Comic Con Report

After a whirlwind two weeks, I'm finally getting around to writing about my experiences at the 2011 Comic Con International. I went with my friends Greg Beda and Alan Groening.

We left on Tuesday, July 19th after a delay at the rental car place, which was a drag. They told Alan to pick up his car at a different time and through some sort of miscommunication, actually rented out the car we had reserved to someone else!

After that was straightened out, we were on our way. We got down to San Diego the same day, but decided to stop short at about 30 miles north because we were tired and the fact that we didn't officially have a place to stay until Wednesday night (The Doubletree). Along the way we ate at Harris Ranch Steak House. Pricey, but good.

On Wednesday, we finished our trek. Alan drove us to the convention hall and Greg and I got our exhibitor passes. Alan and I couldn't get out pro passes until 3pm for some dumb reason.

After getting the passes, Greg and I wheeled our stuff to our table and did a basic set up. Then, we met up with Alan and the three of us went to lunch. Afterwards, Greg went to the hotel, followed shortly by Alan, who now got his passes.

I decided to stay at the Con and set up because it was Preview night and I had to get the boxes I had my friends Linda and Skeet bring down separately to save on car space. Turns out I didn't need them, but I didn't know how well my books would sell. I could have gotten by with four boxes of books, but I had eight.

Wednesday night went very well and I sold a few books. Before the show I made a quick circle and said hi to a few people I know including Jerry Beck and a few different dealers.

After a night's sleep in the Doubletree, the Con started in earnest on Thursday, which started off really slowly. I also went round to some booths such as the Archie booth, the IDW booth and the Shout Factory booth. The three booths would be visited by me numerous times over the next couple of days.

I got the Archie book that Craig Yoe wrote and Greg and I contributed to signed by virtually everyone in attendance that worked for Archie including Dan Parent, George Gladir, Victor Gorelick and Jonathan Goldwater over the next few days.

Thursdays sales picked up by the end of the day, but not until I had purchased a large amount of "Dennis the Menace" comics. My collection is virtually complete.

On Friday, it was deader than Thursday and I decided for the first time in over a decade to take in a panel. This was the "Mad Magazine" panel and I brought my 2-volume "Cracked Mazagine" book set to give to Sam Viviano who works for "Mad" as Art Director and was indispensable in getting me in contact with Jack Davis, Al Jaffee and Angelo Torres, all of whom worked for "Cracked" at some point in their careers.

The panel featured Sam as well as Sergio Aragones, Peter Kuper, John Ficarra, Dick De Bartolo and a couple of guys who work on the new "Mad" cartoon show for Cartoon Network. They showed some clips from the show, which I felt were very funny. Then Ficarra did the equivalent of a stockholders meeting and used funny slides to tell the story of what "Mad" has been doing in the past year and when the next year holds for them.

Then the panel was opened up to questions. The highlight of the panel was when Peter Kuper ("Spy vs. Spy") picked up my "Cracked" book and said, "Oops, I'm at the wrong panel. This is a "Cracked" panel." I managed to get a photo of him doing this.

Afterwards, I exchanged pleasantries with Ficarra, Kuper and DeBartolo and then split back for my table.

Friday I said was exceptionally slow so Alan, Greg and I decided to do free sketches for tips to pass the time. I did a few Underdogs and many of The Beatles which I took photos of, because I knew that I would probably never see them again.

Saturday was Archie panel day and most of the Archie people that I mentioned appeared on the panel except George Gladir who seems to be a wandering spirit on his own time-frame and schedule. Turns out George was only there on Thursday, but he did come back on Sunday as you will find out shortly.

Sales were back up on Saturday and I purchased a few pages of original art. I got an Archie page, and some full color drawings of Hot Stuff, Spooky and Richie Rich from Dan Parent. I would have bought his Casper, but I didn't like the pose, and told Dan so. I said next time I will buy the rest of his Harvey drawings if he draws Casper again in a better pose. He also had Little Dot, Little Lotta and Wendy.

Craig Yoe was at the Archie panel for the "Archie" book, and I exchanged my Beatles book for his "Archie's Madhouse" book despite the fact that I helped him out on it. I guess I can't always get freebies for my work in lieu of pay. I also wanted to get his 3-D book, but he didn't want to trade for anything else, including the "Cracked" book. Surprising, but true.

I also bought some other original art including a Charles Rodrigues "Shut-Ups" page from "Cracked", a Vic Martin double-page spread from "Wacko", a Ray Billingsley page from "Crazy", a Mr. Howell production drawing from "New Adventures of Gilligan's Island" and a Casper production drawing from "Casper and the Angels".

I also got a few Two Morrows mags and books I had missed because they had a lot of their stuff at 40% off! I even bought an extra copy of the old "Comic Book Artist" issue that I wrote the major Harvey Comics article for.

Back at the table, the guy next to us had some incredible prints of paintings he had done including one of Casper with Velma from "Scooby-Doo", a 3-D looking print of Snoopy flying the dog house and a "Famous Monsters" parody cover called "Fabulous Monsters of Discoland" with Lincolnstein.

On Sunday, George Gladir made his return and showed up unexpectedly at our table. No one else was there, even Greg, who is a huge Archie fan. George posed for a picture with my "Cracked" book (his major accomplishments in life are writing for Archie and for "Cracked") and then he split. It was like a TV show or something as Greg showed up just as George was out of sight.

He did come back about an hour or so later and I asked George if he would stay for a bit. He said he would and Greg sat with him while I ran off to get Victor Gorelick and Craig Yoe. They all ran down to our table and I took various photos of the three of them together. Then after everyone departed, I took George to see Dan Parent at his table and took their photo, leaving George at that point.

Also, somewhere along the line Matt Groening came by. Alan phoned his mom and Matt spoke with her. She didn't believe it. I'm still not quite sure if Alan and Matt are related or not, yet they do share the same last name.

And, in my rushing around, I did pass a group of people and was wondering who they were escorting. I took a look and saw William Shatner in the center of the group being hustled to a panel or something. He looked just like he did on "$#!+ My Dad Says!"

I kept going back to the Shout Factory booth because they had postcards advertising the upcoming "Casper" DVD set that I wrote the booklet for and did commentaries on. I passed them out at my table. The DVD should be out on October 11.

I made a few last sales and trades. I got a "Smurfs" book in trade which is quite nice and the guy who runs Stand-Up Records, the label that gave Lewis Black his recording career start, bought a set of "Cracked" at the last minute, requesting that I ship them to him after the show.

I know somewhere along the line I spoke with Bill Morrison and John Lustig and Joe Staton and Roy Thomas and Walt Simonson and Neal Adams and Raphael Navarro and got autographs and/or photos in most cases.

Breakdown was relatively painless but we had to make a couple of trips to the parking garage at the Hilton as I had so many book boxes. We left a bit later than Greg and Alan have in the past, but a lot earlier than I have left when I have worked with Lee of Lee's Comics.

The three of us wanted to make it to Gorman, but only made it as far as Norwalk before we crashed for the night. Monday was all driving and it took forever as we stopped at many places along the road and Interstate 5 north whittled down to one lane for a time.

We finally got to San Jose about 5 or 6pm. I debated whether I would go to work on Tuesday, but in the end decided not to, opting to get some rest and do some follow-up emails and work on some pending projects including getting ready for a second round of Shout Factory commentaries, this time on "Tennessee Tuxedo" and "Underdog" as well as preps for the Archie Art Show at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.

Incidentally, that show runs through December 4 with a reception coming up on August 7.

Overall, the show was very good. I made some good contacts, bought some good original art and comics, saw a couple panels and sold a few books, at least enough to pay for my share of the table and hotel.

I still plan to post some more pictures on Facebook and on Photobucket. Stay tuned.

Archie Art Show on Now in San Francisco

Just a reminder that the Archie Art Show is going on now at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco through December 4th. Be sure to show up for the opening reception on August that should feature a cake with this image by Archie artist Rex Lindsey. The Cartoon Art Museum is located at 655 Mission Street.

San Diego

I got back from San Diego Comic Con or Comic Con International. I have some stories to tell, but not just yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Archie Art Show Now Open in San Francisco

My friend Greg Beda and I went to see the Archie Art Show at the Cartoon Art Museum at 655 Mission Street in San Francisco. There were a few minor errors that we hope to see corrected, but overall it is a good looking show. It's running now through December 4th. Artwork was provided by Greg and myself as well as by Bill Morrison, The Geppi Museum and Archie Publications. A reminder that there will be a free opening reception on August 7th with refreshments, but if you cannot wait, it's going on now.

The Walt Disney Family Museum Pictures

I went to the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco recently. If you get a chance to go...go! These are photos of what's in the lobby area. You aren't allowed to take photos on the interior but the museum exhibits are VERY detailed and go through Walt's entire life and accomplishments with many original artifacts and also many state of the art touchscreens and other visual and audial presentations. The best being a scale model of Disneyland that features every ride Walt conceived even if it appeared in the park after his lifetime. This means that it is a model of a Disneyland that never existed as it has items like House of the Future side-by-side with Space Mountain. VERY RECOMMENDED!

Haven't Blogged for a Bit...

because in the days leading up to Comic Con International, I've been swamped. Not only do I have to pack and make sure that I have everything including my books prepared for San Diego, I also have been writing (at last count) 50 various interview questions, I had to record an intro for the Casper DVD with my own inferior equipment, I had to deliver books that are being driven to San Diego, I have to give something to the Cartoon Art Museum, I had to do corrections for the revised version of the Archie book, I am transcribing a phone interview I did recently, I have to do another full day of commentary recordings and I somehow manage to keep my 9-5 job, so no time for good blogging. More soon...

Led Zepagain Photos

Shout Factory Commentaries

I spent the entire day today recording commentaries and being interviewed for Shout Factory's upcoming DVD releases of "Casper", "Underdog" and "Tennessee Tuxedo".

Whew! It's exhausting. Anyway, what made it exhausting is that I had to record commentary tracks for 16 different cartoons. While that doesn't seem like a lot, try to concentrate on what you are watching and also communicate with a person on the phone and keep everything within the 5-7 minute time frame.

I've always wanted to do commentaries and now I finally got my chance. Now that it's done, I want to do more. It's exhausting, but fun.

It took a little over nine hours to do, but it was well worth it. Results and release dates will be posted soon, as I know them.

Colgate Comedy Hour, Part II

So, I started writing about the "Colgate Comedy Hour" and got side-tracked about variety shows. I like the "Colgate Comedy Hour" as they had recurring celebrity guests. I'm watching a set on DVD which apparently has all 28 episodes featuring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as hosts.

Abbott and Costello were frequent hosts, as was Fred Allen, Eddie Cantor and Donald O'Connor.

The shows were done live and although rehearsed, there was a lot of free-wheeling adlibbing involved, especially in the Martin and Lewis episodes which caused them to cut-up A LOT! It was and is really, really funny.

In any case, a show like this is needed today and also the DVD sets of the older available episodes are a must see!

Colgate Comedy Hour

Why don't they make shows like this anymore? I've talked about variety shows before and the popular response as to why they don't do variety shows anymore is that they aren't very popular. However, back in the day, virtually every star had a variety show at some point. Some were better than others, but I realized after a time that what killed variety shows was Sid and Marty Krofft!

Up until S&M got their mitts on a variety show that became popular, there was no stopping them. Unfortunately, after their first success with "Donny & Marie", it was all down hill from there and strangely, the networks kept calling on them to produce lousy variety show after lousy variety show.

There follow-up shows included: "Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters", "The Brady Bunch Hour" and "Pink Lady and Jeff", the latter two effectively killing off the genre.

We need a variety show to break up the monotony of so many reality shows and so-so sitcoms and crime dramas.

Richie Rich #2

Much mixed feelings from the hard-core Richie Rich fans from the Richie Rich's Vault Yahoo Group. Personally, I like this reboot and have said so before, but many wish it would just go away. And so it will after two more issues, because there are no guarantees that this series will run past the initial four. I hope it does, but we shall see.

Many who are against it don't like the "anime" look of the entire venture. I tend to feel that it is written and drawn well despite being "off model".

Here's the cover to #2, which just came out last Wed.

I'm in the Metro (Again!)

On page 42 of this week's "Metro" (June 29-July 5, 2011), there is a review by Richard Von Busack of my "Cracked" book. Happy day! I wish that I could post the cover here, but I don't have access to a scanner at the moment. You can read the issue by clicking here:

Metro

Excellent Book, Delicate Subject

I read this book on loan from a friend of mine. I'd like to own it, but man, $200+! Is this book sexist? You bet. Is it also inciteful? Yes! It gets a bit bogged down by Kirksite's dabblings with women on a trip to Australia and New Zealand, but his main point of why and how men get caught up and dragged down by women sometimes is an inciteful book as "He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys", (which I've also read and liked.) This book should have been as popular as that one, but men typically don't read or care about these kind of "self-help" books.

Kirksite's writing style is very easy and quick and it's a shame that the book is not more readily available. I think that's mainly due to the sensitive nature of the subject matter. It's not going to win many female supporters, if any.

Time for a Political Rant of Sorts on Words

This may be a meandering one, but I feel like airing my grievances and I can't wait until Festivus.

A friend of mine has taken issue with the term "Obamacare" in use in headlines of various newspapers. I asked him what term he would use and he said, "Obama's Health Care Plan" or similar such verbiage.

His complaint is that by the use of "Obamacare" in the headlines of a news story is akin to editorializing and professing an editorial bias. While I agreed with his assessment on the face of it, the unfortunate thing is that we do live in a world of lingo and abbreviations and I believe the papers are not taking an editorial slant, rather they are using the common or becoming common terminology of the day in their writing. Does this mean it is correct or right? Not necessarily. Newspapers really should be above using slang.

I explained that even 10 years ago, no one said, "I'm going to Google that subject." Now, Google is a commonly used verb even if Webster's doesn't agree. Another example is the terminology of "Watergate". Despite the fact that this one word seems to sum up the entire description of the Nixon White House in his second term, it is really just the name of a hotel. The term "Watergate" shouldn't even be used. Instead, it should be hotel break-in or just break-in.

What makes matters worse is that now the term "fill-in-the-blank-gate" has permeated our society as a term to describe some sort of scandal. We use the terminology all of the time and it really doesn't mean anything. Putting gate on the end of something is ultimately just a bad etymology. So, if someone stole a bunch of gold, would we call the scandal Golden Gate? Or if Bill Gates did something wrong, would we call it Gatesgate? It's all pretty silly if you ask me.

So, back to Obamacare. Yes, we shouldn't call it that, but it's now too late. It is the jargon of the Republicans planning to get elected who strangely enough call themselves the Tea Party and that has been bastardized into the Teabaggers.

Tea Party isn't even a proper term for what they are doing. The Boston Tea Party had to do with taxation without representation, not about higher or lower taxes or overthrowing incumbant parties, which is supposedly what the Tea Party is on about. And representation means (for those who don't know) a voice in the political system, not overthrow (despite the fact that they threw tea into Boston Harbor as a protest).

In other news, I now see handmade stickers popping up all over the place that say "Obama Failed Us". I got so agitated that I wrote "Republicans Have Too" on one of them. I'm still a registered Republican, but in my lifetime, I've seen the Democrats become the traditional Republicans and the traditional Republicans just go off the deep end and have become the party of "Against".

The Againsters would be a better name for the Republicans who seem to just be against whatever's happening in the other party. If Bush implemented any of the things Obama has (and actually he did in some cases before he left office like the first bailout), the Tea Party would think it was the greatest thing in the world, but because it was a (shudder) Democrat who's (more shuddering) also a black man doing this stuff, it's suddenly not cool.

The two parties are all the same and they should just get along for that very reason. Neither party is really willing to end the war or raise taxes on the very wealthy or cut stuff that really needs to be cut. Stuff that actually could improve the economy.

Off of soapbox...for now...

Weird Al is Back!

Actually, he never went anywhere. A few months ago, I bemoaned the fact that Weird Al hasn't released an album of new music since 2006, which is true, but since 2006 has posted new videos and songs on the Internet. Finally, Al has released his new album "Alpocalypse" which does not fail to disappoint.

On this one, he does parodies of Lady Gaga and other current acts. The thing that amazes me about the 51-year-old Al is that he does parodies of acts that I usually hear AFTER his parody. It's like he's making these people's careers. In actuality, even thought I try to keep up with current music, I certainly don't do it to the depths that I used to. Instead, picking on a few choice newer acts that catch my interest like Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. I don't tend to like hard-core rap or syrupy ballads and so avoid a lot of people that Al has parodied.

In other words, I usually enjoy Al's previous album better by the time the new one comes out. So, I like "Straight Outa Lynwood" much much better than I did in 2006.

Some people HATE Weird Al, which is their right. He is not for all tastes. In any case, you've got to admit the dedication and detail Al pays not only to his parodies, but in his original songs as well.

The highlight of Al's latest for me is his Doors genre parody called "Craigslist". Ray Manzarek actually performs keyboards on this and the second disc DVD contains a video of it with Al doing Morrison par excellence.

For those who can't stand to have a second disc with DVD videos, you can also just purchase the single disc CD.

Another thing, I'm sure Al won't do this, but I think it would be funny if Al did a video of "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" where he sings alongside Allan Sherman and does a duet with him a la Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole.

Finally, I was reading Wikipedia's coverage about Weird Al and was surprised to find out how many music acts that I like that also like Weird Al don't like parodies of their own songs including Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page and Prince. Hey guys, lighten up. Geez, your image isn't THAT good. In fact it is an honor to have Weird Al do your song. I know that I would like to hear "Chicken Pot Pie" ("Live and Let Die") and the Led Zeppelin polka medley. And Billy Joel, get over the "It's Still Billy Joel to Me", one of the funniest unreleased Weird Al parodies of all time.

White Album Ensemble

I saw the White Album Ensemble with friends last night at San Jose's free Music in the Park. I've seen them before, and they were as good as usual, but this time did not play any Beatles album through its entirety, instead focusing on Beatles songs everyone knows and loves, with particular attention to the 1966-1970 period. There were also a couple solo Lennon songs ("Imagine", "Instant Karma") thrown in for good measure. This time they had a full brass section, which I don't think they had before. I seem to remember the brassy sections being done on the keyboard before.

The Ensemble is different from other Beatles covers bands as they make no attempt to really look or sound like The Beatles. They just perform and sing the songs very well, and that's all that's really necessary. So, if you ever get a chance to see them, do!

I snapped some photos which I am showing here.

Jack Sheldon and Gene Colan

Of course, lots of famous people I admire die all the time, but never two in one day that I've actually met!

I'm saddened to say the passings of Jack Sheldon and Gene Colan.

I met Jack a few years ago at a Ronnie Schell comedy benefit at San Francisco State University. He was there with the also now late Merv Griffin. Jack and Merv used to work together and they went on stage with some fun patter about celebrities and music and comedy. Merv sang a few songs and Jack played his trumpet.

Jack was better know to us kiddies as the singer for "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just a Bill" for "Schoolhouse Rock". He even sang a parody of "Bill" on the "Simpsons" once called "I'm an Amendment to Be". He was a jolly guy when I met him backstage and really enjoyed cutting up with Merv, who was also a great guy.

Gene Colan appeared at a signing at Lee's Comics in 2007. He was already in ill health and the reason that he was doing the signing in the first place was to earn money to pay for his medical bills. Gene was very soft-spoken and very cordial and signed my Marvel book and also the second volume of Dark Horse's "Creepy" reprints.

I saw him soon after at the Cartoon Art Museum and I believe also at Wondercon and was thinking to myself, "This guy isn't sick, he does more traveling than me!" He was with his second wife, Adrienne at the time, who later, in a bizarre set of circumstances physically assaulted Gene and then took her own life in 2010. At the time of me meeting her, Adrienne appeared to be normal. Apparently, not so.

Although he did work for "Daredevil" and "Iron Man", it was his work for "Howard the Duck" and "Tomb of Dracula" that I admired most. He even did some work for "Cracked"!

I miss them both.

UPDATE: Seems that reports of Sheldon's death are greatly exaggerated! Details later...

Joan Walsh Anglund

My sister was really into Joan Walsh Anglund when we were kids in the 70s. Back then, they issued numerous books, dolls and calendars with the large-headed, no-mouthed children who's only intent is to be cute.

This type of design has since been surpassed by the likes of Hello Kitty, but I saw a book today of some poetry and drawings by Anglund, so I decided to look her up on Wikipedia.

They actually have removed her entry, but I did discover in another spot that she was born in 1926 and is still alive. I don't know what she currently does or if she currently does any artwork. She may just be old and feeble. Does anyone have any news?

Blu-Ray

Mark Evanier commented on his blog entry about the upcoming Blu-Ray release of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" that he has not embraced the new format. His reasoning being that by the time he converts to the new format, the Blu-Ray will be deemed obsolete. I tend to agree with that notion despite having friends that swear by Blu-Ray.

Now, I am no luddite, but I tend to embrace new formats that seem to be practical and do not compromise what I already own. Also, cost and availability has a lot to do with it, too.

In the case of video, I go back to the stone ages of Super 8 and actually purchased a few 7 minute films that cost 10x more than an entire DVD does today.

When video tape came in, my dad purchased a Beta machine in early 1977. I thought this was the greatest invention of the world. Unfortunately, Sony was slow on the uptake on video tape and very soon VHS took over. I HATED that format, and initially refused to embrace it, until it became impossible to find Beta tapes anymore. This despite the fact that Beta is a better quality video tape format than VHS ever was.

Next came 12" laser discs and video discs. Many people got laser discs, but I passed due to the cost and the fact that you had to flip everything over to get the rest of the film. Besides, by this time, vinyl record albums were on the way out and being replaced by CD's. I saw no purpose in replacing the large format discs with another version.

Now my mom purchased a video disc machine. This differed from the laser disc as the principle was more closely related to the vinyl record with a needle than what eventually became the DVD. Had my mom not purchased one of these machines, I would have bypassed this format as well

Next came DVD. I totally embraced this format, but was initially hesitant, thinking that it wouldn't catch on. I made the conscious decision to not by DVD's unless Disney released them and the machines dropped in price lower than $200. Eventually, Disney joined the DVD race with "Mary Poppins" and machines did get lower, and I sold virtually all of my video tapes. (I still have my films, however...)

Now, it's Blu-Ray. I haven't accepted this format primarily because I don't have a high-definition TV (and don't plan to get one anytime soon), the movies I tend to buy aren't released on Blu-Ray anyway, and the ones that are, usually don't have much that's significantly different in that format.

Now, if they released the COMPLETE Looney Tunes or something to Blu-Ray, you can bet your boots I'd be buying them, and a new TV and a Blu-Ray player today.

Also, agreeing with Mark Evanier, if I did transition over, they'd probably replace it with a new format as soon as I got it, such as streaming video or video on a flash drive or such similar non-spinning device.

Robert Crumb at the San Jose Museum of Art

Well not him, but his artwork. This show runs June 23 through September 25, 2011, and it will be the last time all the pages of Robert Crumb's Book of Genesis will be together in one setting as after this the pages will be split up and sold.

I went to a sneak preview today and took a few pics. Highly recommended!