NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE

 

Geoff Johns is one of my favorite comics/TV writers. In recent weeks, while recuperating from a severe case of Influenza A, I read  three collections of his recent DC Comics work: Justice Society of America Volume. 1: The New Golden Age, Stargirl and the Lost Children and Justice Society of America Volume 2: Long Live the JSA. They were big connected sprawling, reality-altering epics starring dozens of heroes and villains. Were I retentive enough to add them up, the total would likely be around 100 different characters. That’s a lot more characters than I would ever want to write in a story. When I worked on staff at DC Comics for several hellish months in the 1970s, I used to have nightmares about being ordered to write the Legion of Super-Heroes.

I am impressed at how well Johns handled this huge cast. I found no false notes in his portrayal of all those characters with the sole exception of the Gentleman Ghost. Sorry, Geoff, the Gent would never want to destroy the world. Steal it? Definitely. Destroy it? What would be the challenge or fun in that?

I did enjoy these collections. Not my personal writing interest, but a solid epic nonetheless. However, there was one element I’d like to explore if the opportunity ever came up.

In the shared universe of these collections, Johns puts forward that virtually every 1940s hero had a kid sidekick. Young heroes removed from the timeline and forgotten until they were rescued by Stargirl. One of those sidekicks is Quiz-Kid, the partner of the original and still deceased Mr. Terrific. He has bonded with the current Mr. Terrific, who always strikes me as too arrogant to be a proper role model to a young hero. Even though Johns has softened him for these collections.

Quiz-Kid reminds his new mentor of why the original Mr. Terrific “took on the mantra of fair play in the first place.” That hero found his purpose in helping people who never got a fair chance in life. The kid says:

“There are plenty of threats I see on the news and in the JSA files, but the people like the ones that Terry [the original Mr. Terrific] helped...it seems like they’ve been forgotten.

“So this sphere [a device created from one of the current Mr. Terrific's T-spheres] is searching for those who haven’t had a fair shake. Mothers and brothers and children and grandparents. People who have no one else to turn to.

“Let the rest of the team deal with the people in the costumes, Mr. Holt. And let’s get the Fair Play Club back online. We need to remember why this all started...because the world is filled with people in trouble.”

My heart is more with the ground level world than the universe of challenges to reality and space invaders and such. I think I could tell heartwarming and important and intense stories with this Quiz-Kid concept. With or without Mr. Terrific. On the other hand, watching someone like Holt descend from his lofty perch to deal with regular folks would make for some wonderful character development all around.

                                  

Reading Wikipedia’s Gorgo entry, I see they’ve gotten something wrong again. Although, in this particular case, it might just be because whoever wrote the item is a Steve Ditko fan who failed to ask the writer for the facts. The writer, if you haven’t already guessed, is me, Here’s the pertinent part:

In 1990, Steve Ditko illustrated a back-up story in Web of Spider-Man Annual #6 titled "Child Star.” In this story, Captain Universe creates huge versions of toys based on Gorgo and Konga to battle giant monsters that are attacking New York City. For copyright reasons, Gorgo's name was altered to "Gorga.” This sequence was Ditko paying homage to his earlier work with these two characters in their 1960s Charlton Comics comic book series.

What utter nonsense! Ditko didn’t pay homage to Gorgo and Konga. I did. I wrote a panel-by-panel plot for Ditko and he draw those panels. Ditko may not have gotten credit for many comics stories he plotted, but this wasn’t one of them.

When I heard Ditko was going to be drawing my story, in which a toddler got the Captain Universe power and fought demons (not, as Wikipedia would have it, “giant monsters”), I took advantage of the assignment to pay homage of sorts to two of my favorite Ditko comic books. I did change the names for legal reasons, even though several publishers have since reprinted stories with these characters without, as near as I can tell, any contract with the studios that made the original films. They just did it.

Other than writing the plot and scripting the story, my only other “interaction” with Ditko was through editor Jim Salicrup. Since almost all of the toddler’s dialogue in this story came from things my son Eddie had said, the story was very special to me. I asked Salicrup to inquire if Ditko would be willing to sell the original art to me. Ditko turned me down flat and even seemed offended by the request. I keep hoping the art for this seven-page story will turn up and at a price I can afford, but, to the best of my knowledge, it hasn’t.

Feel free to send Wikipedia a correction on this. But don’t hold your breath waiting for them to fix it.

***************************************

I have canceled all of my convention appearances through July. Although I am recovering nicely from my severe bout of Influenza A, there are still some other medical issues I need to address. I don’t expect these will prove serious, but I’m giving myself as much time to heal as possible.

I’m using this time to write. As Jenny, I have written an eight-page comics story for a major publisher. As both Jenny and Tony, I’ve been writing a bunch of hopefully hilarious Last Kiss gags for my good friend John Lustig. I’ve also started writing the first issue of my new trans super-hero series. I’m not sure if that one will be credited to Jenny or Tony or both. Is it even possible to collaborate with one’s self? At this time, I do not have an artist or a publisher for the new series, but I am moving forward on the writing. Interested parties should e-mail me and I’ll respond as quickly as possible.

I’m also available for paying gigs, be they writing comic books or comic strips or even acting roles. In the case of the last, nudity is off the table unless it’s vital to the story.

Among other possible ventures, I am considering launching my own Patreon page in the very near future. An ongoing YouTube show is less likely, but not impossible. And, of course, my eBay store will be back up and running sometime in April.

Something I am really excited about are this year’s amazing Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales. Hardcovers and trades priced at 30% or less. Comic books, including some priced as low as one dollar. Godzilla collectibles. Funko figures and more.

I have so much stuff already set to go that I’m going to run the garage sales most every weekend through the summer. The opening weekend will be Friday and Saturday, May 2 and 3, from nine am to noon. If there are customers still buying at noon, I will keep the doors open until they are done. You should probably plan of giving me all your money.

Got questions on any of the above? E-mail me.

That’s all for today. I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2025 Tony Isabella