BLOGGY BUSINESS

Full-size bloggy things will return tomorrow, but I want to inform and remind readers new and old about how we roll around here. Just so we all know what we’re getting into.

COMMENTING: All comments have to be approved by me before they show up in the blog. This prevents spamming and trolling. If your post doesn’t appear right away, it’s because I haven’t visited my blog since you commented. If it doesn’t appear at all, it’s because you are a spammer or a troll.

E-MAIL: If you have something you want to talk to me about and not do so in the comments sections, e-mail me. Keep in mind that I get a lot of emails. It’ll likely take me a day or two to get back to you. Thanks for being patient.

REQUESTS: I started this blog to write about the things I want to write about. I’m open to requests, but, since reading this blog is free to all, I don’t feel obligated to write about anything that I don’t want to write about.

REVIEWS: If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know I review lots of stuff: books, comic books, movies, magazines, TV shows and more. If you would like me to review something of yours, be it book, comic book, movie or whatever, email me and I’ll tell you where to send it. I don’t review from PDFs or the like. I need the physical items in front of me.

Sending me a review item is no guarantee of a review and especially not a favorable review. In the case of self-published comic books, I probably won’t review the item if I didn’t like it. I’m sitting on the first issue of a new self-published comic right now because I want to give it a second reading before I dismiss it.

Making and publishing a comic book is no easy feat. I don’t want to make it harder by giving it a negative review. Unless it’s a really offensive comic book you probably should have known better than to send me in the first place.

If you’ve been reading my reviews, you should have a good sense of what will amuse and delight me. Think about that before you send me your comic or whatever.  On the other hand, if, with the courage of your convictions, you think what you’ve created is so good that I’m bound to enjoy it, even if it seems to be outside of my interests,  go with your gut and send it to me.

QUESTIONS: If you have other questions about this bloggy thing of mine, e-mail them to me. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Have a great day and I’ll see you tomorrow.

© 2017 Tony Isabella

OLD COMICS: DENNIS IN CHRISTMAS CITY

This is the 2017 version of my ongoing “OC” series, which has been re-branded because I kept wanting to add a “D” to “OC.” Previously, this series was going to cover random comics from my legendary Vast Accumulation of Stuff, with the only restriction being that these comic books would predate my entry into the professional ranks of the comics industry in late 1972. For this retooled version of the series, that restriction has been eliminated. I’ll still stick to older comic books as much as possible, but if I come across comics from the 1970s through the 1990s that I find interesting enough to write about, I’ll write about them.

Today’s old comic is Dennis the Menace Giant #19 [Hallden Fawcett;  Winter, 1963], 84 pages of Christmas fun. Indeed, according to the issue’s indicia, the actual title of this comic book is Dennis the Menace Giant Christmas Issue #19. Whichever title you prefer, this is still one swell holiday celebration.

According to the Grand Comics Database, Fred Toole wrote all this issue’s original stories. It does not lists artists, but, if I can get my soon-to-be-deep-sixed scanner to cooperate, I’ll include a few sample pages for the art detectives among you.

Warning. There will be...

SPOILERS AHEAD
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Dennis the Menace gag panels by Hank Ketcham appear throughout the issue. These are, of course, taken from the daily newspaper strip. The inside front cover has four such panels, all Christmas-themed. My favorite of the batch has Dennis hiding under the kitchen table while his parents, knowing he’s there, talk about what the lad will be getting for Christmas:

“Now that we’re alone, I’ll tell you what I bought Dennis for Christmas. A beautiful set of bath towels!”

“Ding Dong Dennis” (10 pages) leads off the new stories. Dennis and Joey ride a special Santa train for kids. The various entertainers feel the pain, though the magician who pulls pennies out of their ear seems okay with them. Not so the workers at a department store where the kids try to spend their pennies, which, even in 1963, did not go far. Finally, one of the clerks cracks and sells them yo-yos for a penny apiece:

He said it was a special sale...just for us!
                                                                               

Toole goes big for “$anta'$ $urpri$e!” (12 pages). Dennis wants to write a letter to Santa, but his dad has had enough. He tells his son that he can’t have a real submarine and a real pony and a real elephant. To occupy Dennis, Dad gives him a fancy “Dieman-Harcus” catalog. Dennis fills out the order blank for over $5000 in really cool stuff and, since it’s the kind of letter that doesn’t need a stamp, he mails it.

The president of the Texas-based Dieman-Harcus is thrilled. This is the biggest single order they have ever received. That $5000 would be close to $40,000 in 2017 dollars.

There’s no check with the order, but the Dieman-Harcus boss takes off on a flight of convoluted logic. He convinces himself that this “Dennis Mitchell” must be some kind of eccentric millionaire who is good for the money. The company ships the Mitchells a helicopter, an elephant, a submarine and a cow pony.

Henry and Alice Mitchell are stunned when the huge truck drives up with the delivery. Obviously, they can’t pay for this stuff. They call the company. The president thinks it over for a spell. Even the return shipping charges are pretty hefty. That’s when the big boss gets an idea.

He turns this comedy into huge publicity for his company. Dennis is all over the newspapers and magazines. So much publicity the boss says he’ll pay the return shipping charges. He gives the elephant to the local zoo and the pony to a local playground...where Dennis can ride him every day.

Oh, yeah, and Dennis finally gets to write his letter to Santa. He asks for a real fire engine and a real motor boat and...
                                                                              

The 15-page “12 Days of Christmas” has Dennis trying to make sense out of the classic song. Each day gets a wonderful full-page panel. A classic tale to be sure.

That’s followed by two “Coloring Pages.” These are black-and-white, full-page reprints of Ketcham’s daily comics panels.

In the five-page “No Christmas?!?!?”, Dennis learns Christmas will not be at his house this year. He and his folks are going to spend the holiday with his grandfather in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Ruff will stay with the neighboring Wilsons.

“Dennis in the Christmas City - Bethlehem Pennsylvania” (13 pages) is filled with fun and fun facts about the city. Dennis meets some Amish folks and eats a fabulous meal at the Cherry Hill Restaurant. I don’t know if this was an actual restaurant or a fictional take of the German eateries often located near the Amish in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Next comes two more “Coloring Pages” taken from Ketcham’s panels. In one of them, Margaret makes her only appearance in this special. She asks Santa for “one mink coat, size six.”
                                                                             

The events of “'Twas the Day Before Christmas and (After a Search) the Mitchell's Found Dennis and Took Him to Church...” (10 pages) are pretty much covered in the title. This is a special children’s service where the kids get cookies and milk in lieu of the usual communion. It includes a lovely full-page shot of the church during the service.

Dennis the Menace sort of lives up to his name in “The Star Over Bethlehem Shone Through the Night on Dennis, and then By Dawn's Early Light...” (11 pages). He calls the Wilsons to talk to Ruff, staying on the phone for thirty minutes. Those of you who are of my generation will recall how expensive long-distance calls could be. Given a toy phone, Dennis decides he’d rather practice on the real thing. Punching in a bunch of numbers, he ends up calling Hong Kong and wishing the folks on the other end a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas? Maybe not so merry for Henry. As Dennis, Alice and Grandpa wish the readers a Merry Christmas, Henry slumps in a chair and imagines money flowing away from him.

The inside back cover features four, Christmas-themed daily Dennis the Menace cartoons by Ketcham. I forgot to mention that there are no ads - house ads or otherwise - in this comic book. Counting the covers, it’s 84 pages of entertainment.
                                                                                

The back cover has Henry and Alice opening their front door to see Dennis has painted a message on it:

Merry Christmas! XXXX Dennis
  
The GCD doesn’t identify who drew this back cover. I wouldn’t rule out it being one of Ketcham’s daily Dennis cartoons. Take a look at it and see if you agree.

That’s all for today. Keep reading the bloggy thing for more “Old Comics” commentary. As for tomorrow, I’ll be keeping the horror of the holidays alive with my reviews of Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!, Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation, and, of course, Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker with Mickey Rooney. Yep, the guy who said the makers of the first Silent Night, Deadly Night should be run out of town on a rail. It’s kinda sorta like a Christmas miracle!

© 2016 Tony Isabella

JULY 1963: THE AVENGERS #1

Today’s bloggy thing resumes my 136-part series on the comic books that hit the newsstands in the month of July 1963. That month was pivotal to my comic-book career because it was the month when Fantastic Four Annual #1 ignited my desire to write comics.

The Avengers #1 [September 1963] hit the newsstands in a month that saw the debuts of Marvel’s second and third super-hero teams. Or, if you consider Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos to be a super-hero team, the company’s third and fourth super-hero teams. From what I have learned from comics historians in recent years, launching two super-hero teams in the same month wasn’t Marvel’s original plan. I’ll try to sum up the situation briefly.

In 1961, learning of the success of DC’s Justice League of America title, Marvel publisher Martin Goodman told editor/writer Stan Lee to come up with a super-hero team comic series of their own. With Jack Kirby, Lee created the Fantastic Four...and changed the face of comics forever.

Unable to draw upon pre-existing super-heroes as DC had done with its Justice League - Marvel hadn’t published super-hero comic books since the early 1950s - Lee and Kirby had to create new heroes for the Fantastic Four. Okay, the Human Torch was a new version of the 1940s hero and the Thing looked like some of the monsters who were appearing in Marvel sci-fi titles like Journey into Mystery, but the Four were not your father’s or even your older brother’s super-heroes. They were new characters with more or less realistic personalities. They took the comic-book world by storm. No pun intended.

More Marvel super-hero success stories followed. The success of the Amazing Spider-Man led to the creation of Daredevil by Lee and Bill Everett. However, the release of Daredevil was delayed because of Everett’s slowness in delivering the art for the first and, as it would turn, the only issue of Daredevil he’d draw. Something had to come out on Daredevil’s original release date...and that something was The Avengers #1.

By 1963, Marvel had a few other super-heroes in its universe...and almost all of them were recruited for the Avengers. The only ones who didn’t get drafted were Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Goodman got the super-hero team he had wanted back in 1963, a team composed of existing Marvel heroes: Ant-Man and the Wasp, the Hulk, Iron Man and Thor. Definitely not the Justice League, but a cool and unusual line-up all the same.

That first issue has been reprinted at least a couple dozen times. The Grand Comics Database hasn’t been able to keep up with all of those reprints. In fact, since I don’t own a copy of The Avengers #1 any more, what I read for today’s bloggy thing was 1993's Marvel Milestone Edition: Avengers Vol. 1, No. 1.

Since the odds are good that you’ve already read this first story, I’m going to dispense with spoiler warnings for “The Coming of the Avengers!”

The bare bones synopsis: Loki wants to use the Hulk to defeat Thor. Things don’t go exactly as planned and other heroes also enter the fray. The heroes figured out who the real bad guy is and take Loki down. They form the Avengers.

This 22-page adventure is written by Lee, penciled by Kirby, inked by Dick Ayers and lettered by Sam Rosen. Kirby and Ayers are also the cover artists. Looking at this story, you’d never guess it was produced under a tight deadline. It bounces from scene to scene so smoothly that, when I first read it, I marveled - pun intended - at its pacing.

When the story begins, Loki is imprisoned on the Isle of Silence. He uses his powers to reach beyond his confinement to find the Hulk and make it look as if the Green Goliath has gone berserk. But Rick Jones, the Hulk’s teenage pal, doesn’t buy it. He wants to prove the Hulk’s innocence, but, just in case, summons his ham radio buds in the Teen Brigade to ask for help from the Fantastic Four. Loki jams that message to send it to Don Blake, the lame doctor who is secretly Thor. But Ant-Man, the Wasp and Iron Man also receive the Teen Brigade summons.

The Fantastic Four also intercept the message which was originally intended for them. Reed Richards says that they are wrapped up in another case of their own, but informs Rick other heroes have heard his plea for help.

The Marvel Universe continuity is all over these opening pages. In many ways, it was the first major continuity epic of the Marvel Age of Comics.

Sidebar. Avengers #3 was my first issue of the title. Once I’d been well and truly hooked by Fantastic Four Annual #1, it took me time before I could start buying the other Marvel super-hero comics. I was always doing extra chores and such to make money to buy comics. Forced to choose between the third issues of the Avengers and the X-Men, I went with the former.

The action never stops in this issue. Loki casts an illusion that reveals his involvement in the Hulk’s so-called rampage. Thor heads to Asgard to confront his brother. The other not-yet-the-Avengers find the Hulk - disguised as a clown-faced robot - at a circus and the battle commences. Meanwhile, Thor fights his way past all sorts of perils set in his path by Loki. Looking for a quiet panel? You won’t find it here.

For reasons that make no sense to me now, but didn’t bother me in 1963, Thor takes Loki to Earth so the Hulk and the other heroes can get their licks in. Loki becomes radioactive. Ant-Man and the Wasp trap him in a lead-lined take. The God of Evil gets his Asgardian ass handed to him by mere mortals.

Ant-Man and the Wasp suggest the heroes form a team. Iron Man and Thor are for it. So is the Hulk who, sick of being hunted, says he would rather be with them than against them. Of course, the Hulk’s membership didn’t last long, but I bet it still came as a surprise when he quit the team at the end of the second issue.

Is “The Coming of the Avengers” a classic comics story? Maybe not. But I found it as exciting and as much fun to read in 2017 as I did when I finally got a copy of the issue in 1964. It truly stands the test of time.
                                                                                 

There were three full-page house ads in this issue. The first was for Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #3, sans the full cover of the issue. For more on this issue, go to its Grand Comics Database entry.
                                                                                 

The second house ad was for Strange Tales Annual #2. You can learn more about this annual’s contents here.
                                                                             

The third and final house ad was for Fantastic Four Annual #1. I’ll be writing about this issue later in this July 1963 series, but, if you want to know the contents right now, go here.

I hope to bring you these blasts from July ‘63 more frequently in this new year. There are a lot of issues to cover, provided I can track them all down.

Tomorrow’s bloggy thing will feature another comic book from 1963, though from later in the year. See you then.

© 2016 Tony Isabella

TONY'S TIPS #190

This week in TONY'S TIPS at Tales of Wonder...3 Devils, a supernatural western by Bo Hampton with colorist Jeremy Mohler; Gail Simone’s Clean Room with art by Jon Davis-Hunt; and Harrow County Volume 1: Countless Haints by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Cook.

RAWHIDE KID WEDNESDAY 96

The Rawhide Kid is my favorite western comics character and one of my favorite comics characters period.  Something about the short of stature (but big on courage and fighting skills) Johnny Clay spoke to the short of stature (but big on comics-reading skills) teenage Tony Isabella.  After rereading the Kid’s earliest adventures when Marvel Comics reprinted them in a pair of Marvel Masterworks and an Essential Rawhide Kid volume, I wanted to reacquire every Rawhide Kid comic, reread them and write about them in this bloggy thing of mine. This is the 96th installment in that series.

 

The Rawhide Kid #110 [April 1973] has a new cover by Larry Lieber with George Roussos inking. Inside, the 14-page “The Sightless Gun” was written and penciled by Lieber, inked and colored by Roussos,  lettered by June Braverman and edited by Roy Thomas. I had started working at Marvel Comics around the time this ish was being readied for publication.

My memory is foggy on specifics, but I remember reading this issue in the office I shared with Sol Brodsky and George Roussos, and it’s possible I read it on the original art boards. My main job was to put together Marvel’s British weeklies, assist Stan Lee on some of his projects, and do this and that on our new black-and-white comic magazines. Before long, I would be asked to proofread color comics on occasion. I still...ahem...marvel...at how much work I could do in my vibrant youth. I can’t remember who asked me to look at this issue. It might have editor-in-chief Roy Thomas. It might have been production manager John Verpoorten. It might have Larry or George.

What I do remember is that I liked the story and complimented Larry on a clever bit in it. I remember his delight over that compliment. And I remember thinking “Holy Cow! Larry Lieber is thanking me for complimenting him!” Pretty heady stuff for a young Marvel fan who was suddenly working with some of the greatest writers and artists in the history of comics. 

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The Rawhide Kid and his horse Nightwind stumble onto a holdup, but don’t reach the scene is time to stop the owlhoots from shooting an old man and making off with a payroll. Seeing how badly the man is hurt, the Kid rides to a nearby town and fetches a doctor. The man will live, thanks to Rawhide.

Rawhide rides off in search of the polecats what done the dastardly deeds described above. His path takes him to a distant cabin, the home of orphaned kids Billy and Bess. The youngsters recognize the Kid from a book on famous outlaws and allow him to water his horse.

When Billy finds out that Rawhide is after some bad guys, he wants to ride with him. The Kid says it’s a one-man job, but gives the siblings an exhibition of his shooting skills and some good advice. Like, for instance...

Boot Hill is full of ex-fancy Dans! The only way to stay alive is to draw fast and aim true!

Remember a gun isn’t a man’s only weapon! To a real man, brains and courage are more important than all the hardware in the West!

After leaving the kids, Rawhide finds the large cave that serves as hideout for the outlaws. He spots the gang’s loot, but doesn’t see the trip wire that triggers a loaded gun in the rocks above him. The bullet only grazes the Kid’s scalp, but it leaves him blind. He knows he must get out of the cave before the gunmen return and find him. Meanwhile...

Billy decides to mount up and go after the Kid. Bess joins him in this adventure. Yeah, it’s sort of foolish, but these two have been getting by fine on their own. They’re tough kids.

Rawhide is having trouble making his way through the enormous cave. He falls off a ledge and just barely manages to catch the edge of a lower level and pull himself to safety. He has no way to get back to the main level of the cave.

Billy and Bess find him and throw him a rope. He explain what has happened to him and that they all have to get out of this hideout pronto. That’s when they run out of time.

The two outlaws return and see Nightwind and the other horse. They hear Billy and Bess and come after them.

With Billy’s guidance, Rawhide is able to leap across a chasm. But Bess is too scared to make the jump and is caught by the outlaws. The bad guys sense opportunity:

Yeh! Not only can’t a blind man put us outa business, but we’re gonna make ourselves a rep by callin’ out the Rawhide Kid! Y’hear, Kid? We’ll be waitin’ on yuh outside the cave! And if yuh value this little gal, yuh better show!

Billy says the Kid can’t go up against the gunman, but Rawhide has a plan. He has Billy draw a clock in the dirt.

Rawhide will stand in the center of the make-believe clock. Billy will tell him where his foes are standing. This is the bit that I complimented Larry on, though I also told him I enjoyed the Kid’s interactions with Bess and Billy.

The Kid takes out the gunman at the two o’clock position. Figuring the other gunman will shoot at him, Rawhide ducks. In doing so, he hits his head on a stone. The bump restores his vision.

Outlaw number two goes down.

Bess says the Kid was lucky, but in a nice way. Billy says it was more than luck:

Back at the shack, the Kid said that brains are more important than guns! And he was right! He didn’t just outshoot those outlaws! He outfiggered ‘em...all the way!

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Rereading this never-reprinted Rawhide Kid story for the first time in forty-four years, I think it’s still terrific. If I ever got a chance to put together a collection of The Best of Larry Lieber’s Rawhide Kid, this would definitely be included.
                                                                            

“The Sightless Gun” was followed by a full-page house ad for Wyatt Earp #33 [April 1973}. This reprint series ran for five issues from October 1972 to June 1973. The cover of this issue is by Jack Kirby and Christopher Rule and hails from Wyatt Earp #25 [October 1959].

The issue’s three reprint Wyatt Earp stories first appeared in that issue as well. Written by Stan Lee, each tale was five pages long. They were drawn and lettered by Dick Ayers. As noted by the Grand Comics Database, the stories are all narrated by Earp in the first person...

“The Terrible Revenge of Wyatt Earp” [GCD synopsis: Marshal Earp must beat a man determined to prove he's the better gunfighter.]

“Crises in Dodge City!” [GCD synopsis: A crooked rancher tries to assert his water rights and keep it away from his neighbors.]

“Face to Face with the Gunfighter!” [GCD synopsis: A troublemaker tries to hire a famous gunman to defeat Wyatt Earp, but integrity wins out.]

The non-series fourth story was “ The Fastest Draw!” [5 pages]. It was scripted and drawn by Larry Lieber from a plot by Stan Lee. Its original appearance was in The Rawhide Kid #40 [June 1964]. This is one of my favorite Marvel western stories. I wrote about it a few years back and you can read those comments here.

Finishing the issue was a single-page “Color This Picture!” pin-up page drawn by Joe Maneely. It’s from  Wyatt Earp #18 [August 1958].

The house ad was followed by “The Ghost Train!” The five-page non-series story first ran in Western Outlaws and Sheriffs #72 [April 1952]. There are no confirmed credits, but the GCD does put forth Bob Forgione as the possible penciller.

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Chuck Mason, a truly despicable man, had the only freighting outfit in Utah and was getting rich off his Mormon clients. He’d convinced them the Carson City suppliers wouldn’t trade with Mormons. Though the story doesn’t emphasize this, Mormons were often discriminated against. Except not this time.

When the Mormon elders learn the Carson City suppliers are willing to deal with them directly, they fire Mason. They plan to build a small train and rail system to carry goods back and forth.

Mason takes exception to this. He murders one of the elders. Then he incites the Shoshones into attacking the Mormons. However, when the Mormons fight back and inflict heavy losses on the Shoshones, the tribe remove itself from the fray.

Mason continues to plague the Mormons all by his lonesome. When he learns of the train’s trail run, he steals the train, hitches it to a wagon and drags it to a hidden valley. Small train or not, this seems pretty unlikely to me.

The train explodes in the hidden valley, killing Mason and all of his horses. Hence the legend of “the Ghost Train.” Years later, a prospector finds the remains of the train. The mystery is solved.

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“The Ghost Train” doesn’t even rise to the level of mediocre. The writing is stiff, the art is journeyman at best and the villain is so crazy that I had to wonder how he was able to cheat the Mormons in the first place. Thumbs down on this one.

This issue’s “Marvel Bullpen Bulletins” is the same one that ran in the previous issue. Marvel’s continued expansion was likely taking a toll on its small staff. Somewhere down the line, near the end of my time with Marvel, I would write some of the Bullpen Bulletins. But not many of them.

This issue’s “Ridin’ the Trail with Rawhide” letters page has three missives from readers. First was C. Johnson of Brooklyn, New York. He or she wrote in praise of “The Sinister Sons of Ma Morgan” from Rawhide Kid #105.

Robert A. Gillis of Elmsford, New York thinks it’s not time for a revival of the (western) Ghost Rider. He would rather see more of “the unique life of the gunslinger,” such as Kid Colt. However, he adds that if fandom demands the return of Ghost Rider, then giving the character a back-up feature in Rawhide Kid or Kid Colt Outlaw would be the way to go.

Pierre Champagne writes to praise the inking of Vince Colletta on Lieber’s pencils. As much as I appreciated Vince on other titles, I never thought he was a good match for my pal Larry.

That’s it for this installment of “Rawhide Kid Wednesday.” I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2016 Tony Isabella

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY (December 2016)

As previously noted, “happy” wasn’t very easy to come by in 2016. Right up to the end of the year, we were losing good and talented people. With every new tweet from our despicable president-elect, the danger to our land becomes more apparent. His administration is clearly going to be driven by bigotry, misogyny, racism, xenophobia and other forms of extreme right-wing evil. It is government by the rich and the powerful with concern only for the rich and powerful. The angry, low-information voters who supported Donald Trump will be in for a rude awakening. I fear for my country.

However...I will continue to note the people, events and creations that bring joy to my life. Every day, on my Facebook page and on Twitter, I remind myself of these blessings in a segment I call “Things That Make Me Happy.”

At the end of each month, for my bloggy thing readers who might not be following me on Facebook or Twitter, I collect the items posted during that month. Here’s what I posted in December...

December 1: The start of a new month. To me, it always seems like another chance to make things better.

December 2: Writing a letter to President Obama, thanking him for his service to our country. He’s the best president of my lifetime. I also sent him a copy of the first Black Lightning volume.

December 3: Every time that a Trump voter realizes what a horrible mistake they made, an angel gets their wings.

December 4: Baking Day at Casa Isabella. Friends and family making cookies, a few of which I will be allowed to eat.

December 5: Wild Fusion, a hole-in-the-wall Chinese takeout place in nearby Brunswick. Great food and the portions are so large I’ll get three or four meals out of mine. Thanks to Eddie and Kelly for bringing home dinner for Barb and I.

December 6: Making comics with smart people I can learn from. New tricks, this old dog is coming for you.

December 7: The Legend of Tarzan. I think this might be my favorite Tarzan movie ever.

December 8: Coinstar machines. Coins accumulated carelessly for too many years now equal hundreds of dollars in Amazon e-cards without any fee.

December 9: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah of The Daily Show. An eye-opening account of the history that informs his comedy.

December 10: Harry Bliss. His daily panels and New Yorker cartoons delight me...and he’s a comic-book fan.

December 11: Learning how many Christmas-themed horror movies have been made. Ho-Ho-Arrgh!

December 12: Bar Rescue. I get a kick out of watching this with my son Eddie, even though I rarely go to bars. Yes, Jon Taffer can be hard to take. Yes, sometimes his changes to the bars make me roll my eyes. Yes, the show is fairly predictable. But it’s still fun. Caution: do not attempt Bar Rescue drinking games. That will never work out well for you.

December 13: Giant Eagle’s Soft Drop Pumpkin Cookies. They are so good and I am so weak.

December 14: The easy availability of so many classic and not-so-classic horror and monster movies. Guess who now owns Silent Night, Deadly Night one through five and the remake of the first one. My War on Christmas is looking nice and naughty.

December 15: Matthew Baugh. He created covers for the imaginary It! The Living Colossus #1-18 and made me wish I had actually written all those issues.

December 16: Running five errands in under an hour. Despite lousy Medina drivers and way too much road work.

December 17: Marvel’s The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Omnibus. Proud to have been a part of it. As I make my way through this massive tome, I'll be commenting on it here.

December 18: Facebook’s “On This Date” feature. It’s an amazingly useful tool and I use it daily.

December 19: Two Men and a Truck of Brunswick, Ohio. Thanks to the two men who helped us for doing the job quickly and well.

December 20: Keeping a cool head when I needed to do so. Making a plan and making it work.

December 21: Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther’s Rage. Having a blast re-reading these stories one per day.

December 22: I made it to 65 years old and I don’t feel like I’m 65 years old.

December 23: Yesterday’s birthday breakfast with daughter Kelly and birthday dinner with family and friends.

December 24: Small press creator Larry Blake. Making comics for the sheer love of it since 1973. I’m currently reading his Pyschozort Book One.

December 25: Saving Christmas by finding misplaced gift cards with my “Saint Anthony” powers. For those of you who weren’t raised in a Catholic family, St. Anthony is known as a finder of lost things. There’s even a little poem that goes with this legend: “Tony, Tony, look around. Something’s lost and must be found.” Apparently, this is one of my mutant powers. I’m in training for what will certainly be my biggest challenge: finding the lost soul of America.

December 26: Christmas morning with Barb, Eddie, Kelly and Simba at Casa Isabella.

December 27: Comics creators refusing to let the bigotry of the GOP affect their commitment to diversity.

December 28: Our friend and neighbor Sue who has helped tirelessly with my mother-in-law’s house.

December 29: The Wall. I watched the debut of this new prime-time game show and liked it a lot.

December 30: Actress Chyler Leigh and the Supergirl creative crew for making Alex’s “coming out” story so wonderfully moving. Comics clerk Mary for reaching out to the young woman who came to the store because of that story. DC Comics for sending Mary a big box of cool stuff to share with that young woman. You all make me so proud to be part of the comics industry.

December 31: DC and Marvel Comics. They don’t always get it right, but they keep trying and there’s no denying the big hearts of the people who work at those companies.

Keep looking for that brightness in your lives, my friends. I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2016 Tony Isabella

RESOLUTIONS FOR THE COMICS INDUSTRY

I have given up on making New Year’s resolutions. Too much pressure for a wizened ancient like myself. Which is why, on this first day of 2017, I’m suggesting resolutions for the comics industry. Yeah, I know, the nerve of me.

Give credit where credit is due. The comic books we love and even some we don’t love have been the basis for countless movies and TV shows and cartoons and direct-to-DVD animated features. Oh, sure, I guess you could count them, but that kind of advanced math makes me dizzy. Until some obsessed fan researcher does count them all - and you know one will - let’s just say there are lots of them.

Sometimes the comics writers and artists who created the characters and concepts used in these productions get credit for having done so. I’m most familiar with the end credits for Netflix’s Luke Cage on account of I made my son freeze on the “special thanks” card at the end of every episode. I had my reasons.

Sometimes the comics writers and artists don’t get credit. You’ll see nary a credit for Chris Claremont and other X-Men creators on those movies. Which infuriates me every time I watch one of them. I understand the comics publishers can’t always insist on creator credits being included, but that doesn’t make the lack of credits any more acceptable.

Sidebar. The accepted creator credit for characters now seems to be the writer(s) and artist who wrote and penciled a character’s first appearance in the comic books. I’m not going to quibble with that. If that’s the standard, then that’s the standard and I can learn to live with it in this instance. End of sidebar.

This is actually a two-part resolution. The first part is that the comics publishers have to make certain future agreements for movies and such include the unbreakable requirement that the movie makers give credit to creators.

If the movie is a Batman movie, there should be a credit for “Bob Kane with Bill Finger” in the opening credits and “special thanks” credits in the end credits. This should be the standard for comics movies, TV shows, cartoons and any direct-to-DVD animated features. It’s pretty close to being the least they can do.

The second part is on the comics fans and historians. We need some sort of online database listing every movie, TV show, cartoon and direct-to-DVD animated feature...with a list of all the characters from comic books who appear in those things and the names of their creators. The movie makers et al sometimes list the creator names, but don’t get more specific than that.

When B’Wana Beast appears in a DC production, the production would  list Bob Haney and Mike Sekowsky in the “special thanks” portion of the end credits. The online database would list them as creators of the character.

When Squirrel Girl appears in a Marvel production, the production would list Will Murray and Steve Ditko on the “special thanks” card and the online database would list them as her creators.

Make it so, comics publishers and comics historians.

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Diversity. The battle lines are being drawn. There are comic-book readers who don’t want to see people different from themselves in comic books. They are a sad reflection of those who voted for the candidates of bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia. So, more than ever before, comic books must continue to become more inclusive. Both on the pages of those comic books and behind the pages of those comic books as creators.

But diversity can’t just mean people of color or women or gays or Muslims or the other groups that have been targeted and threatened by the right wing. Our comic books should include people of faith and conservatives. They should include the middle-class working guy struggling to get along. If people are buying our comic books, they should be able to see themselves in our comic books, albeit not to the exclusion of others.

Diversity shouldn’t mean than every character has to be a shining role model for their particular community. Heroes and villains come from all groups of people, all ideologies, all parts of the world. Treat your characters with honesty and respect. Don’t clean them up for the sake of making them role models.

Diversity doesn’t mean that every kind of person has to be seen in every comic book. If a character can’t fit smoothly into a story, then that character shouldn’t be in that story.

Write individuals, not role models or stereotypes.

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Don’t feed the trolls. Stop responding to those idiots. Okay, mock them if you have a free moment, but don’t waste your time and your creative energies doing online battle with these fools. Not when I and your other readers would prefer to see you devote yourself to your next story or novel or screenplay.

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Stand up to sexual and other harassment, but leave the torches and pitchforks behind. Any kind of harassment is unacceptable behavior, but responses should be measured because, in my experience, that’s what works.

Report harassment to the convention and, if the person represents a company exhibiting or promoting at the convention, report it to them as well. However, keep in mind that larger companies will have human resources departments and procedures/policies set up by those departments. The bigger the company, the more complicated those can be. Sometimes, the first steps are less than we think they should be, but big companies don’t usually move fast. Just keep at them and don’t be quiet about the problem.

If you’re an employee of the company that employs the person doing the harassing, complain to its human resources department as fast you can. They have an obligation to protect you and make sure the behavior does not continue.

If the person doing the harassing is a freelancer, the company that employs them has wider latitude. No matter how “popular” the person is, the company should dump them. I’m a believer in innocent until proven guilty, but, when the evidence and reports are plausible, I think the company should take action.

If the behavior is criminal, then do not pass “go” and do not ask a convention or a company to handle the matter. Report the crime to the police.

Whenever one of these situations arises, there are always those who will try to respond by saying the person doing the harassment would never do that...or that they were drinking too much...or that they had emotional problems...or some other lame-ass excuse that adds up to precisely one metric ton of bullshit.

People do bad things, even comic-book people. People who drink too much should not drink so much. Yeah, I know, alcoholism is a real disease, but, if I have that problem, I don’t drink at a convention or event. If I can’t refrain from drinking for the weekend, then I fucking stay home.

If I have emotional problems, I get counseling/treatment for them.  If they are such that I can’t resist bad behavior in public, then, again, I stay the fuck home.

If you can’t behave in an adult and civil manner, then, say it with me, my children...

 

STAY...THE...FUCK...HOME!

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Create safe spaces at conventions. This was a Mark Waid idea that I have shamelessly appropriated for myself.

The recent presidential election tragedy has empowered bigots and racists and misogynists. No matter how hard conventions might try to keep their events welcoming to all, there’s no such thing as a jerk detector. Some of these lowlifes will be at the conventions. They will try to make you feel uncomfortable. For what it’s worth, you are not alone.

If you feel uncomfortable at a convention that I’m at, consider my booth or table to be a safe space. Come to my booth and hang out as long as you need to. If the situation calls for it, I will ask the promoters to deal with whoever is making you feel uncomfortable. I have stood up to bullies my entire life and I’m not about to stop now. Word.

I ask other guests to do the same. If some enterprising artist can create a sign designating a booth or table as a “safe space,” I’ll be proud to display one at my booth of table.

Those are my New Year’s resolutions for the comics industry. If I have expressed myself clumsily, I would hope the sentiments still come through. We’re in this together.

Stronger together. Always forward.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2016 Tony Isabella