From Frank Antonides…
We were having a discussion on a comic board about how many Golden Age artists are still alive. I told folks about how I used to attend your Golden Age panel at SDCC and how they were typically videotaped. Many folks expressed an interest in seeing the recordings and I wondered if they have ever been made available for purchase? If they are I'd love to pass on the information on how to purchase them and if not will they ever be available?
Very few folks who wrote or drew comics in the so-called "Golden Age" are still alive and the few who survive are either unable or unwilling to travel to conventions these days. Even if COVID were not an issue, I don't think you'd see a lot more of 'em at cons.
Once upon a time, it was fairly easy for me to assemble a Golden Age Panel each year, especially with the aid of a gent named Dave Siegel who did a lot of the legwork to track down folks who'd worked in comics long ago but weren't in the then-current comic book community. But as you might imagine, it got tougher as the years went by. At one point, I quietly switched it to the Golden-and-Silver Age Panel so I could include people who worked in comics in later years but even those became impossible to fill.
I forget what year we did this but we then introduced something called "That 70's Panel" with comic book creators from that decade…and even that became a problem. There were still a lot of folks from that time period around but very few who wanted to attend Comic-Con. This year, because I knew quite a few who were not attending because of The Pandemic, I didn't even try. If COVID is not an issue next year, I may (may!) attempt to throw together a seventies panel but I'm not confident it can be done.
And yes, every year I still have some version of this conversation with at least one person who approaches me…
SOMEONE WHO APPROACHES ME: I love all these panels you do but why don't you do a Golden Age or Silver Age panel anymore?
ME: Okay, name three people at this con who are qualified to be on it.
THAT SAME SOMEONE: Uh…
And then their eyeballs disappear like Batman's when he puts on his mask and they stagger away, bumping into pillars and cosplayers.
The panels of the past were sometimes videotaped…not professionally but just as a record. There are dozens of problems that would need to be worked out before we could make them available in any form and I need to start dealing with those issues and talking with the other folks involved. I think those videos will be available some day in some place or some form but I can't tell you how or when or where. It's a more complex matter than you might imagine.
