MONSTROUS FUN AT AKRON COMICON

The second annual Akron Comicon took place on Saturday, November 9,
at the University of Akron’s Quaker Station.  I think it was held
in a TARDIS because it was way too big and way too much fun to be
a one-day convention.

My son Ed was my booth babe at the convention.  We sold a bunch of
books, comic books and a pair of Superman Underoos in its unopened
package.  Ed bought a Godzilla poster, a couple of volumes of Scott
Pilgrim, and a volume of a manga series.  I bought the above shown
Godzilla print by accomplished sketch card artist Daniel P. Gorman.
The blessings of the Great Scaly One be upon him.

The day was blur of good friends and terrific cosplayers.  The most
striking costume was a guy in an enormous Death outfit that had his
own music.  He came over to my table and I told him I was in good
health.  He shrugged his giant shoulders in disappointment.  I felt
bad for him so I pointed how pasty Bob Ingersoll was looking behind
his table.  With friends like me...

Among the other cosplayers was a sensational Wonder Woman with just
slightly gray hair and a great Catwoman from Batman Returns (1992).
I’m not a fan of the Michelle Pfeiffer fetish look for Selina Kyle,
but this cosplayer pulled it off.  Attorney Harvey Birdman was
also on hand; that was one of my favorite costumes.  I didn’t get
a count on how many cosplayers came to the Comicon, but my estimate
would be well over two dozen of all ages.

Akron native Mike W. Barr was at Akron Comicon, having received a
special award from the convention the night before the event.  He
was honored - and I’m going from memory because I didn’t take notes
when he showed me his award - for three firsts.  He wrote the first
Batman graphic novel.  He wrote the first ongoing Batman team book
in Batman and the Outsiders.  He wrote the first DC maxi-series in
Camelot 3000.  Mike or the convention can and should correct me if
I got any of these wrong.

Mike is a close friend and a terrific writer.  In fact, every time
I see him or talk to him, I wonder to myself why he isn’t writing
a couple of ongoing titles for DC Comics, the home of many of his
greatest successes.  He’s better than 95% of the writers currently
writing for DC and he can give the other 5% a run for their money.
I shake my head in characteristic bafflement at how DC Comics makes
its editorial decisions.

Tom Batiuk, creator of the popular Funky Winkerbean and Crankshaft
newspaper strips, was also at the convention, selling and signing
The Complete Funky Winkerbean and other collections of that long-
running strip.  He’s my friend and neighbor here in Medina, Ohio,
so it’s not as if I don’t see him often, but, even so, it’s good to
see him receiving the adulation of his many fans.

Cartooning genius Craig Boldman was one of the convention guests.
Though he’s probably best known for writing a whole bunch of the
best and funniest Jughead comics of all time, Craig is one heck of
an artist as well.  We talked about comics we liked and comics we
didn’t like and I realized I need to figure out a way to team with
Craig for a project.

Ron Frenz, who has been drawing dynamic heroes since the 1980s, was
also on hand.  We only chatted briefly, but it’s always good to see
him sketching away.  He hasn’t lost an artistic step since he first
started working in the business.

I got a chance to talk with Mike Gustovich for the first time in a
couple decades.  I used to write his Justice Machine series at the
late Comico.  It was good to see Mike again.

Dirk Manning was there and he’s always a pleasure to see and talk
with.  This time around, we spoke of relative success in the comics
field.  He’s done terrific creator-owned project, but his mom was
most impressed by a work-for-hire Wizard of Oz comic book he wrote.
I’ve worked with legends like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but I think
what impressed my mom most was that I was friends with Jon Provost
of Lassie renown and that Sainted Wife Barb and I once took Jon and
Jay “Dennis the Menace” North to dinner.

My pal Michael May, who was a volunteer at Mid-Ohio-Con many years
ago, was also a volunteer at the Akron Comicon.  He told me about
the newest addition to his household: a pet skunk.  In fact, it was
his second pet skunk.  He then proceed to astound even more when he
told me he got the skunk from a skunk shelter.  Which is, believe
it or not, a real thing.

The shelter Michael described cares for well over a hundred skunks
with most - but not all - of them being descented.  In all the time
this shelter has been open, even when its still scented residents
would have their little spats, no skunk has ever released its toxic
spray.  The whole idea of a skunk shelter fascinates me.  I might
have to check it out in person.

Getting back to the guests...

Brad Ricca was at the convention.  He’s the author of Super Boys:
The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster--the
Creators of Superman [St. Martin's Press; $27.99], the best comics
biography ever written.  I reviewed this book in my “Tony’s Tips”
column at Tales of Wonder and recommended it to every comics buff
I know.  It was pleasure to finally meet the man who told Jerry and
Joe’s story better than anyone ever has.

Other old friends at the Comicon: Mark Pengryn, Mike Sangiacomo,
Gerry Shamray, Ted Sikora, Marc Sumerak, a furry ball of love known
as Chris Yambar and the insanely multi-talented Thom Zahler.  These
pals and the other great folks at the event made the Akron Comicon
a very special day for me.

The Akron Comicon is becoming a highlight of my convention travels.
Promoters Robert Jenkins and Michael Savene have learned a lot from
the many conventions they’ve attended and they are applying those
lessons to their own event.  Their biggest problem is how fast this
amazing convention is growing.

My prediction is that the Akron Comicon will keep having to move to
bigger venues as it continues to grow.  I can easily see the show
becoming a two-day event.  Finally, within five more years, I could
see this show being considered the real successor to Roger Price’s
Mid-Ohio-Con.  I’m looking forward to that time.

The next Akron Comicon will be on Saturday, November 8, 2014.  I’m
not sure where it will be held, but I’m already marking that date
on my schedule.  I’ll be there and, if you want to spend a fun day
with other comics fanatics, you should be there, too.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2013 Tony Isabella

AWESOME AKRON COMICON 2013

The second annual Akron Comicon took place on Saturday, November 9,
at the University of Akron’s Quaker Station.  If I were a gambling
man, I’d wager with confidence that the two things promoters Robert
Jenkins and Michael Savene most heard were:

“What an awesome convention!”

And

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat!”

The convention was jumping from start to finish.  Before the doors
opened at 10 am, there was a line of fans waiting to get into the
con.  Indeed, as fans bought their tickets and entered the event,
more fans arrived.  The line didn’t disappear until around two in
the afternoon.

Inside the convention, fans found lots of comics industry guests,
lots of dealers and lots of terrific cosplayers.  I was one of the
guests and I had a great convention, so great it’ll probably take
me two days to tell you about the one-day event.

There were around two dozen guests.  Many of them were old friends.
Some were new friends.  One was a friend of about a decade who I’d
never met face-to-face.  I’ll start with him.

Adam Beechen writes for animation and comic books.  His animation
credits include the legendary - well, to me, anyway - “Blast from
the Past” episode of Static Shock.  He’s also written for X-Men:
Evolution, Teen Titans, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Scooby-Doo!
Mystery Incorporated, The Adventures of Chuck & Friends and more.
His comics credits include Justice League Unlimited, Robin, Teen
Titans, Batman Beyond and, until recently, Batman Beyond Unlimited.

Adam and I “met” when I reviewed Hench, his first comics work and
a wonderful graphic novel about a super-villain henchman.  I liked
Hench so much I included it in my 1000 Comic Books You Must Read.
We’ve exchanged e-mails and Facebook messages for years, but this
was the first time we could talk face-to-face.

We chatted for 30-40 minutes about comics, mutual friends and more.
I was already assumed hanging out with Adam would be the high point
of my convention.  But, while I was sitting at his table deciding
that one more bite of the delicious Comicon-provided lunch would be
dangerous - it was a huge hot dog piled high with barbequed pulled
pork and bacon bits - the real high point of the convention walked
up and introduced himself to me.  I was thrilled Adam was there to
share it with me and I wish all my friends and bloggy thing readers
could have been there as well.

I have to preface this story with the admission I have no memory of
my meeting with a 12-year-old Dru Woodward, who has since become a
very accomplished artist.  I know the date is off because I wasn’t
living in Fairlawn 35 years ago.  Barb and I were married in 1984
and I moved into what would become our apartment sometime in 1983.
After the story, I’ll try to explain why I have no memory of that
long-ago meeting with Dru.

Here’s Dru’s story...

He’s a twelve-year-old kid who wants to draw comic books.  From a
letters page, he finds out Tony Isabella lives in the Akron area.
He goes to the phone book and finds out this Isabella guy lives a
few blocks away.  He grabs his drawings and he heads to the address
in the phone book.

A very groggy me answers the door.  I was working ridiculous hours
back then, heading into Cleveland at 5 am every morning to get my
Cosmic Comics store ready for the day, working there until 2 pm or
so, then driving back to write and occasionally sleep.  According
to Dru, I shook off my grogginess, figured out what he was asking
and let him into the house.

Dru tells me I spent something like an hour-and-a-half going over
his artwork, discussing it with him, answering his questions about
working in comics and the like.  Other than his parents, I was the
first person to encourage him to follow his dreams.

I was thrilled to talk to Dru at the convention and check out his
more recent work, though I couldn’t resist telling him that he was
better when he was 12.  We exchanged contact information.  I spent
the rest of the convention hovering a foot or so above the ground.
It’s both humbling and wonderful to find out that a simple and long
forgotten kindness turned out so well.

Dru sent me an e-mail the next day:

It was great seeing you after 35 years. You were just as gracious,
and funny, as you were when I was 12 standing on your doorstep with
my pathetic drawings in hand. You made me feel like a million bucks
then, and you were the first 'real person' to encourage me to
follow my dream in the world other than my parents.

I built my career only with what my head, and my hands, could do.
To me that means a lot. I didn't take an easy road. Not the best
decision financially perhaps, but my spirit's never regretted it.

It’s hard for even me to believe I could forget my encounter with
the young Dru.  My only possible explanations are these:

In recent years, I have noticed gaps in my memory which I attribute
to the beating I took when I walked in on two men robbing my New
York apartment in the 1970s.  Those gaps are why I work so hard
checking facts whenever I write about my comics career, why I often
contact other comics creators to verify my memory.  I suppose I could
go the Jim Shooter route and just make up shit that makes me look like
a hero, but I think accuracy and honesty are virtues.

The second reason sounds so self-serving I didn’t want to mention
it and only do so in the name of accuracy and honesty.  The “sad”
fact is...I do and have done many nice things like the above and I
have never consciously kept track of them.  Keeping a scorecard of
good deeds, to me, at least, seems to miss the point of doing those
good deeds.

In the name of the same accuracy and honesty, I will now admit to
a darkness in my character.

There was an individual at the Akron Comicon - not a comics creator
- who I don’t like.  Many years ago, he worked for a man who I’ve
called "the worst person it’s ever been my misfortune to have been
associated with."  This guy at the Comicon was a shit to me way back
then and has been a shit to me on the few occasions when our paths
have crossed since.  He’s even an outside suspect for the anonymous
troll who sends hate-mail to me every month or so.

This guy is at least ten and maybe fifteen years younger than me.
When I saw him at the convention - Godzilla forgive me - I took an
uncharacteristic delight in how bad he looked.  He didn’t look as
terrible as the one-thin-wafer-away-from-exploding DC Comics editor
I saw in San Diego, but he looked unhappy and unhealthy.  Monster
that I am, I went back to take a second look at him and again felt
delight.  I can be a dark dark man.

Yes...now I feel bad about my delight over this individual’s sickly
appearance.  But, at the convention, I relished it.  Which makes my
next convention story even stranger.

Another old friend was at the convention.  We go back a really long
time and worked together on the 1988 International Superman Expo in
Cleveland.  Among the things he does these days is train counselors
to work with drug addicts.

Remember that “worst person it’s ever been my misfortune to have
been associated with”?  A while back, I had been told he’d cleaned
up his act after decades of drug abuse and wrongdoing.  I did some
checking and found this might actually be the case.  While it would
have been nice if he tried to make amends for what he did to me and
others, I was honestly glad he’d seemingly turned his life around.

It turns out that “worst person it’s ever been my misfortune to
have been associated with” was trained by my friend.  Apparently,
the “worst person” has, indeed, turned his life around.  Maybe not
to the extent of making amends to everyone he wronged before this,
but to the extent that he’s helping fellow addicts.  My reaction to
this confirmation of the earlier report was, once again, gladness.
I’m a sucker for even an imperfect redemption story.

The Akron Comicon was big fun with its guests and its fans and its
cosplayers.  It definitely has the potential to grow into the next
Mid-Ohio-Con, the Roger Price event which set the standard for all
comics conventions in this neck of the woods.  I have much more to
tell you about the Akron convention, but you’ll have to come back
tomorrow to read it.  See you then.

© 2013 Tony Isabella

TONY'S TIPS #32

This week in "Tony's Tips" at Tales of Wonder...Heroic Tales of Bill Everett, Airboy and Valkyrie and The Art of Joe Kubert.  Check it out.

VETERANS DAY

On this and every Veterans Day, I offer my heartfelt thanks to all those who have served our country in the military. We owe them those thanks and so much more.  So let's also remind our elected officials that they still have much work to do in making sure our veterans have good jobs and the best health care when they come home from their service.  This is more than an obligation.  This is a moral imperative.  This is how we truly honor our veterans for their service. 

TONY READS MORE COMIC BOOKS

I have a friend who loves comic books up to the point of actually
reading them.  He goes to all the super-hero movies and likes the
Marvel ones better than the DC ones.  He thinks Stan “The Man” Lee
is way cool, which may be the basis of our friendship.  He likes
knowing someone who knows and has worked with Stan.

He sometimes asks me if I’ve read any good comics lately.  Not that
he’s likely to read those comics.  Most recently, my answer to the
question was: “The new Rick Geary book was fun.”  Naturally, he had
no idea what I was walking about.

I tried to explain.  I told him Geary does these fun little graphic
novels about 20th century murders.  He had a tough time with “fun”
and “murder” being in the same sentence.  When I tried to explain
that Geary’s book were charming and informative and even sweet in
their own demented way, I suspect he was mentally practicing what
he would say to the reporters if it was ever discovered that I was
a serial killer.  Which I’m not.  Honest.

Madison Square Tragedy [NBM; $15.99] is Geary’s latest sweet little
murder book.  Its sordid subject is the murder of famous architect
Stanford White in June of 1906.  White designed the mansions of the
New York rich and the first Madison Square Gardens.  He was also a
sadistic sexual predator who beat his “conquests” and delighted in
luring innocent young women into his boudoir.  His killer - Harry
K. Thaw - wasn’t much better.  The women in their lives were easily
dominated and made incredibly bad decisions.  And therein lies the
weaving of multiple stories that led to White’s far-from-untimely
demise and Thaw’s downfall.

Geary combines nigh-obsessive research with charming drawings and
solid storytelling.  He captures the feel of the era and eases the
reader into the depravities.  The good old days were never quite as
good as some would claim them to be and Geary’s work reveals that
obvious truth in brilliant fashion.  His reporting of these bloody
events is more polite than sensational, which makes the books all
the more shocking.  I love them madly and I recommend them to both
comics fans and general true crime afficionados.

ISBN 978-1-56163-762-1

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

Dark Horse has published over a hundred Conan comic books and that
doesn’t include its reprints of near every Conan comic published by
Marvel.  I’ve been reading and mostly not reviewing the DH Conans,
but, every now and then, I come across issues that are even better
than the DH’s usual high standards for these comics.

Conan #28 [May, 2006] features “Storyteller” by writer Kurt Busiek
and artist Eric Powell.  It’s a lovely done-in-one story in which
Conan himself is but a supporting character.  It’s tale of a young
man, prone to telling stories, who rises to a challenge as bravely
as any hero.  It’s a remarkable issue.  If there were actual “Best
of the Year” anthologies that included mainstream comics among the
darlings of the artsy-fartsy crowd, this story would have been in
the 2006 volume.

Also exceptional was P. Craig Russell’s three-issue Conan and the
Jewels of Gwahlur from 2005.  It’s adapted from a Robert E. Howard
story that I’ve never much cared for - Conan comes off as a sleazy
con man - but Russell’s version is a stunning display of intriguing
storytelling and magnificent art.  Kudos also go to colorist Lovern
Kindzierski and letterer Galen Showman.  These are very cool comic
books and well worth seeking out.

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

A+X [Marvel; $3.99] is a wonderful anthology series that features
two stories per issue.  Each story teams up an one of the Avengers
with one of the X-Man.  The introductory page is always hilarious.
The stories are so well-crafted that you don’t need to know all the
recent Marvel continuity.  I love this title, so, naturally, it’s
being cancelled.

Do not let the cancellation prevent you from seeking out A+X #12.
In the lead story, Christos Gage reunites old pals Wonder Man and
the Beast, both of whom have made incredibly terrible decisions of
late.  Those decisions are covered in a panel or two as we follow
the two heroes from tavern to tavern trying to rekindle their old
friendship.  Despite the duo’s decisions, Cage keeps the story fun
and downright hilarious.  Artist David Williams does an excellent
job on his end.  The result is the rare super-hero story that will
leave you feeling happy.

The same is true of the Captain America/Jubilee team-up by Justin
Jordan and Angel Unzueta.  In case you missed it, Jubilee is now a
vampire.  But a good vampire.  So who better to team with Cap to go
after...wait for it...underwater vampire Nazis from World War II?
Another feel-good story.

Unseemly as it is for a man of my dignified years to beg, I would
urge Marvel to reconsider canceling A+X.  If they can’t do that, I
would ask that they launch a new anthology with the same fun vibe.
Because we need this kind of super-hero comic book.

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

The bloggy thing will be taking a couple days off while I prepare
for and attend this year’s Akron Comicon.  The event takes place on
Saturday, November 9, 10 am to 6 pm at the University of Akron’s
Quaker Station (135 S. Broadway Street).  The convention has a way
cool guest list and I hope to see some of you there.

I’ll be back on Monday with more stuff.

© 2013 Tony Isabella

AKRON COMICON REMINDER

Hey, kids...

This is a reminder that I will be appearing at THE AKRON COMICON on Saturday, November 9, at the University of Akron's Quaker Station.  I'll be signing your Isabella-written items, answering your questions, being beloved and selling some stuff.  Current plans are for me to have the following available for sale:

1000 Comic Books You Must Read
A short box of other Isabella-written stuff
A short box of other comics not written by me
A box of rare Superman posters from 25 years ago
A box of rare Superman memorabilia from 25 years ago

I hope to see you there.

Tony

STILL OUTRAGED IN MEDINA

If you came to today’s bloggy thing looking for comics or other pop
culture content, come back tomorrow.  Because today, I’m all about
the politics, and local Medina politics at that.

I’m delighted to report that the most grievously needed Medina City
Schools Additional Tax Levy passed with 57.99% of the vote.  This
money means the district won’t be closing a fine elementary school
and won’t be reorganizing its elementary schools into single-grade
schools.  There are lots of other benefits to this win.  Here’s a
partial list, courtesy of the Medina Schools Outrage Page:

7 Reading Intervention Teachers
6 Counselors
3 Gifted Intervention Specialists
5 ENCORE Teachers (physical education, music & art - full-time)
High School/Middle School Electives
Safety & Security
Busing (back to 1-mile/currently at 2-mile limit); approximately
2,800 students would receive transportation services
Support Staff
OTES - Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (unfunded mandate by the
State of Ohio requiring a new evaluation system for teaching staff)

There has been a suggestion that with the passage of the levy, the
Medina School Outrage Page should change its name to Medina Schools
Outreach Page, but, as I posted, I like the name of this page, what
with outrage pretty much being my default setting.

Speaking of outrage...

Here’s what I posted yesterday:

I'm delighted the levy has passed, less delighted that the voters
missed an opportunity to add diversity to the board. When the last
of the old board is shown the door, I hope their replacements are
Angie Kovacs and Ron Ross.

Let's not forget that following the lead of the Medina elite, the
Medina well-connected, is what got us in this mess. Keep on the new
board members for accountability, for transparency and for giving
actual reasons for whatever actions they take.

Let me explain that for the non-Medina residents in my bloggy thing
audience.

For several years, Medina was unable to pass a school levy.  There
were several reasons for this.  The way schools are funded in the
state of Ohio is unconstitutional, was declared unconstitutional a
number of years ago and the GOP-controlled state government hasn’t
done a damn thing to fix it.  The GOP has been more concerned with
promoting voter suppression of voters not likely to vote for them,
attacking the rights of women and gays, making sure fetuses can
carry guns into the delivery room and, most important, engaging in
gerrymandering to insure that, even though the GOP get a minority
of the votes in this state, it still sends a majority of its party
to the United States House of Representatives. 

Aside from the state government’s role in making the school levies
a hard sell, Medina has more than its fair share of citizens who
won’t vote for anything that doesn’t benefit them directly and are
too cheap and clueless to understand that strong schools benefit a
community in so many ways, including keeping property values high.
We also have our fair share of Tea Party morons who have been duped
into hating government by wealthy men and organizations to whom a
anemic government is essential to the fulfillment of their obscene
greed and plundering.

Closer to home, we have what I call the “Medina Elite.”  They are
the arrogant clique of your school days.  They are well-connected
and they get what they want.  They don’t like explaining themselves
to the common citizens and they don’t much care what those outside
their clique think.  Our school board has been and still is filled
with members of the Medina Elite. 

Former Medina Schools Superintendent Randy Stepp was the chosen of
the Medina Elite.  They fast-tracked this creep from vice-principal
of a middle school to principal of the high school to the position
from which he’s being fired.  Steep got a ridiculously high salary
and insane perks, which he supplemented by using district funds for
his school loans.  I detailed my problems with Stepp a short while
ago and you can read them here.

The only reason Stepp got what he got and got away with how he got
it was because the teachers union was tipped off to irregularities
committed by Stepp and the school board and got access to certain
documents and information.  If Stepp had not been exposed, if the
school board had not been shown to have violated sunshine laws in
its final contact negotiations with Stepp, the citizens of Medina
would have remained unaware of their wrongdoing and the levy would
not have passed.  We owe the levy passage to our terrific teachers
and to the citizens who publicized their outrage over the conduct
of Stepp and the school board. 

When this mess started, the school board was made up of members of
the Medina Elite.  Two members resigned and they were replaced by
members chosen by the remaining school board members, those who had
engaged in the arrogant wrongdoing that has hurt our school system
for so long.  A third member announced he would not run again.  As
the levy vote drew closer, the two remaining board members who had
been complacent in Stepp’s plundering announced they would resign
from the school board in January and May of 2014.  I don’t believe
the levy would have passed otherwise.

The “new” school board will consist of those two holdovers, the two
incumbents they chose and a man who is as Medina Elite connected as
they come.  Has anything really changed?

When those resigning board members leave in January and May, their
replacements will be selected by the two incumbents they chose and
“Mr. Old Medina.” Considering Kovacs and Ross each received nearly
4000 votes, they would be the ethical and logical choices for the
two positions.  This would please me because I felt and continue to
feel they would add much needed non-Elite diversity to the school
board.  I don’t expect to be pleased.

If we want our Medina school district, if we want our community to
excel, we have to go beyond the Elite, beyond the well-connected.
Business as usual puts us right back where we started.  The school
board cannot be allowed to add more of the same to its membership.
The school board cannot be allowed to anoint another Randy Stepp as
its new superintendent.  The citizens have to micro-manage the new
school board.  As much as the board and its new members may want to
believe this, they have not earned back our trust.  All they have
truly earned is the chance to earn back our trust.

There are many heroes in this story, but I’m going to close with my
thanks to John Leatherman, the president of the Medina teachers
organization who courageously exposed the wrongdoing of Stepp and
the board...to Mark Kuhar, who launched the Medina Schools Outrage
Page and gave a loud voice to the public...to all those who went to
the board meeting and challenged the board at every turn...and to
all those who spoke against the wrongdoing online and among their
friends and neighbors.  I am so proud of you.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more comics stuff.

© 2013 Tony Isabella