This is mostly about comic books but it has a little something to do with Donald Trump. These days, just about everything has at least a little something to do with Donald Trump.

Most comic books are created via a small assembly line: One person writes the script. One person draws it out in pencil. One person handles the lettering. One person finishes the pencil art in ink. One person handles the coloring. One person is the editor, coordinating all of this. Sometimes, one person does two or more of these things and sometimes, there's a slightly different division of the labor. But this is roughly how it works.

Sometimes, these people get along well together and all respect each other's contributions. Sometimes, they don't like what the others do but they don't all have the clout or opportunity to adjust things more to their liking. This was especially true of the creative talents who did comics before around 1990 and especially of those who grew up in the Great Depression. Jack Kirby, for example, had a great respect for the other guy's need to make a living even if he didn't know the other guy. So if he thought the inker hired to embellish his pencil art was not the greatest, he often said nothing.  He also didn't then think inking mattered that much, though he would later change his mind about that.

Only once or twice in his long career, did he politely ask if an inker could be switched to some other project. To the best of my knowledge, there were only two times when he insisted on a change and even those were after making sure that the inkers in question would get other work and not lose income.

Many of Jack's fellow artists were unhappy with the skills or casting of their collaborators — pencilers who disliked what their inkers did and inkers who didn't care for the pencil art assigned to them — and some in their later years were a bit more vocal about this. I've interviewed most of the artists who drew for DC or Marvel between, oh, about 1960 and 1985. Often, I've interviewed them at comic book conventions in rooms that held hundreds of their fans.  Whether I ask Penciler A about it or not, it comes out that he really disliked what was done to his artwork when it was finished by Inker B.  And sometimes, the feeling was mutual.

And what has happened a number of times when such an statement has made its way into print or online has been that some lover of that work refuses to believe it.

I have been accused of fabricating the quote or of somehow poisoning the mind of Penciler A about Inker B or there has to be some sort of typo or transcription error. The accuser loves that work so much that he refuses to believe Penciler A said any such thing.

Maybe I drugged the guy and made him my hypnotic slave but…well, I'll give you an example.  Three times, I interviewed longtime Marvel artist John Buscema, whose work there was inked by dozens of different inkers over the years.  Each chat we had — and I believe he said this in other interviews, as well — Mr. Buscema stated that he liked the inking done on his pencil art by his brother Sal and he liked the inking done by Frank Giacoia…and apart from himself, he didn't like anybody else.  Once or twice, he specifically named inkers who he thought were either spectacular mismatches for his style or were spectacularly lacking in talent.

There's a fellow who writes me about every six months about this.  I've been ignoring his last few e-mails but will excerpt from the most recent…

The first time I wrote you about this, you assured me Buscema felt that way about Alfredo Alcala inking him and you referred me to a published interview.  I still do not believe this.  Yes, my eyes read the interview but my eyes also see the supreme beauty of Conan as penciled by John Buscema and inked by Alfredo Alcala.  It is obviously not only the best artwork that ever bore Buscema's credit but some of the best comic art ever published.  Every panel is a masterpiece.  Every figure is perfect.  There is no way John Buscema was not thrilled with every bit of it no matter what some obviously-phony interview says.

Now, understand: I am not debating the merits of Buscema/Alcala work.  I rather liked it myself and if someone didn't…well, they're entitled to their opinion even if they aren't John Buscema. But he was entitled to his too and it's a fact, not an opinion, that he said what he said.  Neither I nor anyone else has any motive to fake this.

I also liked when Carmine Infantino's or Gil Kane's art was inked by Murphy Anderson but it's a fact that none of those three men were happy with those marriages and many others.  Gil Kane didn't like most of his inkers although many of his fans loved certain pairings.

I'm kinda amazed by how much denial there is about this.

• I would give up vodka to show support for Ukraine but I'd have to take up drinking first and I don't want to do that. Can I just give up Russian Dressing?

My mixtape had a lot of Petula Clark on it. We've already covered "My Love" and I think in the next few installments, I'll get through all the other appearances Ms. Clark made on my tape. This is "Sign of the Times," which was initially recorded as part of an album featuring (and entitled) "My Love." "Sign of the Times" was released as a single in March of '66 after she introduced it on (where else?) The Ed Sullivan Show on February 27, 1966. Here is that appearance…

It was a big enough hit that she returned to Ed's stage and performed it again on August 14 of that year, this time with dancers, choreography and costuming that my friend Shelly Goldstein will love…

Wikipedia quotes Petula as saying of it, "I loved it. It had a slightly different feel. 'A Sign of the Times,' I suppose you might expect some big political statement or something, but it was just a straight-ahead love song. I think Tony [Hatch, its writer/producer] rather liked finding titles that made you think, like 'Don't Sleep in the Subway.' People would think, is it about drugs? Is it about this? And these were just straightforward songs. I like 'Sign of the Times.' I think it's a good song."

In 2018, Shelly and I went to see Petula Clark perform an amazing live show at the age of 86. Yes, she sang "Sign of the Times" and yes, she sounded just like she did on the Sullivan show…and yes, it's a good song.

I edited the previous item to remove a line I wrote about how Shirley Jones and Herschel Bernardi were doing their respective new TV shows in Los Angeles and The Ed Sullivan Show was done in New York. I removed it because this morning, many an e-mail reminded me that this particular Ed Sullivan Show was done at the Hollywood Bowl out here.

I dunno how that didn't occur to me when I was typing that because I knew it. I'd even been thinking about how it was like in the movie of Bye Bye Birdie, the Russian ballet and the kissing of Ann-Margret on The Ed Sullivan Show were part of a live remote from Ohio. Sometimes, I shouldn't be blogging when I'm too tired.

Also this morning, I received this from Matthew Harris…

I suppose coincidences like these really aren't that surprising.

I've just begun Clive Davis' memoir (and am enjoying it). Last night I read the chapter about Janis Joplin and about the time that Clive asked Richard Rodgers into his office to listen to something. He played Joplin's version of Gershwin's "Summertime." Clive was quite smitten with Janis & thought her take on the classic might impress Richard. Rodgers listened and said nothing. Clive then decided to play "Piece of My Heart." After 90 seconds Rodgers told him to stop the tape & railed against it all. Couldn't understand how people could listen to this & said if he had to write music like this his career was over.

I must be honest and say that I don't think about Richard Rodgers every day.

Richard Rodgers apparently did…and not every day but every second. Various books do not make him out to be that nice a man…or particularly fond of anything that wasn't written by Richard Rodgers. But I don't think it's that uncommon for anyone — a composer or not — to favor one particular kind of music over all others. We all have styles we don't care for and some of us have more than most.

And I recall Mel Tormé in one of his books scorning Rodgers for not liking the way he [Tormé] sang certain tunes from the Rodgers-and-Hart or Rodgers-and-Hammerstein catalogues. I read that and I didn't think it was so awful that the composer of a song thought there was a "right" way to sing it. No one kicked when Neil Simon didn't like the way one of his lines was delivered. One should be open to different interpretations but that doesn't mean they're all acceptable. Or that I have to like Reggae music.

From the same Ed Sullivan Show saluting Richard Rodgers, we have another (short) number from The King and I, performed by Shirley Jones and Herschel Bernardi. Again, Mr. Bernardi looks for all the world like a man born of royal blood in Thailand…

Jeff Cook, a reader of this site, wrote that he was puzzled by the casting choice here. When this show was done — 11/22/70 — Ms. Jones was starring in The Partridge Family, which had recently debuted on ABC and Herschel Bernardi was starring in Arnie, which had recently debuted on CBS. Why take those performers away from their new shows?

Good question and I'll bet the answer was Richard Rodgers. He was notorious for being very fussy how his songs were performed. I once heard Merv Griffin talk about a time on his old show when they decided to do a salute to the composer and they rounded up some very famous entertainers to come on and sing his tunes. Rodgers rejected most of them, insisting on lesser-known performers who sang his songs "right."

I don't know that Rodgers had any history with Bernardi. That may have been CBS wanting to give some exposure to their new star. But Rodgers loved Shirley Jones and always cited her as a singer who did his songs the way he wanted them done. I'm thinking he demanded her and she may have done it to remind the world that she could sing the kind of songs she wasn't singing on her new series.

I should have mentioned that badges for WonderCon are now available. I mean, right this minute! If you want to attend, click on over to this page where you can purchase whatever badges you need. If you order your badge(s) before Midnight (Pacific Time) on March 6 — that's Sunday night!), said badge(s) will be shipped to you before the con, which will save you the bother of waiting in line to pick them up.

You will need your Member ID to order. If you don't have one, get one before you go to that page.

If you are a professional wondering about pro badges, watch your e-mails. Info is coming.

I always love WonderCon, which this year takes place at the Anaheim Convention Center a few blocks from The Happiest Place on Earth. It's always a well-run convention with great panels and a vast and varied exhibit hall. And when it convenes April 1-3 this year, I probably won't be there. I might (might!) drop by for a day but I've respectfully declined to be a guest and do my usual array of panels.

This is not really Fear of COVID at work…though I didn't want to commit and recruit panelists and then, between now and April Fools Day, have some new strain of the coronavirus overrun L.A. and Orange County. My main reason is that in the 723 days since I went into mostly stay-at-home mode, I've gotten so comfy not leaving my house that I need to break that habit and also get my knees back in convention shape. 723 days is only days shy of two solid years of not walking as much as I usually like.

I haven't gained weight in that time — in fact, I've lost — but last Sunday when I drove eight miles to the memorial/celebration for Will Ryan, I became painfully aware that my knees are not up to the amount of walking I'd do at a WonderCon…and yes, I've got a month to get back in shape and like I said, I may go down for a day. But I just can't bring myself to do three. (Also, we couldn't do our Quick Draw! game. Sergio Aragonés and Scott Shaw! are also sitting this one out.)

Don't let my inability to stray far from home stop you, though. I'm sure everyone who goes there will have a great time…and yes, I'm pretty darned sure I'll be at Comic-Con in July, assuming there's Comic-Con in July.

I have no idea how to go about thanking more than a thousand people for birthday wishes today via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, my e-mailbox and a few other means of communication. I was thinking of doing a big cut-n'-paste like this…

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

…and continuing 'til I had over a thousand and I'd tell everyone, "Your 'Thank you' is in there. You'll have to find it yourself." But yeah, that would be really stupid and if you were nice enough to wish me a Happy Birthday, I shouldn't insult your intelligence by pretending you'd fall for it. So I'll just say this…

Everyone asked me today what it's like to hit the big seven-oh and be seventy years of age. It's remarkably like it was yesterday when I was sixty-nine and nothing at all like what I once thought seventy would be like. Seems to me that people waste way too much time fretting about what some older age will be like. I was certainly wrong. I don't feel seventy with the exception of my knees which feel 108 years old some days. I appreciate all the good thoughts…and if you're worrying about what it'll be like to be some older age, maybe you'll appreciate me telling you that I thought it would be worse than it is and maybe you too will find out it ain't that bad.

Jay Leno's version of You Bet Your Life has reportedly been renewed for a second season. I don't know if I said it here but I told several friends that I didn't think it had a chance. In so doing, I was committing one of the most frequent mistakes in Show Business: Underestimating Jay Leno.

The guy hosted The Tonight Show for close to 21 years in two stints and for all but about 18 months, it finished first in a highly-competitive time slot. That is way better than anyone expected of whoever followed Carson in the job. He could have been there much longer had not someone at NBC made the bonehead decision of yanking him off the air while he was still in First Place.

I suspect in every one of the 251 months he hosted, someone high-up in the TV business predicted an imminent plunge in his ratings and his departure from the job but they were as wrong as wrong could be. Apart from his deservedly-forgotten (and in many ways, sabotaged) show at 10 PM, he's done pretty well since he first started guest-hosting for Johnny. In Bill Carter's book on the Leno/Conan mess, he quotes Conan partisan Lorne Michaels as admitting, "Fortunes have been lost underestimating Jay Leno." I shall not make such predictions again.

In the meantime, I go through cycles when I do or don't watch Jeopardy! and I'm lately a watcher. When they get one of these constantly-returning champions who has it won halfway through the first round, I tend to find other shows to watch. And on this evening's episode, I could have won handily if I'd found some way to inject my opponents' buzzers with Krazy Glue. Knowing the answers is only part of what it takes to win. Ringing in first is a big part of it.

I've watched this show a long time but only recently did I learn something about it which I'd somehow missed. The player with the most money at the end of Final Jeopardy! wins that amount and comes back. The other two players don't get the amounts displayed on their podiums. The second-place finisher gets $2,000 and the person in third-place gets a thousand. Some of the wagers made in that last round make more sense to me now that I know that.

Again, I don't know if I said this here but when they were doing the tryouts, I told friends that I thought Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings were about equally good. After many months of seeing them alternating in the position, my opinion is that Ms. Bialik sounds too much the same in everything she says and that Mr. Jennings has grown into the job. But I'd probably watch just as often if she held down the job by herself. The host doesn't matter that much.

From The Ed Sullivan Show for November 22, 1970: Shirley Jones and Herschel Bernardi perform a number from The King and I and part of a salute to its composer, Richard Rodgers. As you can plainly see, Mr. Bernardi is perfectly cast as the King of Siam, now known as Thailand…

If you are in despair — or any similar state of emotional frustration — about what's happening in Ukraine, remember this: There's nothing you can do to stop the fighting, the bombing, the displacement, etc. There are people on this planet who can maybe do something but I doubt any of them find their way to this blog.

But there is something you can do to help. I've mentioned it many times here but Operation USA is my charity-of-choice to make a contribution. Operation USA is non-political, non-racial, non-religious. They have no agenda except to help people whose lives have been made miserable for any reason — war and weather being two of the main ones. Very little that you give them goes to the folks who run it or to the expenses of fund-raising. They're helping the people in Ukraine who are without homes or a country. You can help those people by helping Operation USA…

Since my sweet tooth went away around 2008, I eat neither…but there was a time when I wondered what the difference was between ice cream and gelato. That is, besides the price in some stores and the attitude.

• I used to write TV shows where we hired a company to bring in live audiences for our tapings. If they'd brought in a live audience like the one at the State of the Union address tonight, we'd have hired a different company.

The Pandemic has forced a lot of us to alter our life styles and I'm sure I'm not the only person who has discovered some modifications that I prefer.  I have friends who once worked in an office, now work at home…and both they and their employers have decided they like it better that way.  Most voiceover jobs are now done with the actors not commuting to outside recording studios but instead recording in studios they've built in their homes.  It may stay that way even after we have the Absolutely All Clear from the C.D.C.  (A top cartoon voice actor confessed to me that when he records now, he dresses only the part of him that is visible on-camera.  The rest of him is in pajamas.)

I have come to really appreciate the ease of home deliveries from Costco, which I get via my membership with Instacart.  As I mentioned here, once a week I get a delivery from them.  It has to be over $35 or I pay a delivery fee but reaching $35 with Costco is a cinch.  I order two rotisserie chickens — one for me, one for my cleaning lady — and that's $12.42 right there.

When they aren't out of it, which they often are lately, a two-pack of Rao's Marinara Sauce is another $13.42 so that brings me to $25.84.  I can easily make the $35 with almost any supply the cleaning lady needs to keep my home spotless or anything else I want or require.  Recently, it dawned on me that a weekly (or so) order is a very cost-efficient way to shop at Costco.

When I used to actually go into the store, I didn't do that every week or even every month…so I stocked up.  I certainly never get out of a Costco for anywhere near $35.  I bought a lot of things on a "just in case I run out" basis and I probably overbought on occasion.  There were also those irresistible Costco Impulse Buys when you see, say, a set of four snow tires for $34.42 and you think, "I can't pass that up.  What if it snows in Los Angeles for the first time since January 15, 1932?"  (They got two whole inches that day.  Is that enough to require snow tires?  I wouldn't know.)

Costco, using the same principle on view at Disneyland or almost any casino, is laid out to promote the Impulse Buy.  The items you want when you go in there — toilet paper, paper towels, pet food, laundry detergent, rotisserie chickens — are at the back of the store. You have to walk past 7,000 items to get to them…7,000 moments when you might say, "Hey, that's a great price on that." And before you realize you don't need fifty gallons of French's Mustard, it's in your cart.

And then you get to thinking how many hot dogs you're going to need now that you've got all that mustard. Plus, you'll have to have matching amounts of buns, relish, Kirkland Signature Ultra Strength antacid tablets…

True, you don't get all those great free samples by ordering online from Costco. But I'll bet not going into the store saves me a Costco-sized bundle of money.

And as I said, I always get two rotisserie chickens. They're easy, they're cheap (I get about six meals out of one) and they're delicious. So you can imagine my shock/horror/surprise the other night when I placed an order to be delivered the following morning and saw what's just below this paragraph.  I could "request" my chickens but not order them because they were "Likely out of stock."

Costco out of chickens? When? How? Why? Where? That just can't be. It's like McDonald's running out of burgers, New York running out of pizza, the Baltimore Orioles running out of ways to lose, Baskin-Robbins running out of flavors, Kellogg's running out of corn flakes (frosted or not), Philadelphia running out of cheesesteaks, Bic running out of lighters, Trump running out of lies, Reese's running out of Pieces, Gladys running out of Pips — well, you get the idea…

I won't keep you in suspense another moment: I got them. I ordered my two chickens and despite all warnings, they arrived. I'm thinking they were never out or close to being out; that it was just a computer error for a day or so. At least, I hope it was just that. The site where I order them now says nothing about a shortage of rotisserie chickens and I pray it never will. In these perilous, unpredictable times, it's nice to have one thing you can count on. I may check every hour on the hour just so I can feel secure. As of twenty-two minutes ago, they still had them.

Wikipedia tells us that the band Three Dog Night had 21 Billboard Top 40 hits between 1969 and 1975, with three hitting number one…and this was one of them: "Joy to the World," written by Hoyt Axton. Wikipedia also details the extraordinary number of performers who have at one time or another been part of Three Dog Night.

The band was huge in its day. In December 1972, they hosted the first New Year's Eve special that Dick Clark produced. It was called Three Dog Night's New Year's Rockin' Eve. This was for NBC and Clark did one more for that network — New Year's Rockin' Eve with host George Carlin unmentioned in the title — before signing a long-term deal with ABC. The shows were eventually titled Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

Getting back on topic here: Amazingly, Three Dog Night — which first released records in 1967 — "Joy to the World" was 1970 — is still performing. They broke up in 1976 but got back together in some form in 1981 and they're at the Seminole Casino Hotel Immokalee in Immokalee, FL this Saturday night and Sea World in Orlando on Sunday. What's more amazing is that the current roster includes two of the original members. One of them, Danny Hutton, got his start in the record business with Hanna-Barbera records.

Here they are on some show in 1971 lip-syncing (with no microphones in evidence) to the record, which is still popular…