Canon Poodoo

We are big fans of the Star Wars radio drama in our house... er, well, the kiddo and I are. Tracy tolerates it in very small doses. Over the last four or five years, the kiddo and I have listened to the thirteen-and-a-half hours that make up the Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi serials dozens of times.

I vaguely remember listening to the original Star Wars radio drama when it was first broadcast on NPR back in 1981 (at least I think I did). Everything about the drama felt familiar when I listened to it as an adult a few years ago, and everything points to me hearing this back when it originally aired: I was as much a Star Wars fan as all the other 10-year-olds in my circle of friends. My parents were (and still are) regular listeners of all the programming on our local NPR station. I remember listening to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio drama, which aired in the US around the same time as the first Star Wars drama.

Before we started listening to Marvel Noise on our afternoon drives home from work and school together a few years ago, the kiddo and I would regularly become wrapped up in the adventures of Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Darth Vader and his minions, Jabba, R2, and the whole gang over and over. I treasure the memories of cycling through the thirteen installments of Star Wars, the ten episodes of Empire, and the six chapters of Jedi with the kiddo, and still enjoy it when we have exhausted our Marvel Noise episode backlog or he just wants a break from the comic talk and asks to listen to an episode of the radio drama.

I’ve listened to the radio drama so much that I find the voice talent perfectly natural in their respective roles (something that still bothers Tracy on those few and far between occasions where she does listen to the drama with us). In fact, there are characterizations and scenes in the radio drama that I think rival or surpass their counterparts in the movies. There are moments in Return of the Jedi, in particular, that I think really capture the fun spirit of the story without veering into the camp territory the movie sometimes tread.

For Christmas this past year, the Number One With a Bullet item on the kiddo’s list was an mp3 player. When we asked him what he needed one for, he told us so he could listen to the Star Wars radio drama any time he wants instead of only when we’re in my car. Hard to argue with sound reasoning like that.

The radio dramas are just about the only part of the extended Star Wars Universe I have dabbled in. I read a handful of the Marvel run back in the day (and have reread portions of it over the last few years), and I have read Timothy Zahn’s exceptional Thrawn Trilogy (loved the books, thought the Dark Horse comic adaptation was less than stellar). Among Dark Horse’s current offerings, I pick up the Clone Wars books for the kiddo, and have been inexplicably drawn to the Purge one-shots featuring Darth Vader, but otherwise have largely steered clear because of how daunting that Universe is.

A few months ago, I saw the Shadows of the Empire omnibus solicited in Previews. I had heard about it from John, and (although I recall him not recommending it) I was intrigued by the concept – not the story itself, because I didn’t know exactly what it was about other than that it takes place between Empire and Jedi, but the fact that it was a book, comic series, toy line, video game, trading card line, and even had a soundtrack. So I ordered the omnibus and then noticed the mass paperback on the shelf in our library, realizing Tracy had picked it up at some point in her garage saleing over the years.

On the advice of my buddy Michael, I decided to read the book before the omnibus. And I’m enjoying Steve Perry’s storytelling so far (although it’s not as good as Zahn’s trilogy), but have been put off by a certain passage in the book: The third chapter opens with Luke at Ben Kenobi’s old home on the edge of the Western Dune Sea, struggling to make his own lightsaber following instructions found in an old journal Ben had left behind for him. What bothers me about this scene is that the first episode of the Return of the Jedi radio drama, “Tatooine Haunts”, features a scene with Luke and R2-D2 at Ben’s home on the edge of the Western Dune Sea where he struggles to make his own lightsaber following instructions found in an old journal Ben left behind for him.

So I wonder what hard-core Star Wars fans think of this. Which scene is canon: The radio drama one taking place at the beginning of Jedi with R2 present (and obviously created/produced before Shadows), or the Shadows one taking place after Empire yet clearly well-before Jedi on the overall timeline? And why the hell didn’t one of the purveyors of Lucas’ empire notice this gaffe when Shadows was being vetted?

I consider everything about the radio dramas canon in the Star Wars Universe, so this has been nagging at me since I read chapter three a few nights ago. And I suspect I picked up on this discrepancy because I’m both a comic book fan and an editor, so I probably have a heightened sense of continuity. Or maybe I’m just over thinking things.

FCBD 2010

This year’s Free Comic Book Day was probably my favorite one yet! I was invited up to Willoughby to help Comic Heaven celebrate the industry holiday, and was treated to a fun afternoon meeting the store’s regulars, talking comics, and even selling a few copies of my book.

Comic Heaven isn’t exactly my “local” comic book shop. Willoughby’s a good 45 minutes from Akron. The kiddo’s godparents live about five minutes from the store, but all the times I’ve stopped in over the years has been when store owner Jim was out. We’ve talked on the phone numerous times since I published Deus ex Comica (he graciously has had promotional postcards for the book in his store at various times over the last year), but this was the first time we’d actually met face-to-face.

(If you have a copy of Deus ex Comica, Comic Heaven is the store I reference at the bottom of page 129 in the Daredevil anecdote.)

When I arrived around 11:45 for my noon to 3pm appearance, the store was hopping due to members of the 501st, Darth Vader, Sinestro, and the handful of Iron Man 2 advanced movie tickets the store gave away when they opened at 11. I got settled in with my book displays and all, and immediately I had someone wanting to hear about my book and asking to buy a copy. Both the store and my table was crazy busy for nearly two hours straight.

I had one of my best sales days yet for an in-store signing, but more than that, I just love talking about comics and hanging around with other comic fans and seeing kids excited about the medium. That connection, that common ground is what it’s all about. Although I was disappointed my own kiddo couldn’t hang out with me at the store (he and Tracy had afternoon plans), I was able to snag him a couple of FCBD books, and I got to see my godson when Diane and Ivan stopped in.

And the perfect end to my signing... The guy who bought that first copy of Deus ex Comica right when I got set up was there with his girlfriend. Later in the day, sometime around 2:30, his girlfriend came back with her young son to get some free comics. She made a point to stop back at my table and tell me that her boyfriend was so excited about my book that he made her read the back cover and start to read the book out loud to him while they were driving home earlier. That’s what makes this little non-money making venture of self-publishing worthwhile.

Steel City Road Trip Redux

I really had a good time at the Pittsburgh Comicon last September. I got to meet Stan Lee and give him a copy of my book, I found some good deals, I got to hang out with Dave Wachter, and Tracy and the kiddo were there. At the time, we were fresh off our first big con experience, having just attended Wizard World Chicago a few weeks prior. I’m lucky that not only do Tracy and the kiddo appreciate (and share to varying degrees) my geek tendencies, but they also enjoy attending cons.

Traveling to Chicago on business evokes weird nostalgia and the feeling of something being just a little “off” because Tracy isn’t there with me in the city we love. And there were similar moments this past weekend at the Pittsburgh Comicon, newly returned to its traditional spring date. Especially on the con floor, talking to Dave, seeing some other creators we’d talked to here six months ago, or finding a title in a $5 trade paperback sale I thought one of them would dig.

None of this, however, is to take away from just how great a time I had at the con, this time travelling with John (you can find his take on the day over on his blog). He had hooked us up with the Science Fiction Alliance of Pittsburgh who offered to put us on the “How to Get Published” panel and provide passes to the con and all, so I was game.

As is tradition for me at a con, we first made our way to Dave Wachter's table to say hello, but he had a crowd surrounding him, so we decided to breeze by and run the perimeter of the floor. Circling, Pat Olliffe’s table caught my eye, and I asked him to sign my copy of Peter Parker #1. We had an interesting conversation about how poorly Marvel did in publicizing this title when it was published online only and how he was glad it was seeing a second life in print.

Next up was con headliner Roy Thomas. John was already in line when I caught up to him. He was really excited to meet Roy, and I overheard bits and pieces of the Star Wars conversation they had that was obviously enjoyable to both of them. When it was my turn, I had my copy of Marvel Visionaries: Roy Thomas hardcover signed by him and told him how much those classic Avengers issues meant to me. I had the Marvel Illustrated Books The Origin of the Vision, which reprinted Thomas’ Avengers #57, #58, and #83 in black and white. As a kid, those were some of the first back issues I remember buying at mall comic shows after reading that book because I needed to see them in color.

The other heavy hitters for me were Joe Sinnott and Herb Trimpe. Trimpe’s table was next to Roy’s, but he didn’t show up until after 11, so he was just getting settled as we were finishing up with Roy. There is so much good stuff I associate with Trimpe (I mean, the guy penciled the very first appearance of Wolverine!), but primarily he means “G.I. Joe” to me because of his beautiful work on issue #1. But I didn’t bring anything for him to sign and never made it back over to his table as the day progressed.

Joe Sinnott, on the other hand, was great. I approached him early with my copy of Avengers #250 and its great Al Milgrom cover he inked. Joe said he remembered the cover and that it was one of his favorites. We talked a little bit about that era (which he seemed to recall fondly), and I thanked him for the great memories. I stopped back at his table a couple of times throughout the day and again before leaving to admire and watch him work. He still has it!

After getting those few signatures out of the way, it was time to see friends and meet up with some new folks. Dave had a lull at his table by the time we made our way back around to him. I couldn’t resist picking up his 2009 Monsters! sketchbook and asking for a Fin Fang Foom headshot inside the back cover (that I knew the kiddo would love). I recently commissioned him to reproduce the cover of Marvel Team-Up #122. Although it’s not yet finished, he brought it to the show to give me a sneak peek at it. Oh, man. It’s gorgeous. I’m positively giddy about getting the final piece at Summit City Comic Con next month!

While hanging out at Dave’s table and scaring away all his legitimate business, John picked up the con preview of Dave’s Eisner Award nominated web comic, The Guns of Shadow Valley, complete with a done-on-the-spot back cover head sketch, and I finally got to meet Amber and visit with her a bit.

John and I then decided to work our way through the other tables and meet some of the other creators at the show. I stopped at the N3RDCAST table because my eye went immediately to Dave’s Guns of Shadow Valley contribution to the sketch jam piece they were giving away, but ended up chatting with Kwip for a bit about Deus ex Comica, and he bought a copy from me almost immediately. Always a cool experience to sell a copy of your book to someone who you can just tell will appreciate it. Just down the aisle from Kwip was Shawn Pryor. Shawn, who I only knew through Twitter, is one of the nicest guys you could meet. I picked up a copy of his Mercury and the Murd collection, which included a free CD of music. I’m really looking forward to seeing Shawn again at Summit City and hopefully having more time to hang out with him.

There were a few local forum friends in attendance outside of me and Dave, including Alec Berry and Mario Muscar. John and I spent quite a bit of time with Alec talking about the craft of writing and journalism as a career. Great kid. Wish I’d been that focused on my writing and had my creative head on straight when I was his age! I also met Bryan Deemer and Adam Murdough from Comic Geek Speak by way of the commission Dave is doing for me.

Our “How to Get Published” panel was right in the middle of the day, up against the “Legends of the Marvel Heyday” panel and belly dancing lessons, but we had a nice turnout and it was fun talking about my experiences as a self-published author. The other author on the panel, Paul Anderson, is a teacher who has also been published. Paul gave a nice rundown of some positive habits and techniques on writing and revising so that when you do submit to a publisher it’s polished and your very best work. John and I talked about how to leverage self-publishing/DIY options, the process to get self-published, and things to consider when headed down that path. We didn’t have a lot of questions from the audience, which surprised me given the size of the crowd (20 to 30 people), but it was another good experience to have under my belt.

The afternoon highlight was some bargain hunting and getting to catch up with Bryan J.L. Glass. I’ve known Bryan for a few years now, and his enthusiasm for the industry never ceases to amaze. We must have spent a good 20 or 30 minutes talking with him and Judy at their table about everything from movie and TV options to the state of cons, and got his impressions of the previous weekend’s C2E2 experience and some coy hints about the soon-to-be-officially-announced work for Marvel on the horizon for him. (And I am really looking forward to watching him play in that great big sandbox!)

A few weeks back, I picked up 30 or so issues of early ROM from my local comic shop’s quarter bins, and so now I have some holes to fill. (Nice to have a reason to go through the single issue boxes versus just flipping randomly through them.) I was able to find a handful of issues I was missing, along with picking up a trade paperback for the kiddo and a half-priced hardcover I was looking for.

After goodbyes to friends, including the opportunity to have a longer-than-expected chat with Amber over at Joe Sinnott’s table, the day ended for John and me with a nice ride home and a conversation that could only be had by two old friends, wandering from 3-D technology to politics to everything in between. It was the perfect end to a great day of comics, friends and heroes.

The Losers v. The A-Team

I am, without a doubt, a child of the ’80s. I have an appreciation for most all of the pop culture touchstones of that ten-year stretch, even the ones I didn’t necessarily care for at the time.

Despite never having been a fan of The A-Team, I would typically still be open to the movie reimage coming out this year, but I am much more excited about the movie adaptation of The Losers. I just read volumes one and two a couple of weeks ago, and the premise struck me as similar to that of The A-Team: An Army Special Forces group/CIA black ops team is forced underground by a government they trusted while serving the country they love. I don’t see a lot of movies in the theater these days, but if pushed to choose between the two, I’d most certainly pick comic book goodness over the tug of Regan Era nostalgia.

Deus ex Comica: The Eight Day Tour

Busy week or so on the horizon for Deus ex Comica...

Last weekend’s C2E2 experience (or lack thereof!) has me really jazzed for the Pittsburgh Comicon this Saturday. Although I don’t have a table at the show, I am scheduled to be on the “How to Get Published” panel in Room 3 at 2pm. It should be fun to chat about the book, as well as get a chance to visit with friends.

Next Thursday, April 29, I’ll be talking about and reading selections from Deus ex Comica at the Nordonia Hills Branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library as a part of their Meet the Author series. That kicks off at 7pm and will be followed by a question and answer session.

Then on that Saturday, May 01, I will be in Willoughby signing copies of Deus ex Comica and visiting with other comic book fans as a part of Comic Heaven’s Free Comic Book Day celebration! I’ll be there from 12-3, but the fun lasts all day, with a store sale planned, along with various super heroes and Star Wars characters (I hear there will be biker scouts!) all in attendance.

I'll have copies of Deus ex Comica: The Rebirth of a Comic Book Fan with me at all these appearances for anyone interested. I appreciate everyone who supported me and my little book over the last year. If you’re around for any of these events, please feel free to stop by and say “hello.” It’s always great to meet and hang out with other comic fans!

• April 24, 2pm-3pm: "How to Get Published" (Room 3), Pittsburgh Comicon, Monroeville Convention Center, 209 Mall Boulevard, Monroeville, Pennsylvania
• April 29, 7pm-8pm: Nordonia Hills Branch (ASCPL), 9458 Old Eight Road, Northfield (330.467.8595)
• May 01 (Free Comic Book Day!), 12pm-3pm: Comic Heaven, 4847 Robinhood, Willoughby (440.942.6960)

If you're unable to attend any of these events but would still like to pick up a copy of Deus ex Comica, Lulu is offering free shipping on the book with the use of coupon code FREEMAIL305, now through May 01. And, as always, the book is available through Amazon and signed copies are available direct from me. Thank you, again, to everyone for your support!

Adam & Jeff's '80s Alternative Rewind Adventure Continues

The Church
17 April 2010: The Winchester Tavern and Music Hall, Lakewood, Ohio

I decided to run myself hard these last few nights. I was in Chicago on business and was able to hang out with a bunch of friends in town for C2E2, then I flew home Saturday afternoon to make it to The Church’s show at the Winchester in Cleveland suburb of Lakewood that night with my friends Jeff and Anna.

My flight landed in Cleveland around 4:30, allowing me just enough time to retrieve my car, grab a quick bite to eat, call Tracy and the kiddo to say "hello," and get my tired body over to Jeff and Anna’s place in time to head up for a pre-show beverage and then the show. None of us had ever been to The Winchester before, in fact, I’d never heard of the place until I found out The Church would be playing there. We found the place just fine, though, and were early enough to head down the street to Sullivan’s for a pint, then to The Winchester for the show.

Now, the last time Jeff and I attended a show, it did not end well. So there was a certain level of trepidation heading into the night. However, the Winchester’s music hall was like the Phantasy Theater for grown-ups, and the atmosphere was exactly what you’d expect for a mellow ’80s alternative band going on 30 years since their first album release. But what was unexpected was the quality of everything that went into the evening.

When we entered the hall, we were each handed a glossy 28-page full-color program, a five-song EP, and a truly unique concert experience. For this show, a part of the “An Intimate Space” 30th Anniversary Acoustic Tour, Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Marty Wilson-Piper, and Tim Powles performed one song from each of their albums in reverse chronological order. So things opened with “Pangaea” from 2009’s Untitled #23 and ended with “Take It All Away” off the band’s self-titled album from 1981. In between, the band played some incredible music, supplemented by between-song banter that ranged from insightful back story on the next song or album the song was from to amusing anecdotes of the era to bad puns and jokes.

An early misstep was “Reptile” – one of my favorite tracks off the incredible Starfish album reworked for El Momento Siguiente with a jazz influence, but the biggest disappointment of the night was the Spanish revision to Gold Afternoon Fix’s “Metropolis”. Those two classic songs felt brutalized in the attempt to make them sound fresher. Happily, though, everything else was really good. I’m not familiar with much of the band’s more recent stuff, but first set offerings like “Invisible”, a country flavored “Louisiana”, and “Comedown” were excellent.

After the first nine songs, the band took a fifteen minute intermission before returning to effortlessly move through the classics. “Under the Milky Way”, the Beatles-esque “Already Yesterday”, “Almost With You”... every one of them were standouts! This was followed by three songs spread over two encores where they were finally able to break their own self-imposed rules about what could be played that night. While it wasn’t surprising that they were going to play it (news travels quickly on the interwebs if you know what you’re looking for), that didn’t affect how surprisingly powerful their cover of the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Disarm” was in execution. Spot on, and rocking hard, I never would have guessed The Church could deliver on a song like that. And the show closer, “Grind” from Gold Afternoon Fix almost made up for the transgressions on “Metropolis”.

Much like the Pretenders’ gig last year, The Church show afforded me the opportunity to meet another online friend in-person: Matt Wardlaw. A young guy with an old soul (musically speaking), he runs the most excellent Cleveland-based music blog, Addicted to Vinyl. We’ve corresponded and follow one another on Twitter, but it’s always great to put a face to a name, and I’m glad we finally had the opportunity to meet.

It was an impressive two-and-a-half hours of music, and Kilbey’s voice sounded exactly like it did 20 years earlier. Equally impressive was the night’s concept and the peripheral incentives we received. That a band like The Church could produce a full-color concert program, without any advertising, that provided insight on each of their albums and give it away with an EP says something about where the concert-going experience should be heading. Let’s hope other bands will follow their lead.

C2E2: The Non-Con Report

My job regularly takes me to Chicago these days, and it just so happens that I had to be in town last week when C2E2 was scheduled. It has almost become cliché among comic book convention goers (but that doesn’t make it any less true) that the best part about “con season” is meeting in-person and getting to hang out with all our online forum friends that we only get to see at these shows. So I decided to put it to the test last week.

Many of my online comic book friends are actually local to Chicago, so I knew they’d be fired up for C2E2. I also knew a few of my out-of-town friends would be coming in town early. Knowing I wasn’t going to be able to attend the con itself because of work and travel plans, I redoubled my efforts to get out Thursday and Friday night with my comic brethren.

I had a great time out both nights with friends I had met previously, folks I had been looking forward to meeting, and people I had no idea I’d be spending time with! It was great to see Dave Mathis, Chris Neseman, and (unfortunately far too briefly) Zack Kruse Thursday night. And I finally was able to meet David Price and Jason Wood in person, and also met Will Pfeifer, Tom Fowler, Conor Kilpatrick, Ian Levenstein, and Brion Salazar (who I’d met briefly last year at Wizard World Chicago). There was good, if tardy, bar-b-q from Honky Tonk and a crazy-amusing cab ride from the restaurant to the Challengers party with an ever-entertaining and very drunk Chris. And you haven't truly felt vertically challenged until you've waited for a cab on a street corner standing between Dave Mathis and Tom Fowler.

After work Friday I was able to meet up with the guys in time for dinner again, this time at Spring World in Chinatown. David, Wood, Will, Tom, and Sal were there, along with Vince Bonavoglia, Hilary Barta, and others. Hilary, a Chicagoan and familiar with the restaurant, took care of ordering, and soon one delicious dish of food after another was brought to the table for a comic geek family style dinner.

I didn’t have a lot of time to chat with David or Wood the night before, so I made a point of making time for them Friday night. Wood and I ended up next to each other at dinner and had a nice time chatting about everything from family to comics. It was great getting to know him better and hanging out. On the other side of me at dinner was Will. We were introduced to each other the night before at Honky Tonk, but didn’t have an opportunity to chat. During the course of dinner at Spring World, we realized we’re both from Northeast Ohio (he now lives outside of Chicago). Really nice guy, and I’m looking forward to getting together with him next time he’s back home visiting.

When I think back to the origins of my book Deus ex Comica: The Rebirth of a Comic Book Fan, I have to lay a lot of credit at David’s feet. If it hadn’t been for his encouragement of the project and the way he welcomed me into the Marvel Noise online community, I don’t know if the book would exist as it does today. That’s what made the time we spent hanging out later Friday night at Kroll’s, where the Marvel party was being held, so special. We have spoken on the phone and emailed for years, but this was the first time David and I were in the same city at the same time.

It was interesting to be in Chicago, a city I have loved for years, and have my mutually exclusive worlds of work and comics collide. A few weeks ago, I was sitting in an all-day session at work, and on a break one of my co-workers said she was perusing Amazon and found a book written by someone with the same name as me. She asked if I wrote it. For the life of me, I can’t imagine what this woman would have been searching for that might have led her to my book, but it is always surprising to me when someone who either I don’t know personally or someone who I know who doesn’t know about my comic book enthusiasm approaches me.

When I was growing up, I had one friend who I shared my comic book habit with (and I’m fortunate that Mark and I are still friends to this day), but outside of that friendship comics were very much a solitary pleasure. I didn’t get to see everyone I wanted to while in town for C2E2 – I only got to say hello to Steve Bryant briefly outside of Spring World, and I never did connect with Chris Marshall, Scott Cederlund, Ryan Closs, Michael Moskop, or Rick Hansen among others, but that’s simply more incentive to attend future cons.

Would I have liked to have been able to attend the con itself? Sure. But being able to get together with friends really is what it’s all about. I know the internet spawns a lot of garbage and in niche communities there can be a lot of rotten apples spoiling the reputation (and fun) of an entire population, but on the other side of that coin is the way the web can bring together a group of geographically remote friends over the passion of a shared pastime.