As you may have noticed, I have combined my expertise at hosting panels at comic conventions (which pays nothing) with my expertise at blogging (which pays nothing) and moved into the new field of webcasting (which pays nothing). I still quite haven't mastered this last skill. So far, the beginning of every webcast I've done has had some screw-up due to operator error, a software glitch or both.
The first minute or so of last night's Conversation with Dick DeBartolo looked like a bloopers special but once we got going, things were okay from my end and Dick was very interesting and funny. People are watching it online in surprising numbers and you may want to follow the trend.
Tomorrow night, I'll be chatting with my longtime friend, Paul Levitz. When I first knew Paul, he was publishing fanzines and saying he didn't want to spend his career in the comic book industry. Next thing I knew, he was either President or Publisher of DC Comics. (He was both at various times but I'm not sure of the order.) What changed? Well, we'll be discussing that and many other things about that company but one thing I know changed was that Paul, once he got into a position of power, he did a lot of things that turned DC into a much better company to work for…which meant he also indirectly turned Marvel into one, as well.
Between us, we know almost everything about DC Comics. If you're interested in almost anything about that company, especially in the last three decades of the previous century, join us live at 7 PM Pacific Time.
And of course on Saturday, we have the second online Cartoon Voices Panel. I have done the job a good voice director does, which is to assemble a great company of voice actors. This one is Rob Paulsen, Kaitlyn Robrock, Gregg Berger, Debra Wilson and Jim Meskimen. In theory, there's no way I can mess this up but, of course, I will…somehow.
Next week, I'll be doing two more one-on-one conversations. On Tuesday, May 19, Scott Shaw! and I will be discussing the early days of what they now call Comic-Con International and at some point, we'll switch over and talk about working for Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. On Thursday, May 21, the wonderful comedy writer-producer Cheri Steinkellner and I will discuss her work on The Jeffersons, Cheers, Bob, the cartoon show Teacher's Pet, the Broadway show of Sister Act and a whole lotta other things. I have a lot of interesting friends…