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We're down to the final week! Next Tuesday I’ll be on the Fairfax Campus of George Mason University to talk about my book, Deus ex Comica: The Rebirth of a Comic Book Fan, as a part of their 11th Annual Fall for the Book Festival! I’m very excited about being a part of this prestigious event, and am looking forward to sharing my book and having a discussion about my journey with the attendees.Through my association with the festival, I have also been invited to be a guest on WEBR’s "The Radio Hotline with Dennis Price" that same night! I haven’t heard yet when during his 8-10pm show I’ll be on, but I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to talk about Deus ex Comica and my experiences with his radio audience.
If that's your neck of the woods, you might have seen flyers for my Fall for the Book talk at The Laughing Ogre at University Mall on Braddock Road. Thank you to Norah and Steve and everyone there for helping to get the word out about my author visit to Deus ex Comica's core audience! I’m hoping to carve out some time next Wednesday on my way out of town to stop into the store and thank them in-person and maybe pick up a comic or two. (It is new comic book day, after all!)
If you’re in or around the area next Tuesday, I hope you’ll come to Grand Tier III inside the Center for the Arts on the George Mason University Fairfax Campus for my 3pm talk, and tune in (and call in!) next Tuesday night to WEBR!
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Fresh off our trip to the Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con last month, we made the short drive east this weekend to the Pittsburgh Comicon. I was sort of on the fence about the show originally, but figured it could be a fun time, and Tracy and the kiddo were up for it so I figured, “Why not?”Stan Lee, "Marvel Legend" in capital letters, was the guest of honor. When he was first announced months ago, I thought that was pretty cool, but kept it to myself and decided not to pay the extra forty bucks to get his autograph. Weeks later, I mentioned it to Tracy in passing and she was incredulous that I had not signed up to meet him, get his autograph, and give him a copy of Deus ex Comica! She pointed out that Stan is getting up there in age and this might be the only opportunity I have to do this. So I purchased my autograph ticket online when I ordered the con passes for all of us and figured I’d see what happens.
We got on the road around 8 Saturday morning, getting us to Monroeville (east of downtown Pittsburgh) around 10:30. By the time we grabbed a bite to eat and got into the con, it was just after 11. The Stan Lee autograph deal was set up so that you were assigned a number when you purchased your ticket, and they were going to call groups of 100 people at a time to queue up to meet The Man. Of course, nowhere on the online receipt was the number you were assigned, so I had no idea what lot I would be in. Turns out I was in the 200’s, and when we checked in at the con, they told me they were already up to the 300’s. It worked out great for me though, because they told me to skip the queue and head right to the end of the line up at Stan’s table.
They wouldn’t let Tracy come up with me, but I took the kiddo. The line moved very quickly, and Stan was friendly and talkative and personable... just like you'd expect! After delivering a copy of my book, I thanked him for all of his influence and the happiness he’s brought us while he signed my hardcover copy of Marvel Visionaries: Stan Lee (which I picked up for a mere $2 at the Chicago con courtesy of the awesome folks at InStock Trades!). Stan had a brief conversation with the kiddo about their mutual love of comics, and it was over. The whole encounter probably lasted no more than a few minutes start-to-finish, but it was a wonderful way to start the con!
Afterwards, Tracy made an IKEA run while the kiddo and I made our way to the con floor. We worked our way around the outer perimeter and over to Dave Wachter’s table. Always good to see Dave. He was busy at work on sketches and visiting with passersby. I was happy to hear he was selling a lot of copies of The Guns of Shadow Valley preview comic (and glad to see postcards of his awesome Deus ex Comica cover art out on the table).
The kiddo almost immediately went into the “con mode” he established in Chicago: He found a vendor selling the digest-sized Marvel Adventures trade paperbacks for $2 each, promptly bought a half-dozen of them, and happily wandered the floor with Tracy and me leading him around while he kept his nose stuck in a book, popping his head up to join the conversation when he'd see some artwork that caught his eye or someone dressed up as a character he liked.
I was disappointed that Michael Golden, Arthur Suydam, and David Mack were cancellations. I had taken my single issues of G.I. Joe Yearbook #1, Fantastic Four #554 “Skrull variant,” and New Avengers #39 for each of them to sign, respectively. But Greg Horn, Ron Frenz, Gary Friedrich, and Terry Moore were there, and that was pretty damn exciting in and of itself!
I had previously met Greg Horn at Wizard World where I had him sign my signature jam piece, but this time I took Ms. Marvel #25 with the great Skrull cover he did. It was pretty cool because when he saw what issue I was asking him to sign, he was like, “Aw, there’s a great story behind this cover. You wanna hear it?” Like I’m going to say anything other than “Yes!” to that question. According to Greg, the cover of issue #25 was supposed to be of Ms. Marvel battling a Skrull Ms. Marvel, but Greg suggested a close-up of a Skrull Ms. Marvel with a finger to her lips to because he felt the battle cover would give away that Ms. Marvel isn’t a Skrull. (A variation on the “multiple Ms. Marvels battling” cover was used on the next issue, because by then it was revealed and no longer a spoiler.) On top of that cool little tidbit, he said the issue #25 cover led directly to his awesome “Who Do You Trust?” campaign I fell in love with that led up to Marvel’s Secret Invasion event!
I saw Ron Frenz at the Screaming Tiki Con last year, but for Pittsburgh, I brought Amazing Spider-Man #258 from the many issues of Frenz’s I have in the Original Collection for him to sign. He was really nice to chat with and talked up the kiddo, too, which was cool. I think Gary Friedrich has been at every con I’ve been to, but like with Frenz, this was the first time I took something for him to sign: Uncanny X-Men #45, a great Cyclops-centric tale written by Friedrich I picked up when I was collecting comics back in the '80s. Last up was Terry Moore. I had him sign the Runaways: Dead Wrong hardcover I snagged on sale at the show.
I met local artist Jeremiah Witkowski at the Screaming Tiki Con last year, and since become friends on Twitter and a fan of his You, Me + Steve web comic. (I actually mention both Jeremiah and the web comic in Deus ex Comica) It was cool to see him again and refresh our memories to put a face to the tweets. He gave the kiddo a signed Darth Vader sketch card and I picked up a copy of his book collecting 25 or so pages of You, Me + Steve goodness. Jeremiah is such a great ambassador to the Pittsburgh Comicon, I swear if the organizers knew what they were doing they have him on payroll!
It was also nice to chat with Michael Sangiacomo and Bill Pappas. I thanked Michael for the nice write-up he gave Deus ex Comica in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Free Comic Book Day earlier this year. And we chatted about the state of mid-sized, regional cons and challenges of self-publishing and book promotion and all that good stuff. I hadn't seen Bill (who had hosted me for an in-store book signing, also on Free Comic Book Day) in a while, so it was good to catch up with him.
Apart from meeting and visiting with folks, I did some bargain hunting, too. (Actually, although this didn’t feel like I needed to attend the con multiple days, it seemed just the right mix of artists and creators and sales for a one-day visit.) It was Saturday, no doubt the busiest day of the con, so there weren’t any bargain basement prices, but there were plenty of vendors with half-off collected editions. Everything I bought was on sale for 50% or better. I didn’t go crazy, but picked up nine books I’ve been wanting for a while now, including the new Darwyn Cook Parker: The Hunter book, Annihilation Conquest Book Two and Dead @ 17 Ultimate Edition trade paperbacks, the oversized hardcover of Fallen Son, and Frank Miller’s Absolute Dark Knight (which was the best deal of the day for me, getting the seller down to 60% off retail). Good stuff all around!
Late in the afternoon, we made our rounds and said good-bye to Dave and Jeremiah, then headed for the Ohio border and home. It was a long day with nearly five hours in the car – more for Tracy with her detour from the con to IKEA and back – but we had a lot of fun (and we got the added bonus of seeing nature up-close and personal when we got home). I’ve got no complaints on the day, after all, it’s not every day you can say you gave a copy of your book to Stan Lee!
I am not a baseball fan. I don’t mind the sport; it’s just not something I go out of my way to experience either as a player or a fan. As a kid, I played little league (poorly) and collected baseball cards (but was always more into Star Wars and football cards) and played backyard games with neighbor kids. Today, we go to a handful of Akron Aeros games every summer and maybe one or two big league games, but it’s usually because of the company we’re headed to the game with or the fact that we happened on some free tickets more than anything else. I will follow the Indians if they make it into the post season, but otherwise I couldn’t really care less about them. I’m more of a college football fan, followed by pro football, then a bit of an NBA fan. I’ll even watch March Madness before I’ll watch a regular season baseball game.But I am a fan of local history and local heroes. And just before my ninth birthday, Thurman Munson died piloting his Cessna Citation about seven miles from where I lived. I remember it being a big deal. I remember how crazy it was that this national figure, this hometown hero had died in our back yard. I think we may have even driven by the site soon after the crash. I remember the boys next door being really affected by it and talking with them about it a lot in those days immediately after the crash.
It’s now been 30 years since Munson died in his plane while practicing take-offs and landings at Akron-Canton Airport, and I honestly hadn’t thought about the Canton native with the Jim Croce mustache in years. (Ironic that Croce died in a plane crash six years before Munson, but I always thought they sort of looked alike.) I was looking for a book to read and stumbled on Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain by Marty Appel, and was unable to put the book down. It’s a fascinating read, which says something coming from someone who’s neither a fan of the sport nor that team necessarily, but there is something about the combination of the era (primarily the ‘70s), the familiar connections (Akron, Canton, Kent State University), and the loss of a hometown hero that kept me from turning away.
I still become that grade school-aged boy, star-struck to think Munson joined the country club in the school district I attended, and that he golfed regularly at courses around town. Heck, the guy was even a part of the group that developed Belden Village, the local mall that was often the centerpiece of my and my friends’ high school social world.
I haven’t read the original autobiography that Appel, the former Yankee’s PR man, wrote with Munson back in ’78, but he is clearly the authority on the ballplayer’s life. Appel chronicles Munson’s life from childhood through a complicated relationship with his parents and siblings, to his love of his wife and children, his rise to All-Star athlete, and his devastating, early death. The author mixes up his approach in the middle of the book, but it never seemed jarring and always seemed appropriate. Partway through chapter 13, he starts breaking up passages by date as he walks the reader through the last few days of Munson’s life. Appel also employs long selections (sometimes whole transcripts) of interviews given by or about Munson. It’s impressive how Appel puts the reader in the middle of the confusion and halting emotion as news of Munson’s accident spread from Canton to New York City and between family and ballplayers and the media. The funeral and days following unfold with the intimacy of close friends’ and associates’ honesty laid bare.
Munson’s career was on the decline when he died, his knees were shot, but he was larger than life and deserving of all the praise (and probably all the criticism) that’s been cast his way. He’s a fascinating character, even today, amid all his clichés – his gruff dealings with the media and fans, his blue-collar work ethic, his team leadership, his hometown love, his risk-taking attitude, and his family devotion. Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain is an absorbing read, and I’m so glad it caught my eye.
My parents are big sports fans when it comes to professional football. I have great memories of sitting in our finished basement on Sunday afternoons, watching all the day's games as a family. My mom, a teacher, with her red plastic clipboard in her lap and papers for grading spread out on the couch around her. My dad in his big chair, and me, sprawling on the floor. Sloppy Joes and potato chips and dip and soda was dinner. That was how crisp fall and early winter Sundays were spent.
For a while back in the late ‘90s, when the Cleveland Browns left town and I was living out of state, a wave of nostalgia around the franchise washed over me. I remembered those Sunday afternoons with my parents and trips to the Pro Football Hall of Fame with my dad and getting up ridiculously early for an end-of-summer Saturday to attend the Hall of Fame Parade every August. Those memories combined with the newness of eBay sparked in me some strange desire to collect vintage Browns programs. I don’t think I ever bought more than a handful, and have since passed them on through garage sales and, in the cyclic nature of the online auction, back through eBay.
I did keep one of those programs, though. It’s not a particularly old one by comparison to some of the other ones I had acquired and then unloaded. The issue I held on to, dated October 11, 1970, is for a game between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals that took place nine days after I was born. The cover depicts well-known denizens of the Marvel Universe rushing forward. I wasn’t back into comics when I decided to unload the programs I’d accumulated, but clearly the nostalgia of a John Buscema cover held sway over me, tapping into some dormant love of the Marvel characters of my youth, that prompted me to hang on to this program.
A look inside the cover and, amid awesome ads for Kent Menthol cigarettes, Bobbie Brooks, Stroh’s “Stay Cold” Pack, and Zenith Chromacolor televisions (“Now the biggest breakthrough in Color TV comes in small, medium, and large” 19-inch, 23-inch, and 25-inch sizes!), it seems the NFL and Marvel teamed up to highlight the linebacker position across the league in a feature called “Beware the Linebacker!” Stan “The Man” Lee sets the stage with this hyperbolic passage...
Fasten your safety belt, frantic one, ‘cause here they come! They’re the superheroes’ superheroes – strong, smart, savage, and swift.
You know their names. Nobis, Butkus, Webster and Bell. Curtis, Robinson, Howley, Nitschke and Warwick. Call ‘em the linebackers... pro football’s dazzling defenders, magnificent marauders who battle against incredible odds every game of the season.
Now know them as we know them through the world of fantasy. Let’s watch these real life super stars with their superhero counterparts from the pandemonious, power-packed pages of marvelous Marvel comics.
I’ve heard Marvel’s Further Adventures of Indiana Jones take a beating for a lack of quality among hindsighted comics fans. But, as a child of the ‘80s, one who was right in the crosshairs of both Indy and Marvel, and after reading Dark Horse’s Indiana Jones Omnibus: The Further Adventures, Volume 1, I have few problems with any of it.
My wife and kiddo have a bunch of Dark Horse Omnibuses (Omnibi?), but this one was my first. The smaller format – somewhere between a standard size comic and a digest-sized trade paperback – is a little frustrating, but the quality of the reprinting isn’t bad, and the collection is thoughtfully put together.
This first volume kicks off right with the inclusion of Marvel’s three-issue “Official Comics Adaptation” of Raiders of the Lost Ark from 1981! I’m pretty sure my buddy Mark either had the original issues or the mass paperback-sized Marvel Illustrated Books' black and white collection, but I don’t know that I’ve read this in decades. Walt Simonson penned the adaptation and his cover for issue #3 is fantastic. The renderings of Indy and Marion Ravenwood are more impressionistic than attempts at spot-on depictions of Harrison Ford and Karen Allen, but the cover conveys the action of the final act perfectly.
The movie adaptation is followed by the initial 12 issues of The Further Adventures series from 1983. The first few issues are penned by John Byrne and Denny O’Neil before David Michelinie took over the reigns for the remaining nine issues. And the Byrne/O’Neil issues are good, but I’m not sure why they are held in higher regard than the Michelinie run as far as storytelling quality goes. If anything, I thought issues #7 through #12 were the best of the collection.
Things can get sloppy at times, like when issue #2 ends with Indy parachuting out of a doomed plane into blue skies and pink clouds, but when the 
action resumes on the splash page of issue #3 “only moments” later, we find our hero parachuting into a ferocious “storm-driven afternoon.” I don’t know if that’s careless writing on O’Neil’s part, or sloppy transition between Byrne and Gene Day and Richard Howell on the art, but I remember noticing that even as a kid.
But there is a lot of fun packed into these pages, and that far outweighs the nitpicking. Michelinie’s storytelling is well-done for a licensed property. Although I have to wonder how hamstrung Marvel was in their attempts as stringing together some continuity around the Lucas/Spielberg property, Michelinie is able to weave well-known characters and reference artifacts from the original movie into the series with little disruption.
Back in the day, seeing characters from a movie you loved come to life beyond the screen was a thrill. And even having my perception colored by what I know of Marion and Sallah and Marcus Brody in canon films like Last Crusade and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I still felt a jolt of excitement each time they showed up on these pages. Heck, even the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol Rene Belloq took from Indy in the opening sequence of Raiders makes an appearance here!
For the most part, these are two-issue stories that provide a lot of fun. “Africa Screams” (issues #7 and #8), “The Gold Goddess” (#9 and #10), and “The Fourth Nail” (#11 and #12) were all entertaining rides. Michelinie shines particularly bright with a bit of symmetrically karmic storytelling in chapter two of “The Gold Goddess” when he repeats a narrative device he used for Indy in the opening pages again at the end of the story, only this time applying it to the bad guy’s predicament.
To be honest, I prior to this collection, I had only ever read the first four issues of the series. I have no idea why I didn’t buy any more of the single issues when they were originally released, though I suspect it had more to do with either my own preteen financial budgeting shortcomings or the unreliability of the corner convenience store’s selection month-to-month than any unremembered, specific dislike I might have had for the title. I mean, if I’d followed this entire run as a twelve-year-old Raiders fan back in the early ‘80s, I can’t imagine any reaction other than eating it up!
From the Dark Horse solicit, it looks like Volume 2 is going to collect the next 12 issues of the series, along with the three-issue Temple of Doom adaptation. I’ve never read any of those issues, but based on what I read and enjoyed so much here, I think it’s fair to say I’m in!
I just finished reading The Complete Frank Miller Spider-Man. I picked this hardcover up from the local comic shop’s half-off bin. It’s one of those collections I’d never heard of before seeing it, but couldn’t resist the attraction. This 200+ page volume collects three Spidey stories penciled, two penciled and co-plotted, and one scripted by Miller. Plus, there is a gorgeous gallery of the 22 Spidey-related covers Miller produced over the years.It’s great to have all of Miller’s limited work on the Webhead in one place, compiled chronologically. The book opens with a two-part Bill Mantlo-scripted Spectacular Spider-Man story spread across issues #27 and #28 from February and March 1979 (both of which were collected together under the cover of Spider-Man and Daredevil Special Edition in 1984). It’s a grim little tale that picks up mid-action, with Spidey getting some assistance from Daredevil in dealing with the blindness caused by the Masked Marauder in a previous issue. It’s a dark tale in both storytelling and composition that works well with what we’re given. Issue #28 wraps up with a cliffhanger because, although Spidey has regained his sight, he’s being stalked by Carrion, who knows Spider-Man’s secret identity and holds Peter Parker by the throat, choking the life from him.
Next up is the 1980 Amazing Spider-Man Annual #14, scripted and co-plotted by Denny O’Neil and penciled and co-plotted by Miller. This is a fun Doctor Doom and Dormammu up against Spidey and Doctor Strange story that includes Spider-Man’s alter-ego Peter Parker heading down to the Bowery for some midnight punk at CBGBs. Doctor Strange, resident deus ex machina of the Marvel U., can be such a prick. It’s great how he sends his astral self out to look for assistance – looking everywhere and when he can’t find anyone else, he settles for asking Spidey for help. And then at the end of the story, after Spidey has given everything to save Doc Strange and the day, Doctor Strange up and leaves, refusing to tell Spidey exactly what they just fought and what they just saved mankind from! Classic.
Following that is the other Miller penciled and co-plotted offering of the collection: Marvel Team-Up #100. Co-created by Miller and Chris Claremont, this December 1980 issue marks the debut of future New Mutant Karma as Spidey and the Fantastic Four team up to straighten things out. There is a hilariously scripted cameo by Professor Xavier as we see him on the phone with Reed Richards while directing Storm, Colossus, and Wolverine through a Danger Room exercise. All in all, though, it was a really solid character introduction for Karma – one I’d not read previously.
The 1981 Marvel Team-Up Annual #4 written by Miller is a great example of what made annuals so awesome back in the day! Marvel seemed to take an “everything and the kitchen sink” approach to annuals of the ‘80s, giving the books an event feel to them, like this was something special, and this one is no exception. Here, Spidey teams up with not one, not two, not three, but four heroes! The always awesome Daredevil tag-teams with Spidey to tackle the Purple Man and the Kingpin with a little help from Heroes for Hire’s Power Man and Iron Fist, and Moon Knight’s also along for the ride. Miller also lets us know that even though Peter Parker might be a nerd, he’s a hip nerd who listens to pub rock godfather Elvis Costello by way of working “Oliver’s Army” into the story.
Last in line is the 1981 Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15. Scripted by Denny O’Neil, this gorgeous epic battle between the Punisher and Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus and J. Jonah Jameson is penciled by Miller and finished by Klaus Janson. Miller’s work here is incredible, nuanced. Nearly every rendering of the Punisher is simply stunning, including an early close-up that was positively menacing. The story is framed by a continual need to change the front page plate of the Daily Bugle, resulting in six very cool images of the Bugle’s changing headlines acting almost as chapter stops.
What are missing from this collection are the covers from all the collected issues. I get why they aren’t found here: This is only work by Frank Miller. So we do get every Spider-Man related cover Miller did work on, including two Amazing Spider-Man Annuals and three single issue covers. We also get a Marvel Team-Up Annual cover and five individual issue covers by Miller. Miller drew 10 covers for Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man that are found here, along with the front and back cover of the Spider-Man and Daredevil Special Edition mentioned earlier. Good stuff.
My favorite of the covers is, hands down, Marvel Team-Up #95 from July 1980 that marks the debut of everyone’s favorite battle stave-wielding heroine, Mockingbird! This gorgeous cover with Mockingbird vaulting over a downed S.H.I.E.L.D. agent while kicking Spidey off balance is beautiful and colored perfectly. The yellow titles, green backgrounds, blue-favored center and purple/black foreground flow amazingly well with the art.
If you’re a fan of Spidey or Frank Miller and can find The Complete Frank Miller Spider-Man, I highly recommend it. There have been two printings of the book, a 1994 leather-bound version with a three-quarters dust jacket, and a 2002 second printing with a full length dust jacket and markings on the spine that line the book up nicely with the other oversized Marvel hardcovers on your shelf. But, ultimately, you should be picking this up for what’s contained under the wrapper.
We're down to the final week! Next Tuesday I’ll be on the Fairfax Campus of George Mason University to talk about my book, Deus ex Comica: The Rebirth of a Comic Book Fan, as a part of their 11th Annual Fall for the Book Festival! I’m very excited about being a part of this prestigious event, and am looking forward to sharing my book and having a discussion about my journey with the attendees.
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