Wednesday, May 1, 2019

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY IN APRIL

April turned out to be a far more challenging month than expected.  In between and around appearing at the Great Philadelphia Comic Con and doing a comics storytelling workshop for the Cleveland Public Library, I had numerous real-world household and physical problems with which to contend.

April was also a month in which I started making plans to retire. Don’t get excited. I’m not planning to retire. After all, based on my history to date, I have to be ready to go twenty years from now when I am asked to write my fourth Black Lightning series for DC Comics. It just seems prudent to think about these things.

I’m starting to downsize. This involves cancelling several magazine subscriptions, ordering fewer new comics and books and being more than a bit ruthless in putting my Vast Accumulation of Stuff into my Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales. I’m also hoping to eat healthier and exercise more regularly to downsize my very huggable but overweight body. I love challenges.

I’m making decisions about my appearances and conventions, about my book and comics projects and more. I’ll talk about those a little later this week.

You know the drill. We live in a terrible world. We have the worst President in the history of our nation and Republican cowards who are too frightened to challenge him. Because of that worst asswipe, bigotry is on the rise in our country.

I have mourned the deaths of good people. I mourned the death of a friend who turned out to not be dead after all, just hacked by an anonymous hacker. I mourned the loss of my friendship with a crazy person I have tried to help at considerable cost to myself. It has been difficult for me.
                                                                           

But, as a wise man once said, “Justice, like lightning, must ever appear, to some men hope and to other men fear.” I cling to hope, even in the worst times. One of my hope-building tools is to think about something which makes me happy every day of my life. I post these happy things online every day. Then, at the end of the month, I collect them for a bloggy thing.

These are things that made me happy in April.

April 1: The sun is shining brightly outside my office window with snow falling off trees. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

April 2: Al Lewis playing a sympathetic gangster's henchman on Decoy (1957). Especially when someone compared him to Dracula. He played Grandpa on The Munsters.
                                                                              
April 3: Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel, former LAPD homicide detective and the son of Dr. George Hodel, the killer of Elizabeth Short and others. His multi-book investigation is a fascinating, frightening look at pure evil allowed to flourish through police and government corruption.
                                                                               

April 4: The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara, which uncovers the suppressed Hollywood history of Milicent Patrick, the artist and actress who designed the Creature from the Black Lagoon. It’s a riveting real-life detective story.

April 5: Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot. She’s the city’s first black female and first openly gay leader. My concerns about her record re: police accountability aside, I congratulate her on her victory and wish her and her city better times.

April 6: Marooned Lagoon by Paul Gerrish with great illustrations by Scott Shaw. This delightful tale of young animals separated from their families in the aftermath of a hurricane is the kind of book that turns kids into readers and which parents will enjoy reading to their kids. I loved it!
                                                                                     

April 7: I ordered a Marvel Collectors Corps box on a whim. I got cool Funko figures of Captain Marvel and Nick Fury, a t-shirt and a Captain Marvel glass. I’m keeping the figures, but the other two items will be offered at my first garage sale of the year (date to be determined).
                                                                                

April 8: Pre-Code Classics: The Crime Clinic Volume One from Great Britain’s PS Artbooks. A different take on crime comics starring a prison psychiatrist and a priest with art by Leonard Starr and John Prentice. More please.
                                                                                

April 9: Finding decent copies of my 1000 Comic Books You Must Read on the secondary market at prices that make it possible for me to sell them for cover price. I’ll have them at my garage sales and at conventions to which I can drive.

April 10: Now in its third season, The Jim Jefferies Show is doing single-subject episodes to wonderful effect. It’s a terrific mix of comedy and compassion, information and opinion.

April 11: Hershey, Pennsylvania. Barb and I had a wonderful visit to this city and Hershey’s Chocolate World. I could easily picture us moving there.

April 12: The story of Milton Hershey, who founded both The Hershey Company and the city he built around it, is inspirational. A great man who used his wealth to benefit others.
                                                                             

April 13: The Great Philadelphia Comic Con had a great backdrop for my booth and let me take it with me. It’ll look great at my garage sales.

April 14: Hanging with Don McGregor and so many other amazing folks at the Great Philadelphia Comic Con. Sal Velluto, Lebeau Underwood, Christopher Priest, Rahadyan Timoteo Sastrowardoyo, Alec Frazier, Jay Justice, Raymond Ramos, Eric Moran and too many others to name.

April 15: Stan Konopka, Kat Bishop and all the other hard-working folks at the Great Philadelphia Comic-Con for making the weekend so terrific for Saintly Wife Barb and myself.
                                                                              

April 16: Gorgo vs. Konga. Craig Yoe reprints four Joe Gill/Steve Ditko stories in a fun flipbook format that includes introductions by myself and Mark Ditko plus opening comments by Yoe’s eight-year- old son Griffin.

April 17: The Flash by Mark Waid Book One. Rereading these comics via my local library. Waid had the goods when he started and he’s only gotten better since.

April 18: Roy Thomas speaking out over DC Comics not compensating him for the use of his creations Artemis and Hazard outside comics. Suffering in silence never benefits creators.
                                                                                
April 19: Barefoot Gen. I’m buying and rereading Keiji Nakazawa’s masterpiece in the handsome hardcover editions published by Last Gasp. These are keepers!

April 20: Harrow County by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook. I’m getting the whole series in trade editions from my library and enjoying them immensely. Great stuff!
                                                                            

April 21: Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell. This was recommended to me for my upcoming “Cheesy Monsters Raid Again” presentation for this July’s G-Fest. It was oddly entertaining.

April 22: MAD #7. Ian Boothby and Gideon Kendall devise the perfect ending for Avengers: Endgame.

April 23: MAD #7. Black Lightning gets a mention in the fun Aquaman parody by Desmond Devlin and Tom Richmond. It’s a stupid mention, but, what the hey, it’s still MAD.

April 24: Svengoolie: Seeing Rodan’s cameo appearances in Valley of the Dragons (1961).

April 25: Gotham’s penultimate episode had fast-moving developments almost on the level of Black Lightning. I’m really looking forward to tonight’s finale.

April 26: Jeopardy. I have been enjoying watching current Jeopardy champion James Holzhauer dominate the game. He’s funny, personable and smart. I’m rooting for him.

April 27: James Warren: Empire of Monsters. A brilliant biography by Bill Schelly, arguably our finest comics biographer.

April 28: My Coffee and Comics storytelling workshop was amazing. My thanks to my students and to the Cleveland Public Library for inviting me.

April 29: Michael Davis lives! His death notice was posted online by a hacker. I look forward to speaking with him in the hopefully near future.

April 30: Samantha Bee’s Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner 2 should receive Emmy awards galore and a Pulitzer Prize. It was on point and hilarious.

If all goes according to plan, I’ll be back tomorrow with a chance for a talented artist among you to pencil an 8-page script and get paid for it. Details tomorrow.

© 2019 Tony Isabella

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