Monthly Archives: July 2019

A few hours ago, I had a very nice conversation with my friend Ken Gale on WBAI FM radio for New York. We talked about the Pogo books I work on and all about MAD Magazine, veering occasionally into allied subjects. And despite my famously awesome memory, there's one moment in there when I can't come up with the word "colonoscopy," probably for Freudian reasons.

The show is archived and you can hear or download it on this page. You want the July 11 edition of Hour of the Wolf. It's a two-hour show and I come in around the halfway mark and we talk for an hour or so.

Neal Adams is probably the most influential person in comics of his generation. He not only showed writers and artists new ways to create comics but he showed publishers and editors new ways to treat the talent. I could tell you about an hour of stories about how the industry was better for having him in it…and that's in addition to the fact that he himself did some very fine comics.

One thing about Neal: He's always been about something new and his newest venture is a store in Burbank, California that's having its grand opening celebration on Saturday. Neal Adams' Crusty Bunkers Comics and Toy Store is the place to be. Not only will Neal be there but the place should be crawling with celebrities from the world of comics.

The shop is located at 4710 W. Magnolia Blvd., between Pass and Cahuenga.  It's open from 11 AM to 7 PM and that's about all you need to know —

— except you may be wondering about that name, Crusty Bunkers. Back when Neal was doing a lot of comics, he attracted a mob of younger artists around him. Now and then, some editor at some comic book company would have a story that was running late. To make the deadline, Neal would gather together a group of those artists and under his supervision, they'd all pitch in and finish the art as a team, sometimes overnight.

The exact makeup of the crew varied from job to job and there were usually too many of them involved to put all the names into the credit box…so they were credited as the Crusty Bunkers, or sometimes "C. Bunker" or some variation. In honor of those Rescue Rangers, Neal has christened his new enterprise with their name. Isn't that nice?

I'm going to try to get by on Saturday. Hope to see you there…that is, if I can find you among all the folks from the world of comics who'll be swarming into the place.

Robert Klein had a cable talk show back in 1987. One week, his guests were three gents who were working for MAD Magazine — Mort Drucker, Dick DeBartolo and Nick Meglin. My thanks to the eleven of you (so far) who alerted me that this clip just popped up on YouTube…

Have you been reading all the scandalous charges against super-rich-person Jeffrey Epstein?  Yeah, me neither.  But I just read a few, the best of which was this explainer-type piece by Jane Coaston and Anna North. Leaving "innocent until proven totally guilty" aside, it's a pretty sordid story of, allegedly, a wealthy man raping underage girls and his wealth and connections shielding him from proper prosecution and punishment.

In ordinary times, this would be a Page One story in and of itself but we no longer live in ordinary times. Seems to me most people who've taken interest in it were most excited by the fact that Mr. Epstein caroused with the likes of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. If you're a fan of one of those two men, you probably hate the other and are hoping the connection will tarnish the guy you hate.

In very few of the articles I've seen is there much concern for the many young victims…and only slightly more for the concept that a man could do such misdeeds and, because he's fabulously-loaded, get off with a slap on the wrist. (Least Surprising Thing: A lot of Epstein's lawyering has been handled by Alan Dershowitz.) One reader of this site who sent me a link to a story about Epstein wrote on the subject line, "Will this be the scandal that brings down Trump?" That should not be the greatest concern.

But when you have the time, read the article to which I linked to above. We may all need to get up to speed on this one.

…is a place to stay in San Diego during Comic-Con.  But there's an AirBnB listing here that might make someone wildly happy.  I assume no responsibility for this listing.  Just telling you it's there.

That's a photo of my buddy Ken Gale in his natural habitat: On the air.  For many years, Ken did a weekly radio program about comic books.  It was called 'Nuff Said and it ran on WBAI, which is 99.5 FM in New York. It was a wonderful show and it's not completely past-tense. Every now and then, Ken does another installment of 'Nuff Said and he's doing one tonight!

It starts at 1 AM New York Time, and runs for two hours. The first hour, he'll be chatting with writer-artist James Mobius about his comic, Punk Rock Alien Space Girl Adventures. The second hour, he'll be talking with me! We'll probably ramble through many topics but the main one will be what's happened (and may still happen) to MAD Magazine.

So the show starts at 1 AM East Coast Time, which means 10 PM out here on the West Coast…and if you live somewhere else, you can probably figure out the right time to tune in where you are. That's WBAI, 99.5 FM. It can be heard on any radio that can get that station or on the WBAI website.

This is for those of you who've never been to Comic-Con International in San Diego and have been wondering what it's like. This is a fellow who I think is named Shawn Phillips wandering around last year's con for a little over a half-hour, which is enough time to cover maybe 2% of all there is to see.

Everything he tells you is true and your convention experience could look a lot like what he shows you…or maybe not. This is no criticism of Shawn's expert tour-guiding but mine looks nothing like this except for the parts about navigating crowded halls and escalators. Mine is mostly inside panel rooms or hanging around the tables of folks I know or having business-type meetings or giving interviews.

And yours may look nothing like either of ours. The thing you need to grasp is that there's so much going on, you have to seek out the parts of the con that are of interest to you. You need to study the map of the hall and the schedule of panels and all the other stuff on the convention website and figure out what you want to experience and how best to get to it.

It's a lot like going to Disneyland. Let's say you want to experience the thrill rides and skip things like It's a Small World and King Arthur's Carrousel. You need to figure out where they are so you don't go there and you go instead to Space Mountain and Indiana Jones. It would also help to plan in advance where you want to eat and how to wind up in the right place at the right time to see Mickey's Soundsational Parade or the fireworks show.

Shawn will give you a rough lay of the land at Comic-Con here. If you can't go, live vicariously through him. If you do go, let him show you how to get around…

Here we have an article about the humble beginnings of MAD Magazine. I thought you might like to see it and I thought I'd correct this paragraph from it…

Staff writer and artist Harvey Kurtzman brought in the idea for MAD. The first issue hit the stands in 1952, and parodied their own genre specialty of horror. Gap-toothed mascot Alfred E. Newman didn't become the poster child until four years later. Gaines sold the company in the early 1960s to Warner/DC Comics, which meant the end of the tenure at 225 Lafayette Street.

Harvey Kurtzman was a writer and artist for the company but more importantly, he was an editor. MAD did parody (a little) the company's own horror comics but mainly, it parodied other things like radio shows and other comics. Alfred E. Neuman (with a "U") did become the magazine's cover boy in 1956 but his first appearance on a MAD cover was a paperback book, The MAD Reader published in 1954.

Now, here's the history no one seems to get right: William M. Gaines sold MAD in 1961 not to Warner/DC Comics but to Premier Industries, a corporation that had started out as a manufacturer of venetian blinds. At about the same time, MAD moved from its Lafayette Street office but not because of the acquisition. They moved because the Lafayette Street offices kept being burgled.

Premier owned it for a while via a contract that guaranteed Gaines they would not interfere with his business.  A few years later, they sold MAD to their distributor, Independent News, which was a division of DC Comics.  This was before DC was acquired by Kinney National Services, Inc., which later acquired Time and Warner Brothers and darn near everything in the world that Disney doesn't own.

From Lafayette Street, MAD moved to 850 Third Avenue and then to 485 MADison Avenue.  Those moves had nothing to do with corporate ownership.  In early 1995 though, they were moved into the same New York building that housed DC Comics — 1700 Broadway, right across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater. After DC was moved to Burbank, California, MAD was moved down to a building on Avenue of the Americas. In October of 2017, my friend Amber and I visited that office, which was already closing down.

There was a giant MAD logo which had been removed from its place on a wall, in preparation of being shipped out to the new offices in Burbank. A few months later when I first visited those new offices, that giant MAD logo was resting on a floor, waiting for someone to come by and mount it on the wall there. I wonder where it'll wind up.

Someone or something apparently told Donald Trump that his record on the environment might cost him a state or two. He's now out talking about how great he's been in that area where, of course, he hasn't been great or even not-terrible. His credo has been to never do anything that would interfere with any company making as much money as possible, no matter what air gets polluted, what stream has toxic matter dumped into it, what lower-paid employee gets ill from working the mines, what it does to our climate, etc. I find it hard to believe that will ever change except maybe in token ways for show.

So as Rebecca Leber describes, he and his minions are out there with lists of his accomplishments in this area. They're pretty short lists and not particularly accurate ones.

Comic-Con starts down in San Diego a week from tomorrow evening. I have friends who are panicking and saying, "I'm not going to be ready in time." What they don't get is that nobody is ever ready in time for Comic-Con. If we postponed it three months, they wouldn't be ready for it a week before the new date. I'm sometimes not ready for a Comic-Con until it's been over for several weeks.

Each year without fail, I hear from someone who erroneously (a) thinks I'm part of the convention staff in some way and (b) thinks there's still time to do things that there's no time to do. This morn, I awoke to an e-mail from a fellow back east — a guy I barely know — who wants to know if there's any way on this planet to get a panel he wants to do added to the Comic-Con schedule.

That's the Comic-Con schedule that was filled by June 1…the Comic-Con schedule that went to the printers weeks ago and is probably all printed by now…the Comic-Con schedule that is up on the Comic-Con website…the Comic-Con schedule that has probably filled every available room and meeting space…

That's the Comic-Con schedule to which he wants to make an addition today.

He sent his phone number so I gave him a call and, as nice as nice could be, I explained to him the basic facts of reality. He sighed and said, "I expected that answer but I thought it was worth a try." That's what just about everyone says when it wasn't really worth a try. He explained to me that he's starting a new web-based school for writers and he thought it would help the launch if he did a sample lesson at Comic-Con.

I asked him what he wanted to teach and he replied, without a scintilla of irony to be heard, "Oh, things like the importance of meeting deadlines!"

Turtles eating watermelon…

The musical Something Rotten opened on Broadway in March of 2015, ran for a respectable 742 performances, then headed out on a very successful national tour.  I didn't see it in New York.  During that period, I was caring for a sick friend here in L.A. and didn't leave the state.  Many friends though told me they loved it and that I would too.

That proved to be true when the national tour reached the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles in November of 2017.  I went, loved it and even tried to get tix to go back and see it a second time.  Alas, by then the scalpers had gotten ahold of the remaining seats and I couldn't quite bring myself to pay three times as much for seats that seemed to be four or five balconies back from where I sat the first time…and in a theater with only two balconies.

A few months ago when I went up to San Jose to sign books, I treated myself to another viewing of Something Rotten.  This is the second national tour which I believe is, unlike the first one, non-equity.  It was good but not as good.  At the moment, it appears that tour has ended. Looking at the lists of where those two tours roamed and for how long, I became very intrigued with how they manage to do it here one night and somewhere else two nights later.  I wrote on this blog then…

Sometimes, I see a show like this and I can't help but think, "People this talented ought to be able to make a living doing shows without spending their lives on buses." The brutal life of Renaissance times they were singing about might be nothing compared to playing that show on a Wednesday night in St. Louis and getting to Muncie in time to do it on Thursday night there. How they pack all those sets, props and costumes and get them set up in the next town is beyond me.

But maybe some of those players enjoy the adventure. And maybe some of them feel as a friend of mine did when I asked her about a string of one- and two-nighters she did once in a roving caravan of Grease. She said, "I would rather live six months like that and get to perform almost every night than spend those six months doing office-temp work because I can't get a job acting in town."

At the Ahmanson, I was very impressed by the lead actor, a guy named Rob McClure who seemed born to star in musical comedies.  He was musical and he was comedic and as I've researched him a bit, I find that he's always in one musical comedy or another.  He's currently one of the stars of Beetlejuice on Broadway and when I asked one pal who knows him and had seen it, she said, "Oh, they don't give him enough to do.  He's so much better than the show is."  If Mr. McClure ever reads this, I hope he takes that as a compliment.

I also discovered something he did that I'd completely missed.  While he was on that Something Rotten national tour, he produced a town-by-town video diary of the tour, taking us backstage and introducing us to all the players and showing us what it was like to be on that tour.  He didn't really answer the question of how the stage crew people got the sets 'n' props 'n' costumes from one performing arts center to the next — that wasn't his department — but he showed us how the performers lived and what they did when they weren't on stage.

Embedded below is Part 1 of 17. Each episode runs around fifteen minutes so if you watch the whole thing — as I did, though not all at once — it'll take over four hours of your life. I found it was worth it and some of you will too, especially if you loved the show on stage. That's not required but it would help. I really enjoyed this more than some of the so-called "reality" shows I've seen on network-type television.

So here's the first of Rob McClure's reports from backstage, the length and breadth of America. If you enjoy it as much as I did, you should have no trouble finding your way to the other sixteen…

As you know, I'm a big fan of the 1963 movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World…though really only when it's on a big screen in an actual movie theater with a lively, packed audience.  As far as I'm concerned, if you haven't seen it that way, you haven't seen it.  I still recommend the superb Criterion DVD/Blu Ray release of the film with me and two pals on the commentary track…but please experience the film as God and Stanley Kramer intended it before you watch it in your den.  (God, by the way, is the only filmmaker who really and truly gets "final cut.")

The fine writer Craig Shemin informs me that the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York is showing a 70mm print of my beloved film on August 31, September 1, September 7 and September 8.  Details are here…and if/when you visit, check out the Jim Henson exhibit they have there.

That means the Sunday Programming Schedule is available — so the whole thing's up there for your perusal. Or you can save time and just memorize this list of the real important things on it…

Thursday, July 18 — 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM in Room 32AB
SPOTLIGHT ON MAGGIE THOMPSON: BEING CELEBRITY ADJACENT
Maggie Thompson (30-year co-editor of Comics Buyer's Guide) is joined by Mark Evanier (writer, editor, entertainment expert, and News from ME blogger) and Leonard Maltin (film critic, author, and host of the Maltin on Movies podcast) who consider the challenges, anecdotes, and delights of interactions with a variety of celebrities.

Thursday, July 18 — 11:00 AM to Noon in Room 5AB
COMIC-CON IN THE 1970's
What was it like at this convention during its first decade? Hear all about it from these folks who were there for it: Barry Alfonso, Wendy All, Maeheah Alzmann, Richard Butner, Roger Freedman, Eric Hoffman, Scott Shaw!, Brinke Stevens, William Stout, Phil Yeh, and your moderator, Mark Evanier.

Thursday, July 18 — 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM in Room 8
THE MARK, SERGIO AND STAN SHOW
It's most of the crew that brings you the bumbling adventures of Groo the Wanderer, talking about what they do and why they do it. See the award-winning team of Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier along with Stan Sakai (the creator of Usagi Yojimbo). They'll be discussing the latest Groo miniseries, many upcoming projects, and why Mark doesn't get paid for the work he does on their comic. Then again, he's not getting paid for writing this panel description either.

Friday, July 19 — 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM in Room 8
THAT 70's PANEL
It was a time of change in comics, with a new generation intermingling with the old and taking command. Hear what the comics industry was like in the 1970s from Mike Friedrich (Iron Man, Justice League of America), Tony Isabella (Black Lightning, The Champions), Trina Robbins (Wimmen's Comix, Wonder Woman), Arvell Jones (Marvel Two-in-One, Iron Man), Louise Simonson (Creepy, Power Pack), Walt Simonson (Manhunter, Thor), and moderator Mark Evanier (Groo the Wanderer, Blackhawk).

Friday, July 19 — 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM in Room 8
JACK KIRBY AND THE SAN DIEGO 5-STRING MOB
They may not have been Jack Kirby's greatest creation but they were sure important to some of the folks who started this convention. Come hear how the King of the Comics turned six kids involved in the con's early days – Scott Shaw!, Barry Alfonso, Roger Freedman, Mike Towry, John Pound, and Will Lund – into comic book stars for some brief, shining moments. Moderator Mark Evanier is the one who gets the band back together!

Saturday, July 20 — 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM in Room 28DE
MEMORIES OF THE FIRST COMIC-CON
The first San Diego Comic-Con (a.k.a. Golden State Comic-Con) was held in the summer of 1970 in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel. Hear all about it from several of the original committee members (Dave Clark, Roger Freedman, Scott Shaw!, Mike Towry), three of the guests (Mark Evanier, Mike Royer, Bill Stout), a dealer (Bud Plant), and some attendees (including Gene Henderson, Phil Yeh, and moderator Jackie Estrada).

Saturday, July 20 — 11:45 AM to 1:00 PM in Room 6BCF
QUICK DRAW!
It's the fastest, funniest panel in the whole convention! Once again, your Quick Draw quizmaster Mark Evanier pits three super-speedy cartoonists against one another with dueling Sharpies as they create great cartoon art right before your very eyes. Competing this year are (as usual) Sergio Aragonés (MAD magazine, Groo the Wanderer) and Scott Shaw! (The Flintstones), joined this year by Disney legend Floyd Norman plus a couple of highly surprising surprises!

Saturday, July 20 — 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM in Room 6BCF
CARTOON VOICES I
Each year, moderator Mark Evanier gathers a bevy of the most talented cartoon voice actors working today and invites them to explain and demonstrate their artistry. This year's lineup includes Marieve Herington (Big City Greens, Disney Junior), Adam McArthur (Star vs. the Forces of Evil, The Adventures of Puss in Boots), Laraine Newman (The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz), Lex Lang (Star Wars Resistance, Curious George), Eric Lopez (Young Justice, The Spectacular Spider-Man), Fred Tatasciore (Family Guy, The Incredible Hulk), and maybe a few other members of the vocal majority.

Saturday, July 20 — 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM in Room 7AB
THE AWARDS OF COMIC-CON
Over the years, Comic-Con has developed and given out its own awards as well as serving as the home for other awards presentations. Get the background on the Inkpot Awards (Meg Mardian), the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award (Ruth Clampett), the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award (Gene Henderson), the Bill Finger Excellence in Comic Book Writing Award (Mark Evanier), the Icon Award (David Glanzer), the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award (Joe Ferrara), and the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (Carl Gropper and Jackie Estrada, who is also moderating).

Sunday, July 21 — 10:00 AM to 11:15 AM in Room 5AB
THE ANNUAL JACK KIRBY TRIBUTE PANEL
This is the annual panel about Comic-Con's first superstar guest, the man they call "The King of Comics," Jack Kirby. Jack left us in 1994, but his influence on comics, film, and this convention has never been greater. Discussing the man and his work this year are Kurt Busiek (Astro City, Marvels), Buzz Dixon (Thundarr the Barbarian, Destroyer Duck), Mike Royer (Kirby's favorite inker), attorney Paul S. Levine, and maybe a few surprise guests. Naturally, it's moderated by former Kirby assistant Mark Evanier.

Sunday, July 21 — 11:45 AM to 1:15 PM in Room 6A
CARTOON VOICES II
With the smash-hit success of yesterday's Cartoon Voices I panel, there's no choice but to do another one-with different but equally talented actors from the world of animation voicing. Once again, moderator Mark Evanier has assembled an all-star dais that will include Jim Meskimen (The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Robin Atkin Downes (Ben 10, Star Wars Rebels), Secunda Wood (Boss Baby, Days Gone), Dee Bradley Baker (American Dad, Looney Tunes), Candi Milo (Fanboy & Chum Chum, Jimmy Neutron), and probably someone else.

Sunday, July 21 — 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM in Room 25ABC
COVER STORY: THE ART OF THE COVER
What does it take to make a great cover for a comic book? Let's ask four of the top artists…all folks who've created some of the best. Come hear the "shop talk" of Billy Tucci (Shi, Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion), Charles Vess (Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust, Heavy Metal), Alitha Evelyn Martinez (Iron Man, Batgirl), and Jae Lee (Hellshock, The Inhumans). Moderated by Mark Evanier.

Sunday, July 21 — 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM in Room 25ABC
THE BUSINESS OF CARTOON VOICES
Interested in a career doing voices for animation and videogames? There are plenty of people around who'll take your money and tell you how to go about it, but here's 90 minutes of absolutely free advice from folks who work actively in the field. Hear from cartoon voice actors Jon Bailey and Candi Milo, talent agent Julie Thompson (SBV Talent) and your moderator, voice director Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show).

Every danged thing above is subject to change for the silliest of reasons, including the convention wising up after all these years and kicking me the hell out. Throughout the con, I will be exercising my constitutional right to not sit behind a table in the exhibit hall so if you wanna find me, this is how you find me. I am usually not as busy as I appear except before and after Quick Draw!

Mark Crowther writes…

Your report of Tales of My Father #3 reminded me of something I was surprised by during my recent trip to California. You mentioned going to comic book shops near Highland Avenue. I was surprised by how few comic shops there are cities in the USA. I noticed that as well on a previous visit to Florida.. I think we have more shops in Dublin than in a typical large US city.

I didn't get around to visiting Golden Apple Comics, but did manage to visit Current Comics in Monterey and Isotope in San Francisco. I assume that, back in the day, there were many more shops in L.A. Am I correct to assume that?

We're talking about different kinds of comic book shops here. Fifty years ago — the period in which that story was set — there were four shops in the Hollywood area that could be called "comic book shops." They were Cherokee Books, Argosy Books, Collectors Book Shop and Bond Street Books. These were stores that sold old, used books — some rare, some just cheap — but had opened departments to sell old, second-hand comics. None of them sold current issues. None of them sold toys or posters or games or any current product like you find in most of today's comic book shops.

What we now know as a "comic book shop" is something that emerged a bit later on. Most of the ones I knew were started by comic fans, in some cases to sell underground comics or to sell old comics without the part of the business that involved non-comic books. Those stores especially flourished when the "Direct Market" sprung up, allowing comic store dealers to order and then sell current comics from the major publishers.

There's a very long story there but basically, comic books had previously been distributed by national magazine distributors who sold Time and Newsweek and Playboy and hundreds of other magazines (including comic books) to regional distributors who in turn supplied them on a returnable basis to newsstands, liquor stores, markets and so on. In the sixties, I bought my new comics by going to such stores and my old ones by going to second-hand book shops. The Direct Market provided an alternate means of distribution and that's how your favorite comic book shops get the current comics they sell.

I'm really not up on how many such shops there are in Los Angeles. Whatever comics I get these days, I either order by mail or publishers send them to me. The only store in L.A. I think I've set foot in in the last decade was Meltdown over on Sunset Boulevard, which closed last year. Even then, I was only there for signings and because Leonard Maltin used to record his podcast there. So I'm not the guy to ask about comic shops in L.A. I also don't know of very many second-hand book stores these days.