Back in the Sixties, a comic book series called T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents failed to attract a large-enough audience to keep its publisher afloat.  How odd then that, more than thirty years later, there are enough fans of the comic to warrant a whole issue of Comic Book Artist devoted to it.  But there apparently are.  Jon B. Cooke and his thunderous squad of interviewers and researchers have tracked down most of the surviving contributors for interviews, and even dug up heretofore-unpublished artwork.  The result is a terrific overview and a tonweight of comic book history and information that would have been lost if Jon and Company hadn't cobbled together this issue.  So far, every issue of CBA has managed something of the sort.  I only wish it had come along years ago, so more creators could have divulged more info before they left us.

You can pick up a copy at any good comic shop or by visiting the TwoMorrows website and, yes, I'll even supply you with a link.

I've received a number of e-mails asking me who's going to take over as the voice of Garfield now that Lorenzo Music has left us.  (I've also received an embarrassing number of phone calls and e-mails from folks who covet the job.)  The answer is that no one involved in the Garfield business wants to discuss it now.  Too soon, too soon.

Attention, Three Stooges fans! Saturday evening, American Movie Classics is running Soup to Nuts, an almost-never-seen, 193o feature starring Ted Healy, for whom the Stooges were originally stooges.  And in in supporting roles, you'll find Moe, Larry…and Shemp, since this — the Stooges' first screen appearance — was made before Shemp left the group and was replaced by Curly.  (Years later, Curly had a stroke, whereupon Shemp returned to the act in his stead.)  The movie was allegedly written by the famed cartoonist, Rube Goldberg, who has a small cameo.  Most of it was ghost-scripted, however, by Lou Breslow, who later wrote some of the weaker Laurel and Hardy movies.  Probably not a cinema classic but, hey, it's history.

The Broadway show, The Producers, not only sells out every night, they also sell standing room and any tickets that become available due to cancellations.  Someone who attempted to purchase the former recently posted a message to one of the newsgroups that tells how the process works.  Here's a link that oughta allow you to read this message.  (By the way: For those of you tracking such info or holding tickets for September 4-9, Matthew Broderick is taking that week off.)

Some people think that Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, The Hulk and many other super-guys had their greatest adventures in a series of one-page Hostess ads that ran in their comics in the seventies.  And it's true: Seeing Batman battle the Joker for hostess of a couple of twinkies or Dr. Octopus purloining Spider-Man's fruit pies was kinda entertaining (in a silly way) and no worse than certain of their "real" exploits.  You can see them for yourself because someone has set up a website that purports to display every one of these four-color classics.  Get there by clicking here.

I would like to recommend a political reporter/commentator to you.  His name is Joshua Micah Marshall and he writes for, among other outlets, Slate, Salon, New Republic and The American Prospect.  Every day or so, he posts an interesting "Talking Points Memo" on his website and I find them always worth reading.  See if you don't, too, by clicking on this link.

You are gazing on the rarely-seen face of writer-actor Lorenzo Music, who passed away ten days ago, and who was — as I and many others have noted — a wonderful creative force and friend.  This photo is fairly recent and it was on a handout at the memorial service held last night at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills.  A rather spectacular assemblage of talented folks were present and, while it may seem odd for someone to say they had a great time at a memorial service for a pal…well, let's just say that Lorenzo, who had given us so many entertaining shows during his life, was responsible for yet another last evening.  Everyone always wants to know who was at these things so here's a brief rundown of just some of those who were in attendance and whose names may be familiar to you…

The speakers included Bob Newhart, Jack Riley, Ed Asner, Beverly Sanders, Alan Barzman, Patti Deutsch, Marcia Wallace and several others, including Yours Truly and a pretty funny rabbi.  In the audience, one could spot Peter Bonerz, Gary Owens, Avery Schreiber, James L. Brooks, Stan Freberg, June Foray, Thom Sharp, Rosanna Arquette, David Arquette, Julie Kavner, Maurice La Marche, Tress MacNeille, Gregg Berger, Laura Summer, Danny Mann, Mary Gross, Edie McClurg, Dan Castellenetta, Julie Payne…and I'm probably leaving out at least fifty other names of popular actors, both on-camera and voice, to say nothing of the non-SAG friends and family that packed the Writers Guild Theater.  A rousing gospel choir closed the formal event which was followed by a party that Lorenzo would also have loved.

Some of those folks knew him from his days as a writer and story editor on the now-legendary sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  He was also usually responsible for the show's warm-up, greeting the audience and getting them all in the proper mood to laugh at Mary and Ted and Murray and Mr. Grant.  His warm-ups were also legendary, at least within the business, for Lorenzo was superb at holding an audience in rapt interest, and just listening to him made people smile.

We all smiled a lot at the memorial service.  And laughed.  And there were even a few tears, but not that many.  I think we've all moved past that, as you have to in life, and we were there to share stories of our friend, to embrace his wonderful family and to indulge in one big group hug.

Lorenzo…I don't know if they have Internet connections where you are but, assuming they do and the hook-up's fast enough to read this page, I want to say the following to you: I hope you heard all the warm, loving and funny tales that were related last evening.  I hope you know how terrific everyone thought your wife and kids are and that we meant all those nice things we said about you to them.  And when I go, I hope I have at least a fourth as many wonderful and fascinating friends turn out to say good-bye to me.  I only wish you could be one of them.

No, I haven't forgotten you, my friends.  I've just been buried up to here in deadlines.  (In case the webcam isn't working and you can't see me, I'm holding my hand under my chin.  The third chin from the bottom, in fact.)

We will be back soon with new comments and links and fun things to do.  Just as soon as a couple of assignments stop breathing fire and smoke.

I neglected to thank B. Baker for the tip-off on the article about The Projectionist.  Thank you. B. Baker.

How do you know when political reporters have absolutely nothing to write about?  Answer: They write about Al Gore's chances in 2004.

Isn't it a little early for that?  All this talk about who'll be the Democratic nominee for prez in '04, how he'll fare against Bush, whether Cheney will be on the ticket and so on strikes me as way more than premature.  By the time that election begins for real, there'll be completely different issues and players before us.  We may or may not be at war with Iraq.  We may or may not have had more terrorist attacks.  The economy may or may not have made a solid recovery.  There may or may not have been hundreds more Worldcom/Enron style scandals.  Cheney may or may not be in decent health.  Et cetera, et cetera…

Other, unpredictable issues of equal importance may have — probably will have — emerged.  On September 10 last year, few (if any) imagined that fighting terrorism was about to become Job One.  And when it did, few imagined that fighting corporate corruption would soon become an issue of as much importance as it has.  Add to all this the fact that at least one prominent politician will get indicted for some crime, some prominent politician will say something so stupid their constituents will desert him, some prominent politician will have a sex scandal…

Again, et cetera, et cetera…

I have only one prediction, which I've made here before.  I think, in '04, the question will be, "Do you feel safer now than you did on September 11?"  If most voters feel that, as a result of the actions of the current administration, they're less afraid of annihilation, Bush could get caught humping a sheep and still win a second term.  If they feel not enough has been done and/or that "the war" (whatever its scope at the time) has been bungled, almost anyone will be able to beat him.  The other stuff may matter in terms of Congress because the less the country trusts Bush on the economy, the more likely they are to want Democratic representatives to stop him from running amok.  But none of it has anything to do with who'll win the presidential election of 2004 or even who'll be on the ballots.

Nice article in today's New York Daily News about The Projectionist.  This was a brilliant but undercirculated little movie made back in the sixties, starring Chuck McCann and the man we now know as Rodney Dangerfield.  It deals with a lonely film buff who fantasizes himself into the movies he's screening, and it has a wonderful low-budget, improvisational feeling — one of those films that is much-loved by the few who've seen it.  Here's the link to the article…and here's a link to where you can purchase the film on DVD.  (I love the fact that Amazon is also selling it in a bundle with Citizen Kane — the best known great movie and the least known…)  Well worth seeing.

I don't really know enough about stem-cell research to have an opinion on it.  I suspect 95% of America doesn't, either.  However, most folks have decided it's some sort of add-on to the abortion issue so it must be decided accordingly.  This necessitates the same kind of juggling act that so many Republican politicians have performed for the last few years…to amazing success:

They must convince "Pro-Lifers" within the party that they are against abortion; that they consider all abortions — except, in some cases, those involving rape, incest or the survival of the mother — as premeditated Baby Murdering…

They must convince "Pro-Choicers" within the party (and any independents or rogue Democrats whose support may be snagged) that they will not actually act upon the above belief, and don't really think that if you participate in an abortion, you're in any way a Baby Murderer.

So our President's position on stem-cell research — trying to have it both ways and to not make either faction too angry — was probably a foregone conclusion.  Over on Slate, William Saletan has an interesting piece that parses Bush's statement and points up the Herculean effort that seems to have been made to double-talk his way out of a no-win policy decision.  Here's that link.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have applied for reimbursement for certain legal expenses relating to the Whitewater investigation.  I'm guessing they are less interested in the money than in tweaking the noses of all those Republicans who have trouble admitting that it uncovered no wrongdoing whatsoever on their parts.  In any case, for what seems like a good explanation of the legalities of such reimbursements — and why the Clintons may not receive theirs — check out this article by John W. Dean.

At the Comic-Con International in San Diego, I introduced Ray Bradbury and Julius Schwartz on a wonderful panel and also brought up comics legend Al Feldstein to meet Bradbury for the first time, fifty years after adapting his stories for the pages of EC comics.  A couple of those gents would love to have photos of the panel or the meeting or both.  If you took one, would you please contact me?  Thanks.

Also: Some time ago, for no visible reason, I registered the domain name, www.comicbookwriter.com.  Don't bother clicking on it because it just forwards you to the front page of this site.  I guess I just claimed the name because no one else had and I thought I might figure out some good use for it.  Well, I haven't.  Do you have any brilliant ideas for a great site that should be at that address?  Keeping in mind that I don't have the time to do anything for it?  If so, I'd be glad to sell the web address or lease it for no profit, just so it doesn't go to someone who ruthlessly exploits professional or aspiring comic book scribes.

Do you like to look at photos of old coffee shops and motels and such?  A very nice display of them can be seen at the website for Roadside Magazine.  Here's a direct link to the piece.

My pal Steven Grant is one of the better writers of comic books, among other things.  And among the other things is a regular column over at Comic Book Resources.  It's always interesting but the current installment — which is about his occasional collaborator, the late and great Gil Kane — is especially fine reading.  Here comes the link.

One of the many wonderful qualities that Lorenzo Music possessed was his tendency and talent for putting people together and fomenting friendships.  So it was fitting and, in an odd way, appropriately comforting that his passing should continue the practice.  Shortly after posting an obit here, I began to hear from folks who knew him — some, more-or-less strangers to me; others, old friends with whom I hadn't communicated in a long time.  It's unfortunate that it sometimes takes a tragedy to put people back in touch but, well, it does.

You'd be genuinely amazed how many e-mails I received regarding the obit I wrote.  On the other hand, it took five days before any of those folks pointed out to me that in one part, I called his wonderful spouse Henrietta — which is correct — and in another, Harriet, which is not.  I apologize, Henrietta, and I've corrected it. (This is what happens when you type with moist eyes.)

Want to read another, more detailed bio on Lorenzo?  Craig Crumpton, who is a wise and informed scholar of the cartoon voice biz, has one at his site.  You can reach it by clicking here.  And some words from Jim Davis can be read on the Garfield website.

And yet another damned obituary: Jerry DeFuccio passed away last night.  Jerry was a veteran of EC Comics, having worked as an assistant editor, researcher and occasional writer for Harvey Kurtzman's war comics during their "golden" period.  When Mad Magazine got up and running, Jerry became one of its Associate Editors and remained there for more than 25 years.  (A few years after he departed, he resurfaced for a brief time at Cracked).

Anyone who visited the Mad offices during his years there probably met and spent time with Jerry.  He was the magazine's historian, researcher and unofficial greeter.  He was also a devout student of comic book history who was responsible for unearthing much that is today known about vintage funnybooks.  He was very nice to me when I first ventured into the halls of Mad, as he was to just about everyone.  I wish I had more info on his life to pass along here…

Christopher Hewett passed away last week.  He was best known for playing the title role on the situation comedy, Mr. Belvedere, which — I was surprised to just learn — was on ABC for five whole years.

I have, you may be shocked to know, an anecdote about working with Mr. Hewett, albeit briefly.  In 1983, I was writing a show for ABC and a cameo appearance was arranged with the stars of Fantasy Island in the interest of network solidarity and cheesy cross-promotion.  Hewett had just joined the cast (replacing Herve Villechaize as Mr. Roarke's sidekick) so he and Ricardo Montalban came by to tape a couple of short bits. When Hewett came into the room, I couldn't resist: In my best Gene Wilder simulation, I muttered, "Max, he's wearing a dress."  There was a pause as everyone else in the room looked at me like I was more insane than usual.  None of them got the reference.  None of them recalled that Christopher Hewett played the effeminate director, Roger DeBris, in Mel Brooks's classic movie, The Producers.

Mr. Hewett, fortunately, threw back his head and howled with laughter.  We talked a bit about the film — "A great honor…my one disappointment was that they wouldn't allow me to keep the wardrobe" — and about his then-recent stint on stage, playing Captain Hook to Sandy Duncan in Peter Pan.  He was a wonderful Hook, wallowing in villainy and masterfully goading the audience into hissing his every move.  And though his off-camera manner made Roger DeBris look dead butch, his on-stage piracy was right in masculine character.  (I have seen some Hooks whose feet touched the floor less often than Peter's.)

After praising his performance in that, I was groping for something else to say and I hit upon, "Was that your first time on Broadway?"

Given his résumé, It was an incredibly-stupid question but he was ever-so-polite in how he told me that.  "Oh, no, dear boy," he said.  "I've trod those boards many a time."

"Really?"  I asked.  "What was your first Broadway show?"

He said, "My Fair Lady."  And I could tell he wasn't talking about any revival.  He meant the original version; the one with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews.

I looked it up when I got home.  Sure enough, he originated the role of Zoltan Karpathy, the Hungarian linguistics professor who threatens to expose Eliza Doolittle when Higgins takes her to the ball.  It was a smaller role on stage than it was in the movie, but hell, even a cameo in that show was theatrical history.

He appeared thereafter in dozens of theatrical productions, many of them on Broadway, and in the occasional film and TV role until he joined Fantasy Island.  After that show went off, Mr. Belvedere made him a star and, I'd suspect, a very wealthy man.  It is an odd irony of show business that someone can devote a lifetime to the stage and have it as their first love…and then they do a sitcom or a commercial and achieve near-instant fame and fortune.  (Sir Laurence Olivier, it is said, made more money in three years doing commercials for Polaroid Cameras than he did in all his Shakespearean appearances, combined.)

So it was a bit sad to see all those obits that spoke only of Hewett's TV work.  There are those out there who consider My Fair Lady the greatest musical ever produced on stage and The Producers, the funniest movie ever made.  Most actors go their entire lives without being in anything as wonderful as either of those…and Christopher Hewett, may he rest in peace, was part of both.

As a wallower in Watergate lore, I feel a tingle at the news that technicians may be able to recover the audio on the infamous 18-and-a-half minute gap on one of Nixon's tapes.  For those of you who've forgotten or never knew: One of the tapes that was subpoenaed in the Watergate investigation was of the first conversation that President Nixon had with his Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, following the Watergate break-in.  The presumption was that, if Nixon had prior knowledge of the criminal activity, that was when it would have been mentioned.  But the tape in question turned out to have a long section in which the audio was erased — deliberately so, said the experts.

Personally, I feel that various memos and other bits of evidence that have since surfaced have pretty well proved that Nixon knew of and probably ordered that such activities be conducted.  He may not have known of the specific break-in plans but he knew.  Nevertheless, the case is not airtight, so his partisans can still deny it.  I remain skeptical that the audio can be resurrected but it sure would be nice to settle the matter definitively.