You know the drill on this monthly feature. Life is chaotic. Life is sometimes joyous and sometimes very hard. Every day, I post one of these to remain myself of the good things in my life.
June saw me discovering the Comet channel in my cable package and recording a whole bunch of sci-fi movies from the 1950s and 1960s. I traveled to the Fingerlakes Comic Con, a little show with a lot of heart that got screwed over by its venue. I held my first Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales. Marvel Comics brought me to New York for a special screening of Luke Cage Season Two and then, a mere three days later, Los Angeles for the world premiere of Ant-Man and the Wasp. While we were out of town, fourteen new windows were installed in our house.
June ended with sadness. Harlan Ellison, my dear friend of so many decades, passed in his sleep. I’m dealing with my grief and will be writing about Harlan very soon.
June ended with hope. While “From Tony Isabella, Creator of Black Lightning” doesn’t seem to mean as much to DC Comics/Entertainment as it should, it means something to others. By the end of July, I hope to announce my next major gig. It’s not comics.
July will likely involve considerable writing, hard work, ups and downs. As we commence this new month, here are the things that made me happy last month...
June 1: Black Lightning Season Two will have 16 episodes, three up from the first season. I’m excited!
June 2: My pal Rick Santman gave me a copy of Patsy and Hedy Annual #1 for use in a future installment of my “July 1963" series in my bloggy thing.
June 3: Comet TV. I’m loving this channel. Old monster and science fiction movies, many of which I have never seen or have not seen in years. Look for reviews in upcoming my bloggy things.
June 4: Charley’s War: The Definitive Collection by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun. One of the very best war comics of all time is again being reprinted in what I think is the best format yet. Brilliant comics and recommended to one and all.
June 5: After over a decade of work being stalled on it, our master bedroom bathroom (aka Barb’s bathroom) is almost finished. We just need a door for the shower and a new radiator.
June 6: Brian Augustyn. My former Black Lightning editor posted a Facebook message of friendship, respect and support that was a big help in helping me shake off the blues.
June 7: I’ll be down to just two storage units by the end of June. With luck, I’ll be down to just one by the end of September. This is an Isabella family milestone.
June 8: The Fingerlakes Comic Con. Promoter Joey Gates worked hard on this event. I had a great time hanging out with friends old and new.
June 9: Dinner with Ed Catto and Don McGregor on Friday night. Such good people.
June 10: Spending time with my friends Dionne and Jeanie during the Fingerlakes Comic Con.
June 11: Dinner with John Zarkour and his family on Saturday. John writes so much cool stuff it makes me dizzy.
June 12: Saintly Wife Barb and I will be going to the premiere of Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp in Los Angeles.
June 13: The Asylum’s Avengers Grimm: Time Wars. Not a great movie, but an entertaining way to spend an hour and a half.
June 14: An old friend wants to work with me on a project involving two characters I’ve written before. Five minutes after I tell him I’ll come up with something, I come up with something really cool.
June 15: Mike Colter talking Luke Cage on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. It’s so great to see our super-hero world on one of my favorite programs. I’m very excited for season two.
June 16: Friday kicked off my first garage sale of 2018. My friends Martin and Pam drove in from Michigan and I saw many local friends as well. I made 79% of my goal for the two-day event.
June 17: Seeing Steve Benjamin, former employee of my Cosmic Comics store in the 1980s and a member of my wedding party, at my garage sale. He’s now a drama teacher and hasn’t aged more than a couple days.
June 18: Saturday evening with Barb. We celebrated our anniversary with a nice meal at Burntwood Tavern, picked up my new suit, did a bit of shopping at Earth Fare and visited son Ed in his new house. Raising two great kids in 34 years of marriage and counting. Yes, I know I’m blessed.
June 19: Father’s Day with Barb, Ed and Kelly. The kids helped me reduce my storage units from three to two. We had a great dinner at Fiesta Jalapeno.
June 20: DC Comics Variant Covers: The Complete Visual History. I question the “complete” part, but this coffee table book is so gorgeous I want to buy a new coffee table just to put it on.
June 21: Showed Ant-Man to Saintly Wife Barb in preparation for our attending the premiere of Ant-Man and the Wasp. She enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching it again with her.
June 22: Having dinner with my goddaughter Kara and her mom Sandie in New York City, then seeing Kara’s sixth floor walk-up and not dying. Guess there’s still some life in me.
June 23: Attending a special screening of the first two episodes of Luke Cage Season Two. Watching great television with great people. Thanks to David Bogart, Tim Brevoort and Brian Overton for making me feel like part of the Marvel family.
June 24: Attending a New York Mets game with my son Ed. Citi Field is a pretty nice ballpark and, though the Mets lost, we saw a grand slam home run.
June 25: Attending the Ant-Man and the Wasp premiere in Los Angeles with Saintly Wife Barb. Terrific event, terrific movie and terrific personal moments with Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Laurence Fishburne.
June 26: Breakfast with Mark Evanier, one of my dearest and oldest friends. He even drove Barb and I to LAX afterward.
June 27: Fourteen new windows for Casa Isabella. Sure, technically, they are still being installed as I post this, but they sure look swell.
June 28: Getting a new window in my office and opening it for the first time in a decade. While it lasted, the fresh air breeze was nice.
June 29: Harlan Ellison. I mourn his loss while being grateful for his friendship and all the ways he showed me how much he loved me. It was mutual.
June 30: Rob Liefeld’s nice shout-out to me on Facebook. Rob and I might have different approaches to comics, but he loves comics as much as anyone. I’m happy to call him a friend.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
© 2018 Tony Isabella
June saw me discovering the Comet channel in my cable package and recording a whole bunch of sci-fi movies from the 1950s and 1960s. I traveled to the Fingerlakes Comic Con, a little show with a lot of heart that got screwed over by its venue. I held my first Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales. Marvel Comics brought me to New York for a special screening of Luke Cage Season Two and then, a mere three days later, Los Angeles for the world premiere of Ant-Man and the Wasp. While we were out of town, fourteen new windows were installed in our house.
June ended with sadness. Harlan Ellison, my dear friend of so many decades, passed in his sleep. I’m dealing with my grief and will be writing about Harlan very soon.
June ended with hope. While “From Tony Isabella, Creator of Black Lightning” doesn’t seem to mean as much to DC Comics/Entertainment as it should, it means something to others. By the end of July, I hope to announce my next major gig. It’s not comics.
July will likely involve considerable writing, hard work, ups and downs. As we commence this new month, here are the things that made me happy last month...
June 1: Black Lightning Season Two will have 16 episodes, three up from the first season. I’m excited!
June 2: My pal Rick Santman gave me a copy of Patsy and Hedy Annual #1 for use in a future installment of my “July 1963" series in my bloggy thing.
June 3: Comet TV. I’m loving this channel. Old monster and science fiction movies, many of which I have never seen or have not seen in years. Look for reviews in upcoming my bloggy things.
June 4: Charley’s War: The Definitive Collection by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun. One of the very best war comics of all time is again being reprinted in what I think is the best format yet. Brilliant comics and recommended to one and all.
June 5: After over a decade of work being stalled on it, our master bedroom bathroom (aka Barb’s bathroom) is almost finished. We just need a door for the shower and a new radiator.
June 6: Brian Augustyn. My former Black Lightning editor posted a Facebook message of friendship, respect and support that was a big help in helping me shake off the blues.
June 7: I’ll be down to just two storage units by the end of June. With luck, I’ll be down to just one by the end of September. This is an Isabella family milestone.
June 8: The Fingerlakes Comic Con. Promoter Joey Gates worked hard on this event. I had a great time hanging out with friends old and new.
June 9: Dinner with Ed Catto and Don McGregor on Friday night. Such good people.
June 10: Spending time with my friends Dionne and Jeanie during the Fingerlakes Comic Con.
June 11: Dinner with John Zarkour and his family on Saturday. John writes so much cool stuff it makes me dizzy.
June 12: Saintly Wife Barb and I will be going to the premiere of Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp in Los Angeles.
June 14: An old friend wants to work with me on a project involving two characters I’ve written before. Five minutes after I tell him I’ll come up with something, I come up with something really cool.
June 15: Mike Colter talking Luke Cage on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. It’s so great to see our super-hero world on one of my favorite programs. I’m very excited for season two.
June 16: Friday kicked off my first garage sale of 2018. My friends Martin and Pam drove in from Michigan and I saw many local friends as well. I made 79% of my goal for the two-day event.
June 17: Seeing Steve Benjamin, former employee of my Cosmic Comics store in the 1980s and a member of my wedding party, at my garage sale. He’s now a drama teacher and hasn’t aged more than a couple days.
June 18: Saturday evening with Barb. We celebrated our anniversary with a nice meal at Burntwood Tavern, picked up my new suit, did a bit of shopping at Earth Fare and visited son Ed in his new house. Raising two great kids in 34 years of marriage and counting. Yes, I know I’m blessed.
June 19: Father’s Day with Barb, Ed and Kelly. The kids helped me reduce my storage units from three to two. We had a great dinner at Fiesta Jalapeno.
June 20: DC Comics Variant Covers: The Complete Visual History. I question the “complete” part, but this coffee table book is so gorgeous I want to buy a new coffee table just to put it on.
June 21: Showed Ant-Man to Saintly Wife Barb in preparation for our attending the premiere of Ant-Man and the Wasp. She enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching it again with her.
June 22: Having dinner with my goddaughter Kara and her mom Sandie in New York City, then seeing Kara’s sixth floor walk-up and not dying. Guess there’s still some life in me.
June 23: Attending a special screening of the first two episodes of Luke Cage Season Two. Watching great television with great people. Thanks to David Bogart, Tim Brevoort and Brian Overton for making me feel like part of the Marvel family.
June 24: Attending a New York Mets game with my son Ed. Citi Field is a pretty nice ballpark and, though the Mets lost, we saw a grand slam home run.
June 25: Attending the Ant-Man and the Wasp premiere in Los Angeles with Saintly Wife Barb. Terrific event, terrific movie and terrific personal moments with Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Laurence Fishburne.
June 26: Breakfast with Mark Evanier, one of my dearest and oldest friends. He even drove Barb and I to LAX afterward.
June 27: Fourteen new windows for Casa Isabella. Sure, technically, they are still being installed as I post this, but they sure look swell.
June 28: Getting a new window in my office and opening it for the first time in a decade. While it lasted, the fresh air breeze was nice.
June 29: Harlan Ellison. I mourn his loss while being grateful for his friendship and all the ways he showed me how much he loved me. It was mutual.
June 30: Rob Liefeld’s nice shout-out to me on Facebook. Rob and I might have different approaches to comics, but he loves comics as much as anyone. I’m happy to call him a friend.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.
© 2018 Tony Isabella
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