but said that she had all the work she could handle from Western…and that, as we say, was that. She died October 12, 2016.
I can't fault historians for not knowing more about her. I just wanted to point out that when someone writes "Marie Severin and Ramona Fradon were the only two women doing art for comic books in the sixties," that's not quite accurate. Same situation with those who wrote about black artists and hadn't heard of Joe Prince. Just because you don't know about someone doesn't mean they never existed.
We haven't had four guys singing barbershop style here lately. Here's the Frontier Quartet performing the theme from arguably the greatest western movie of them all…
If while watching the Oscars, you missed seeing some recently-deceased favorite in the "In Memoriam" segment, you may have a small comfort in this. It's the link to an online photo gallery from the Academy that cover a lot more names than they had time to include Sunday night. Happy clicking.
Lydia has spent the last few days just sitting or lying around the yard, often hiding in some bushes. It's quite unlike her old, energetic self. As recently as two weeks ago, she was scampering about and when she wasn't scampering, she was tongue-washing every part of her she could reach. Now, she's just kind of sulking and sad. I got her to eat a few bites of food but only a few. She's not a well cat but as many of you have written to remind me, she's had a much, much longer life than the norm for any feral feline. She doesn't seem to be suffering so I've decided that I won't either.
Monday evenings in 1932 and 1933, an NBC radio program called Five Star Theater presented episodes of a comedy series called Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel starring Groucho and Chico Marx. Only a small amount of audio from these broadcasts still exists but in 1988, someone found copies of almost all of the scripts in The Library of Congress.
A number of different groups recorded those scripts with Groucho and Chico impersonators but the most ambitious effort was done in the early nineties for BBC Radio. They took some liberties with the material, sometimes combining two or more of the original scripts to make one episode, sometimes interpolating songs. In one, their Groucho sings "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" which the real one sang in the 1939 movie At the Circus. The tune probably hadn't even been written when Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel was originally airing.
Still, the shows are entertaining and every so often, the BBC puts them up on their website for our listening pleasure. "Every so often" includes now. For the next 26 days, you can listen to the first episode at this link and others will be available there in the future. Don't thank me. Thank Chris Collins, who always lets me know when they're back up so I can alert you. As I just have.
