Tonight on the CW is the season finale of Black Lightning. My friend Amber loves this show and was excited when I told her who has a cameo role in this episode…none other than Black Lightning creator Tony Isabella. Tony is my friend of more than half a century and her friend since we all had lunch together about two years ago.
Only good thoughts go out to Mr. Allen Bellman, the veteran comic book artist who was "found" a few years ago after too long away from the comic art community. Allen worked for Timely Comics and Atlas — earlier names for the company you now know as Marvel — from 1942 until the early fifties. The last decade or so, he became a treasured guest at comic conventions everywhere but now he's not well. We would like to not have to write an obit for this lovely man any time soon.
Hey, folks who live in or near Hollywood! The afternoon of March 29, the American Cinematheque is running a 35mm print of one of my favorite movies at the Egyptian Theater up on Hollywood Boulevard.
It's the 1951 Ace in the Hole, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Kirk Douglas in what was, for me, his greatest performance. And no, he wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for it. (They gave it that year instead to someone named Humphrey Bogart for some movie called The African Queen.) I've seen it a dozen times but never on a movie screen and I intend to try and be there. If you want to be there, tickets are here.
Since the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle was canceled, people are writing me to ask if WonderCon (in Anaheim, Aoril 10-12) will be canceled or if, God forbid, Comic-Con International will not happen in San Diego this July. Given the panic about the coronavirus, some of it probably justified, and the way our putative president keeps projecting the concept that no one is steering the bus, I understand. But I seriously doubt those events will not take place on schedule. If there's the slightest chance of a change, you'll hear about it promptly from the folks who operate both gatherings. Truly.
My pal Tom Galloway was at the San Diego Comic Fest this past weekend and he reported that in lieu of shaking hands, he was exchanging Mr. Spock's "Live long and prosper" gesture from Star Trek. Upon reading my suggestion that we all cosplay as Spider-Man, Tom sent several suggestions for other super-heroes whose costumes might not only strike terror into the hearts of evildoers but also keep you safe from the coronavirus. If the threat got a lot worse and I had to pick one, I think I'd go with the Golden Age Sandman. And the gun would be a squirt pistol filled with hand sanitizer with at least a 60% alcohol content…
