CHOKING THE CHICKEN

Dell’s Four Color #374 [February-March 1952] starred Walter Lantz’s
Woody Woodpecker.  The Dan Gormley cover shows Woody choking the
chicken - Charlie Chicken - mistaking him for the boat’s outboard
motor.  I don’t know what else I can say about this image.

Inside the issue, we get a selection of Woody Woodpecker stories of
16, 8 and 8 pages in length...and one-page gag strips on the inside
front cover, inside back cover and back cover.  According to the
Grand Comics Database, Gormley penciled one of the eight-page tales
and Dick Hall penciled the rest.  Suzanne Seaborne and Irene Little
were the inkers.

If I score an inexpensive copy of this issue somewhere, I’ll write
about it again.  In the meantime, keep reading the bloggy thing for
more vintage comic-book covers from my December 1951 birth month.

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

Last weekend’s Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sale didn’t reach
the financial goal I was shooting for, but it was great to see so
many happy customers walking away with stacks of comics, magazines
and more.  Like any good “shopkeeper” I listened to them talking to
me and each other.  Whether they realized it or not, they gave me
some great idea for my future garage sales.

Some of what I want to do is dependent on the weather.  It was grey
and gloomy in Medina over the weekend.  That surely kept some folks
from coming to the sale.  Also, because I had some work to finish
for a client, I couldn’t restock between Friday and Saturday.  My
restocking brings some Friday customers back for Saturday.  Point
well taken.

The next VAOS garage sale is Friday and Saturday, June 21 and 22,
the usual 9 am to 2 pm, at 840 Damon Drive in Medina, Ohio.  Look
for updates on the sale between now and then.

Before I move on to some movie reviews, I have a quick question for
my garage sale customers.  I might have a schedule conflict for my
last planned sale which would prevent me from having the Saturday
portion of the sale.  If, for that week, I switched the garage sale
to Friday and Sunday, would that be appealing to you? Let me know
in the comments section or on Facebook or via e-mail.

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

When I finished my garage sales and my work, I watched a couple of
movies from my local library system.  The first was Gangster Squad
[2013].  Wikipedia says:

Gangster Squad is a 2013 American action crime film directed by
Ruben Fleischer,[5] from a screenplay written by Will Beall. It
starred an ensemble cast that included Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling,
Nick Nolte, Emma Stone, Sean Penn, Michael Peña, and Giovanni
Ribisi.

The film is loosely based on the story of Los Angeles Police
Department officers and detectives forming a group called the
"Gangster Squad unit" who attempt to keep the city safe from Mickey
Cohen and his gang during the 1940s and '50s.

Emma Stone in a red evening gown is why I requested this movie from
the library.  She’s a stunner.  Unfortunately, her character never
comes to life beyond her gorgeousness.  As Grace Faraday, Cohen’s
“girlfriend” and etiquette teacher, her character plays a key role
in the story and climax.  But Stone is never given a chance to make
her character believable.

This is an action-packed movie with some terrific confrontations.
It’s also a movie that tested my willing suspension of disbelief on
a too frequent basis.  Sometimes it’s the cops doing stupid stuff,
sometimes it’s Cohen doing stupid stuff, sometimes it’s the large
disconnects from history.  I can sit back and enjoy this movie as
long as I don’t think about it.

As Cohen, Sean Penn takes me out of the film every time he appears.
His makeup is so ludicrous that I kept expecting Shaggy and Velma
to unmask him and reveal the Gangster Ghost is actually the kindly
professor.  Ego 1, acting 0.

I don’t know if I would call them good performances, but Nick Nolte
as the police chief who forms the Squad and Robert Patrick as the
aging cowboy of the squad are fun to watch.  Gosling gives his role
a good try, but he stumbles over his period smart guy enunciations
much of the time.

The finale is big and explosive.  It’s not remotely believable, but
it gets the movie to its “good triumphs over evil” ending.  These
days, good needs all the help it can get, whether in movies, comic
books, or, especially, real life.  

Gangster Squad isn’t something you should pay money to watch.  If
you’re jones-ing for more Emma Stone, rent the movie for a dollar
at one of the movie vending machines that seems to have sprung up
in every store and most gas stations in Medina.  I imagine you have
them in your neighborhood as well. 

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

I realized recently that the same man directed three of my all-time
favorite monster movies: Gorgo, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and
The Giant Behemoth. Better known as an art director, Eugène Lourié
only directed four theatrical releases.  The one I’d never seen was
The Colossus of New York (1958).  Fortunately, I was able to get a
copy through my local library system.

In Colossus, a brilliant young scientist and humanitarian is killed
in an auto accident, leaving behind his wife, his son, his nowhere
near as smart brother and his batshit crazy surgeon father.  Ross
Martin, who would play Artemis Gordon in The Wild Wild West series,
is the scientist.  Admire his youthful appearance while you can on
account of his character’s body doesn’t hang around long.

Crazy Dad, with the assistance of the “hot for my brother’s widow”
brother, places the scientist’s brain in a monstrous humanoid body.
The scientist wants to be killed, but Dad talks him into accepting
his new situation and continuing his humanitarian research.  What
could possibly go wrong with this plan?

Damn if this film isn’t downright unsettling, raising questions of
the necessity of emotion and human contact, giving me goose bumps
via its haunting Van Cleave score, and doing the rampaging monster
bit in chilling fashion.  The low budget is obvious, but the movie
works.  Lourié had chops and I think he should be recognized as one
of the great filmmakers of the horror/monster/sci-fi genre. 

That’s all for now.  Strap on your trusty six-shooter and join me
tomorrow for our usual Rawhide Kid Wednesday.   

© 2013 Tony Isabella

GET MORE TONY: CAPTAIN UNIVERSE

Captain Universe: The Hero Who Could Be You #1 [Marvel; $7.99] collected over 100 pages of stories featuring the title character, including a short story written by yours truly.  Created by Bill Mantlo with Steve Ditko, Captain Universe is someone different in every story.  When danger arises, the Uni-Power selects a human being to thwart the menace of the moment, be it of earthly or supernatural origin.

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: Mike Golden was the original artist on Captain Universe, who made his first appearances in the Micronauts series.  I apologize for the error.

"Child Star" (5 pages) is by yours truly and, of all the stories I wrote for Marvel, this is very near the top of my own favorites.  Two yuppies living in Medina, Ohio conjure up demons to manipulate the stock market.  When the plan goes horribly awry, the Uni-Power selects toddler Eddie for its champion.  Eddie was based on my son and, indeed, most of his dialogue comes from things he was actually saying at that age,  To make things even better for me, the story was drawn by Ditko and I was able to work thinly-disguised versions of Gorgo and Konga into my script.

The original Mantlo/Ditko stories are the best stories in this issue, but "Child Star" will always have a place in my heart.  I think it's one of the best things I ever wrote for Marvel.

One quibble.  The "Marvel Universe" pages that are included in this one-shot have Eddie's name wrong.  "Price" was the name of the yuppie couple.  Eddie's last name was never given in my script.  If I thought I could have gotten away with it, I would have named him Eddie Isabella.

My thanks to Marvel for reprinting "Child Star" for the second time and, of course, to original editor Jim Salicrup for giving me the assignment.

THE INCA IDOL CASE

We’ll start this week with Dell’s Four Color #371 [February-March
1952] starring Mickey Mouse.  This is the 23rd of 27 Mickey Mouse
issues of Four Color.  Like most of the comics that were on comics
racks in my December 1951 birth month, I’ve never read this comic
book.  However, the Grand Comics Database credits Dan Gormley with
the cover art and offers some information on the contents:

“Mickey Mouse and the Inca Idol Mystery” (24 pages) is tentatively
identified as penciled by Dick Hall.  The GCD has this synopsis of
the story:

Two crooks use Mickey and Goofy to unknowingly help them smuggle
the "Inca Idol" from the South American city of "Inca Blinka".

Hall is also tentatively credited as the penciler of an eight-page
untitled Mickey Mouse story.  Synopsis:

Mickey and Pluto are accidentally locked in a museum. Black Pete
and El Cad break into the museum to steal the original plans of the
pyramids from the mummy of King Tut-Tah-Tut.

Mickey Mouse gag strips appear on the issue’s inside front cover,
inside back cover and back cover.  All but the first are drawn by
Bill Weaver.

Keep watching this bloggy thing for more vintage comic-book covers
from the month of my birth.

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

These past few days, in between my garage sale and a spot of work
for a client, I somehow managed to finish reading a pair of novels.
Which brings us to...

Supernatural Born Killers by Casey Daniels [Penguin; $7.99] is the
ninth book in the author’s Pepper Martin series and the first one
which has disappointed me.  Pepper is the daughter of a disgraced
plastic surgeon who ended up in prison and, in doing so, cost her
the society lifestyle the beautiful redhead had been enjoying.  She
gets a job as a guide at Cleveland’s famous Garden View Cemetery.
After an encounter between her head and a tombstone, Pepper finds
she can see and communicate with the ghosts of folks buried at the
cemetery...and said spirits find they can count on the feisty young
woman to help them settle the earthly affairs that keep them bound
to the cemetery.

Pepper’s previous clients have include President James A. Garfield
and a Mafia don.  She’s had an on-again, off-again romance with a
homicide detective who, despite having appeared before her when he
was temporarily dead and given her evidence to find his “killer,”
is still having a tough time believing in her gift.  This time out,
her client is the detective’s former partner, a missing cop thought
to be dirty.  Also this time out, the case involves valuable comic
books.  That’s where the book started to lose me.

A key element of the plot is a stolen “platinum” copy of Superman
#75 and the book widely exaggerates the price of this not actually
rare issue.  In general, comic-book fans are not treated kindly in
this novel.  That began to piss me off after a while.

What really undoes the book for me are the changes to basic tenets
of the series.  All of a sudden, Pepper meets ghosts who are able
to touch the physical world enough to help her in her new position
as the cemetery community relations manager.  All of a sudden, her
dad is out of prison and, with her mom, wants Pepper to join them
in a detective agency.  All of a sudden, Pepper’s gift is revealed
to be a hereditary thing.  All of a sudden, her doubting boyfriend
accepts her abilities and proposes to her.  The book reads as if it
is the last book in the series or if a bunch of Hollywood asshats
gave the author notes on how to improve the novel.  I’m not certain
which would displease me the most.

I heartily recommend the previous eight books in the series.  They
were all great fun.  This one, not so much.  Oh, it has some fine
moments, but the payoffs to the moments are not at all satisfying.
If it’s the last Pepper Martin novel, the series is ending poorly.
If it’s not, I hope the next novel recaptures the charm and spooky,
sexy excitement of the earlier books.

ISBN 078-0-425-25125-2

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

Stephen King’s Joyland [Hard Case Crime; $12.95] reminded me that
one of my seven favorite authors of all time deserves his place on
that list and also that I’ve neglected his works for far too long.
Hold that thought for now.

In Joyland, college student Devin Jones has taken a summer job at
the small North Carolina amusement park of the title.  Though the
young man doesn’t realize it at first, he’s also there to deal with
the loss of his first love...and perhaps for some greater purpose.

King’s characters are wonderfully made.  Devin, his widowed father,
landlady, employers, co-workers, park visitors and others snap into
view as King describes them in brilliantly crafted short paragraphs
and sentences.  If and when Joyland becomes a movie - and, please,
let it be faithful to the book - there will be a dozen great roles
for talented actors.

Joyland immerses the reader into the world of the carny.  There are
wonderful descriptions of the operation of the amusement park that
speak to King’s characters.  There are unsolved murders most foul
looming over Devin’s summer as well as modest yet powerful brushes
with the supernatural.  There is joy - what else would you expect
from a place that, as its aged frail owner says, sells fun - and
there is the sorrow that challenges that joy, just as it does in my
life and your life.

King’s writing carried me away.  I can't recall when I last enjoyed
a novel this much.  Great story, great characters, great writing.
Why have I let my admittedly crazy busy life keep me away from the
man’s books for so long?  That needs correcting.

Joyland is one fine book.  I recommend it most highly.

ISBN 9871781162644

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

If I didn’t list them, you would ask for their names.  Don’t deny
it.  I know you, my beloved readers, I know you.  In alphabetical
order, here are my seven favorite non-comics authors:

Dave Barry
Max Allan Collins
Harlan Ellison
O. Henry
Stephen King
Ed McBain
William Shakespeare

I hereby resolve to myself that I will spend more time with them in
the months and years to come.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2013 Tony Isabella

THE SCREAMING COWBOY

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #137 [Dell; February, 1952] came
to newsstands in my December 1951 birth month.  Its cold winter’s
night cover is by the masterful Carl Barks, surely on every comics
reader’s list of the greatest comics creators of all time.  I have
only read one story in this issue, but, as it turns out, it’s one
of my favorite Barks tales.

Untitled in this original presentation, “The Screaming Cowboy” is
ten pages of pure Barks hilarity.  In an era when cowboys were the
kinds of entertainment, Donald Duck makes a small fortune writing
a song called “The Screaming Cowboy.” Here are a few lines of his
ear-shattering lyrics:

Oh, bury me that with my battered git-tar
A-screamin’ my heart out fer yew

To celebrate his success, Donald takes Huey, Dewey and Louie to a
ritzy winter resort in the ominously named Avalanche Valley.  The
place is nigh-empty because of recent avalanches, but all Donald
focuses on is his song, which he finds on the jukebox in the lobby.
He puts in a nickel, his song commences and, immediately, another
avalanche gets underway.

There’s no natural reason for these avalanches, but the manager of
the resort tells the nephews about the Snow Hermit, a strange old
man who lives in the mountains.  It is rumored the Hermit has been
starting these avalanches.  However, when they get to the Hermit’s
cave, he’s not there.

The Hermit couldn’t stand hearing “The Screaming Cowboy” from the
resort jukebox, so he moved to another cave.  He’s not causing the
avalanches.  You have all the clues, my beloved readers, so I know
you know what does cause them.

Donald remains oblivious and self-centered throughout this story,
which makes it all the more hilarious.  If I hadn’t been already
been laughing out loud as I read this wonder the first time, Barks’
conclusion and the punch line would have got me there.

As for the rest of the issue...

The inside front cover reprints the Donald Duck Sunday strip from
March 6, 1949.  It’s written by Bob Karp with art by Al Taliaferro.

The Li'l Bad Wolf appears in a six-page tale with pencil art by Gil
Turner.

A five-page Grandma Duck story is drawn by Frank McSavage.

“The Magic Spring” is a two-page text story starring Thumper from
the Bambi movie.  Illustrations are by Al Hubbard.

More newspaper strip reprints follow the text story.  A single-page
Mickey Mouse Sunday by Bill Walsh and artist Manuel Gonzales hails
from April 3, 1949.

There are four Donald Duck dailies by Karp and Taliaferro.  Each of
them take up half-a-page of the issue and were originally published
in 1949 on February 18, February 26, August 8 and August 9.

Mickey Mouse stars in the six-page “The Shattered-Glass Mystery.”
It’s the first part of a four-part serial.  Though the Grand Comics
Database isn't sure who drew this chapter, it tentatively gives Riley
Thompson the credit.

Another Donald Duck Sunday strip by Karp and Taliaferro closes out
this issue.  It originally ran on December 11, 1949.

Dell certainly packed a lot of entertainment into this issue’s 36
pages.  The indicia number is Vol. 12, No. 5.

Keep watching the bloggy thing for more vintage comic-book covers
from the month of my birth.  When we run out of those, I’ll switch
over to another key month in my life.

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

I watched a couple movies this week.  Before I get into the reviews
of these films, we pause for this announcement:

SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD

Age of Dinosaurs is a 2013 release from The Asylum, that mad movie
company that has made over 100 movies in the past fifteen years.
Many of these films fit squarely in my “love cheesy monster movies”
wheelhouse and this one is no exception. From the Internet Movie
Database, here’s a quick summary:

Using breakthrough flesh-regeneration technology, a biotech firm
creates a set of living dinosaurs. But when the creatures escape
their museum exhibit and terrorize Los Angeles, a former
firefighter must rescue his teenage daughter from the chaos brought
on by the Age of Dinosaurs.

Treat Williams is the former firefighter, Jillian Rose Reed is his
spunky daughter, and Ronny Cox is the billionaire who sets all the
prehistoric pandemonium into motion.  The rich guy’s motives aren’t
evil.  He thinks dinosaurs are cool and will help his corporation
raise the awareness and funds to use this technology to help folks
like him.  Confined to a wheelchair, he’s able to walk because of
this research.  Unfortunately, some of the people working for him
think in terms of acceptable losses as they cut corners.

I’ve always wanted to see a “dinosaurs loose in the big city” movie
and I hoped this one might be it.  It’s not, as much of the mayhem
is confined to the corporation headquarters and a nearby shopping
mall.  We do get some cool dinosaurs in the streets action and also
some pterodactyl in the sky stuff.  Most of the action is indoors.
Still cool in places, but not as cool as I had hoped.

The movie’s big finish has the firefighter chasing the pterodactyl
who grabbed his daughter to the landmark Hollywood sign.  That’s a
great concept, but the clumsiness of the large pterodactyl puppet
makes the battle unintentionally hilarious.  On the other hand, we
still have dinosaurs loose in Los Angeles.  There might well be a
sequel in our future.

Age of Dinosaurs has a good concept, some good acting and writing,
some cool monster mayhem.  I enjoyed watching it.  You might enjoy
it as well.  Check it out.

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

I didn’t enjoy Black Scorpion II: Aftershock (1997).  This sequel
didn’t even deliver the giggles of the original.  It also had fewer
boobies, but that wasn’t a factor in my dislike.  I’m just sharing
that information for those who might be interested in that measure
of a film’s quality or lack thereof.

Police detective Darcy Walker is on the force in Angel City, which
is basically Los Angeles.  When little things like the law get in
the way of justice, she dons the fetish outfit of Black Scorpion to
stop crime and gleefully slaughter criminals.  This time out, her
foes are the Prankster Gangster, a Joker wannabe, and Aftershock,
a scientist seeking vengeance for crimes against her.  Those crimes
were instigated by the city’s crooked mayor and his thugs.

This movie is hard on the ears and eyes.  It opens with a pair of
giggling masked criminals fleeing the scene.  Using her super-car,
the Scorpion stops them.  Then, for no reason I could discern, she
blows them and their car into little flaming pieces.  I’m sort of
a believer in lethal force when necessary, but this event came not
even a little close to my standard for such.

This is a major problem with Black Scorpion II. It tries to go for
both the campiness of the Batman series of the 1960s and the more
grim super-heroics of the 1990s.  The two sensibilities are a poor
fit and the movies suffers from it.

The Gangster Prankster is just pathetic.  The bad acting hurts my
brain when I recall it.  It’s almost acceptable when the so-called
heroine literally blows him to pieces. That’s comedy?

Aftershock looks like she could have stepped out of the pages of a
mediocre super-hero comic book of the era.  When she has a change
of heart and sacrifices herself to save Angel City from the quake
she has initiated - after Darcy unmasks in front of her and tells
her she shares her pain - it may be the most unbelievable scene
in a movie filled with unbelievable scenes.

Bad acting, bad writing...yeah, I recommend you stay away from this
one.  It’s heading for my garage sale as soon as I post this bloggy
thing.  Definitely not a keeper.

The Black Scorpion movies were followed by a 22-episode TV series
that aired in 2001.  Some friends tell me it’s even worse than the
movies, but I confess I’m tempted by any series that featured Adam
West and various Playboy playmates as villains.  If I ever find a
really cheap price for the set, I might go for it.    

I’ll be back on Monday with more stuff.

© 2013 Tony Isabella

JUNE 8 GARAGE SALE UPDATE

Thanks to all the customers who made the first day of this weekend's garage sale such a success.  It was great seeing so many happy fans walking away with - literally - boxes of comic books and magazines and trades. 

Tomorrow's garage sale will again be from 9 am to 2 pm at 840 Damon Drive in Medina, Ohio.  There are still thousands of great items waiting for you.  Hope to see you then.

THE KISS OF DEATH!


As I was entering the world in my birth month of December 1951, a
Marvel super-hero was embarking on a two-decade hiatus.  Venus #19
[April 1952] was the last issue of a title which had been published
on a bimonthly schedule since August 1948.

Venus was as mutable a comic book series as you can imagine.  Its
issues ranged from fantasy to horror to romance to science fiction
during its 19-issue run.  As you might imagine from this wondrous
Bill Everett cover, it was a horror title at its end.

This issue had three Venus stories and one non-series story.  Most
of them have been reprinted over the years.  Here’s the line-up of
the stories with credits and reprint information, all courtesy of
the amazing Grand Comics Database.

Venus in “The Kiss of Death!” (7 pages).  Written and drawn by Bill
Everett. Reprinted in Tomb of Darkness #20 (May 1976).  Venus and
Whit set out to expose a fraudulent medium, but learn that he can
indeed summon the dead.

Venus in “Demon From the Deep” (6 pages). Written and drawn by Bill
Everett.  No reprint information or synopsis available.

“The Madman's Music” (4 pages). Drawn by Pete Morisi with no writer
credit at this time.  Reprinted in Tomb of Darkness #22 (September
1976). After being injured in a fight, a clarinet player believes
that he can play better than before, but when he tries to show his
agent, the other man can't hear him playing at all. He learns that
his music can now only be heard by the dead.

Venus in “The Box of Doom!” (6 pages). Written and drawn by Bill
Everett.  Reprinted in Weird Wonder Tales #16 (June 1976) and also
Silver Surfer Vs. Dracula #1 (February 1994. A mysterious package
is delivered to Venus's office, and she and the delivery man are
nearly driven mad by an evil force inside the box.

There’s also a text story called “Death to the Hairy Monsters!” in
the issue.  I never read such text stories as a kid and don’t read
them now.  But, with a title like that, I might make an exception
for this one if Marvel ever publishes the second and final Marvel
Masterworks collection of Venus.

The next appearance for Venus would be in Sub-Mariner #57 (January
1973) in a tale written and drawn by Bill Everett.  Following that,
she would appear in The Champions #1 [October 1975] in a story by
Tony Isabella with art by Don Heck and Mike Esposito.  Since I had
already been “blessed” with a crazy and diverse set of characters
for the title I had originally conceived as a buddy book starring
Iceman and the Angel, I figured I might as well throw a whole mess
of mythological characters into the first story arc.  I’ve probably
written about or been interviewed about the Champions on numerous
occasions.  Seek and ye shall find.

Keep watching this bloggy thing for more vintage comic-book covers
from the month of my birth.

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

I’m holding one of my roughly-every-two-weeks garage sale today and
tomorrow.  Sometimes I think I get too excited about these sales.
I forget they are part of a multi-year plan to empty my Fortress of
Storage and reduce my Vast Accumulation of Stuff down to about 20%
of its current magnitude.  As a result, I spend more somewhat more
time than necessary getting ready for the sales.  Not the best move
for a guy committed to reducing the stress in his life.

This isn’t some weepy monologue about how tough my life is because
my life is pretty damn good.  I have a wonderful wife and family.
I have work I enjoy.  I’m exceptionally good.  I even get to write
about how wonderful my life is and annoy the piss out of anonymous
cowards who stubbornly try to get my goat.

Sure, there are things that bug me.  They bug many of my readers as
well because they frequently ask me to write about them.  Which I
may do in the future.  Right now, though, I’m having a ball doing
what I do here in the bloggy thing, writing stuff for the various
cartoonists I assist and excavating the Vast Accumulation of Stuff.
One of the reasons I have started adding ongoing bonus features to
this blog is because of the wondrous things I find.

The ongoing bonus features will appear as often as I have time to
write them.  On weeks when I’m doing work for clients or preparing
for my garage sales, they will appear less often.

When I attend conventions, unless I buy a travel computer sometime
in the near future, the bloggy thing and its bonus features will go
on hiatus.  My next scheduled appearance is at the Derby City Comic
Convention, which will happen on Saturday, June 29 at the Kentucky
International Convention Center in Louisville.  I’ll have more to
say about this show next week.

Of course, the big event in my future is Comic-Con International:
San Diego, July 18-21 at the San Diego Convention Center.  I think
they call it “international” because the show is so big it crosses
over into other countries.  Every couple weeks, my pal Mark Evanier
reminds me how huge the event is.  As if I weren’t already mildly
terrified by its enormity.  But I am definitely looking forward to
seeing Mark and other old friends...and making new friends.

I have a pretty good idea what panels I’ll be appearing on at the
convention, but I’m going to wait until the schedule gets a little
more firmed up before I write about them.  I won’t have a table in
Artists Alley or be scheduled for the autograph area - my choice on
both of those - but I do hope to find a place and a time where I’ll
be able to sign Isabella-written stuff for my readers.  If there’s
any interested exhibitors out there who would like to host such a
signing, they should e-mail me.

I have a few other convention appearances scheduled or in the works
for this year.  I’ll let you know about them soon.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2013 Tony Isabella

JUNE 7-8 GARAGE SALE UPDATE #3

My next comic-book and related items garage sale is Friday and Saturday, June 7 and 8, 9 am to 2 pm each day at 840 Damon Drive in Medina, Ohio.  Thousands of items for sale at bargain prices.

Things have gotten a little dicey this week and today's weather is troubling.  So I'm not planning to set up any outside tables.  If the weather improves on Friday, I'll set them up for Saturday.

But I'll be working on the sale until late in the night and I'm sure anyone who makes the trip will find lots of cool stuff to add to their vast accumulations of stuff.