An extensive article discusses possible plans by Time-Warner, the behemoth that owns DC Comics as well as Batman - according to this article "Holy Cash Cow, Batman! Content Is Back," By TIM ARANGO, New York Times August 10, 2008, they're suddenly convinced that owning content and not distribution systems is the way to make money.
The article, and perhaps the chief executive, seem to miss the point. First we read:
For now, Mr. Bewkes is staking the company’s future on three big content providers: Warner Brothers, Turner Broadcasting (which includes TNT, TBS and CNN) and HBO. To ramp things up on the entertainment front, he’s also been overseeing internal discussions about acquisitions in film and television — including a possible takeover of NBC Universal, should its parent, General Electric, decide to sell, according to executives and bankers who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of the discussions.
and then this follows:
It is less clear how the Time Inc. unit, which publishes magazines like Time, People, In Style, Fortune and Sports Illustrated, meshes with Mr. Bewkes’s strategy. According to Time Warner insiders, the company is likely to shrink the publishing unit to just a handful of the most profitable titles. Some analysts predict that Time Warner might try to sell the publishing unit en masse, but only if market conditions improve.
I'm not sure what that means for DC Comics, but I think it's worth noting that Warner Bros. wouldn't have had Batman to make a movie about if it wasn't for the comic book company. They've already sold Warner Books, presumably another source of content and one that is doing graphic novels now.
Pay me a few million dollars and I'll come up with some good ideas like making cable companies profitable by providing good service and shows people want to see.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Legendary comic book store owner Greg Bennett makes recommendations
So I popped over to Zadzooks' new Washington Times website to add a link over there on the right and was startled to find "Legendary comic book store owner Greg Bennett provides a pair of recommendations for comic book lovers every week." So far he's provided recs for August 3, July 27, July 20 and July 13.
Geez. I don't know why I even started this blog. Greg runs the Georgetown Big Planet these days, and I probably see him once a month. But do I hear about this? Noooo...
Geez. I don't know why I even started this blog. Greg runs the Georgetown Big Planet these days, and I probably see him once a month. But do I hear about this? Noooo...
Zadzooks on DC's Chemistry Set comic book writer
See "ZADZOOKS: Chemistry Set writer Dougan has lots of stories to tell," by Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, August 7, 2008.
Richmond's Jen Sorenson on women political cartoonists
Dave Astor pointed out the story initially - here's Jen Sorenson's take on women political cartoonists - "Wanted: Female Cartoonist; Slowpoke artist Jen Sorensen explains why comics have historically been a nerdy guy thing and how we can change that," By Jen Sorensen, Campus Progress August 8, 2008.
Jen will undoubtedly be at the Small Press Expo again this year, and I think people should go up and engage her on this point. She's also appearing in Bash, the new DC comics tabloid.
Jen will undoubtedly be at the Small Press Expo again this year, and I think people should go up and engage her on this point. She's also appearing in Bash, the new DC comics tabloid.
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 08-13-08
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 08-13-08
By John Judy
ABSOLUTE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: THE BLACK DOSSIER HC by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. A year later I’m still trying to get through the regular version. Anybody got a record player and some hard drugs?
ACTION COMICS #868 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Superman meets Brainiac and it’s really creepy.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #567 by Marc Guggenheim and Phil Jimenez. Spidey and his drug-crazed roommate beat on the albino Kraven-chick with the bad make-up and hair gel addiction.
ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL #11 by Brian Lynch and Nick Runge. I think Angel and Gunn are gonna kiss. About time!
ASTONISHING X-MEN #26 by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. It’s mutants! Internet-Jesus style! Skrull-free! There’s preview pages up on comicbookresources.com some with actual dialogue. Good stuff. Recommended.
BATMAN #679 by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel. When your villains have names like Hunchback, King Kraken and Charlie Caligula who needs a story you can actually follow?
BPRD: THE WARNING #2 of 5 by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. Your snow-bound, moose carcass-pondering, Abe Sapien action starts here, people!
FANTASTIC FOUR #559 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. In which the Human Torch’s girlfriend problems threaten the entire team with destruction! Oh sure, like it’s never happened to you…
FINAL CRISIS: REVELATIONS #1 of 5 by Greg Rucka and Philip Tan. It’s Rucka writing two of his best characters, Crispus Allen and Rene Montoya, these days known as The Spectre and The Question. I sense a titanic team-up in the offing! Recommended!
THE GOON #27 written and drawn by Eric Powell and Guests. Three twisted tales from the Gooniverse. Recommended!
HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN #2 of 3 by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben. HB tries to reclaim a soul from a hill-billy devil. Maybe he can trade it for a can of chaw and those back issues of “American Spectator” they got behind the outhouse.
MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST CRIME COMICS SC by Many People including Eisner, Moore, Gaiman, Spillane, Chandler, Krigstein and pre-21st Century Frank Miller (before he went insane)! Twenty-five of the best crime comics ever published. Gotta look!
PUNISHER #60 by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov. It’s the end of an era (and a whole lot of punks) as Garth Ennis goes out in style. Plus, a preview of next issue’s new creative team. Salud!
SECRET INVASION #5 of 8 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. The Skrulls want Earth to “embrace change.” There’s your proof: Barack Obama is a Skrull. This will appear on FoxNews as a headline. Just wait….
TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED: ARRIVAL #1 by Marty Isenberg and Dario Brizuela. My kid wants one of these. Yours probably does too. By the head writer of the TV series which is actually quite good. Recommended for younger readers.
WALKING DEAD #51 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. Lookin’ like someone took his eye off the undead cannibals. Tsk, tsk. Yeah, put your hands up. That’ll help. Recommended. Not for kids.
WELCOME TO HOXFORD #1 of 4 written and drawn by Ben Frickin’ Templesmith! Meet Ray. Ray lives in a mental institution for the violently freaky. Ray is written and drawn by the guy who did 30 DAYS OF NIGHT and FELL. You want this, but if you’re a kid you can’t have it. Recommended.
WONDER WOMAN #23 by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti. Wonder Woman returns to Earth and beats the bejeebers out of some big nasty with Roman hands and Russian fingers! What more could we ask?
YOUNG LIARS #6 written and drawn by David Lapham. I’m mentioning this comic again because, even though it’s kind of confusing and all over the place, last issue Lapham castrated his male lead. I mean, come on, you have to respect that kind of effort. Not for kids.
www.johnjudy.net
By John Judy
ABSOLUTE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: THE BLACK DOSSIER HC by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. A year later I’m still trying to get through the regular version. Anybody got a record player and some hard drugs?
ACTION COMICS #868 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Superman meets Brainiac and it’s really creepy.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #567 by Marc Guggenheim and Phil Jimenez. Spidey and his drug-crazed roommate beat on the albino Kraven-chick with the bad make-up and hair gel addiction.
ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL #11 by Brian Lynch and Nick Runge. I think Angel and Gunn are gonna kiss. About time!
ASTONISHING X-MEN #26 by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. It’s mutants! Internet-Jesus style! Skrull-free! There’s preview pages up on comicbookresources.com some with actual dialogue. Good stuff. Recommended.
BATMAN #679 by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel. When your villains have names like Hunchback, King Kraken and Charlie Caligula who needs a story you can actually follow?
BPRD: THE WARNING #2 of 5 by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. Your snow-bound, moose carcass-pondering, Abe Sapien action starts here, people!
FANTASTIC FOUR #559 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. In which the Human Torch’s girlfriend problems threaten the entire team with destruction! Oh sure, like it’s never happened to you…
FINAL CRISIS: REVELATIONS #1 of 5 by Greg Rucka and Philip Tan. It’s Rucka writing two of his best characters, Crispus Allen and Rene Montoya, these days known as The Spectre and The Question. I sense a titanic team-up in the offing! Recommended!
THE GOON #27 written and drawn by Eric Powell and Guests. Three twisted tales from the Gooniverse. Recommended!
HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN #2 of 3 by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben. HB tries to reclaim a soul from a hill-billy devil. Maybe he can trade it for a can of chaw and those back issues of “American Spectator” they got behind the outhouse.
MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST CRIME COMICS SC by Many People including Eisner, Moore, Gaiman, Spillane, Chandler, Krigstein and pre-21st Century Frank Miller (before he went insane)! Twenty-five of the best crime comics ever published. Gotta look!
PUNISHER #60 by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov. It’s the end of an era (and a whole lot of punks) as Garth Ennis goes out in style. Plus, a preview of next issue’s new creative team. Salud!
SECRET INVASION #5 of 8 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. The Skrulls want Earth to “embrace change.” There’s your proof: Barack Obama is a Skrull. This will appear on FoxNews as a headline. Just wait….
TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED: ARRIVAL #1 by Marty Isenberg and Dario Brizuela. My kid wants one of these. Yours probably does too. By the head writer of the TV series which is actually quite good. Recommended for younger readers.
WALKING DEAD #51 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. Lookin’ like someone took his eye off the undead cannibals. Tsk, tsk. Yeah, put your hands up. That’ll help. Recommended. Not for kids.
WELCOME TO HOXFORD #1 of 4 written and drawn by Ben Frickin’ Templesmith! Meet Ray. Ray lives in a mental institution for the violently freaky. Ray is written and drawn by the guy who did 30 DAYS OF NIGHT and FELL. You want this, but if you’re a kid you can’t have it. Recommended.
WONDER WOMAN #23 by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti. Wonder Woman returns to Earth and beats the bejeebers out of some big nasty with Roman hands and Russian fingers! What more could we ask?
YOUNG LIARS #6 written and drawn by David Lapham. I’m mentioning this comic again because, even though it’s kind of confusing and all over the place, last issue Lapham castrated his male lead. I mean, come on, you have to respect that kind of effort. Not for kids.
www.johnjudy.net
Baltimore Comic-Con tickets on sale
Here's their PR:
Tickets Now Available for the Baltimore Comic-Con!
Baltimore, Maryland - August 8, 2008 -
The Baltimore Comic-Con is proud to announce that tickets for the show are now available for sale. From the show's website, fans can now click on the Tickets link to reach TicketMaster and purchase tickets for Saturday, Sunday, or both!
In addition to a great guest list, the Baltimore Comic-Con offers an amazingly diverse list of vendors from all around the country! They'll be bringing their Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and Modern Age comics, graphic novels, trade paperbacks, statues, action figures, collectible cards, original art, and much, much more!
"If you are looking for something particular, chances are it will be in the room," said show promoter Marc Nathan. "The strength of any great convention is the dealers area, and this year we have some of the best any room can offer."
A full list of retailers can now be found on our website.
Swamp Thing co-creator and Frankenstein artist Bernie Wrightson will be the show's Guest of Honor.
He headlines a guest list that includes, in alphabetical order, Michael Bair (Identity Crisis, 52), Kyle Baker (Nat Turner, The Bakers), Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, Secret Invasion), Ivan Brandon (NYC Mech, Marvel Comics Presents), Buzz (JSA), Jim Calafiore (Exiles, Countdown), Dennis Calero (X-Factor, Countdown), Tommy Castillo (Grimm Fairy Tales, Kong: King of Skull Island), Howard Chaykin (Wolverine, American Flagg), Cliff Chiang (Green Arrow & Black Canary), Darwyn Cooke (New Frontier, The Spirit), Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows, Mighty Avengers), Steve Conley (Star Trek, The Escapist), Amanda Conner (Green Arrow/Black Canary, JSA Classified), Todd Dezago (Perhapanauts, Tellos), Steve Dillon (Punisher, Preacher), David Finch (World War Hulk, New Avengers), Ramona Fradon (Aquaman, Mermaidman and Barnacleboy), John Gallagher (Buzzboy, Roboy Red), Ron Garney (Wolverine, Skaar: Son of Hulk), Michael Golden (Micronauts, The 'Nam), Bryan J.L. Glass (Mice Templar), Mike Grell (John Sable, Iron Man), Cully Hamner (Blue Beetle, Black Lightning), Dean Haspiel (American Splendor, Brawl), Adam Hughes (Catwoman), Stuart Immonen (Ultimate Spider-Man), Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, Action Comics), J.G. Jones (52, Wonder Woman), Robert Kirkman (Invincible, Ultimate X-Men), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man, Empire), Rich Koslowski (Marvel Comics Presents, Sonic the Hedgehog), Scott Kurtz (PvP), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon, Image EIC), Jim Lee (All Star Batman & Robin, Wildcats), Norman Lee (Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane), the Luna Brothers (The Sword, Girls), David Mack (Kabuki, Daredevil), Mark McKenna (Banana-Tail, Annihilation: Conquest), Bob McLeod (New Mutants, Spider-Man), Pop Mhan (Blank, Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Mike Mignola (Hellboy, Disney's Atlantis), Mark Morales (Civil War, Secret Invasion), Phil Noto (Danger Girl, Jonah Hex), Michael Avon Oeming (Mice Templar, Powers), Mike Okamoto (Hellraiser, Chaos! Quarterly), Jimmy Palmiotti (Painkiller Jane, Jonah Hex), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Brandon Peterson (Ultimate X-Men, Strange), Eric Powell (The Goon), Tom Raney (Annihilation: Conquest, Ultimate Secrets), James Robinson (Superman, JSA), John Romita Sr. (Amazing Spider-Man), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Craig Rousseau (Perhapanauts, X-Men: First Class), Andy Runton (Owly), Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween, Heroes), Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man, Feast of the Seven Fishes), Jim Shooter (Legion of Super-Heroes), John K. Snyder III (Grendel), Mark Sparacio (Heroes for Hire, Captain Action), Robert Tinnell (EZ Street), Peter Tomasi (Nightwing, Green Lantern Corps), Herb Trimpe (Incredible Hulk), Timothy Truman (Conan, Grimjack), Billy Tucci (Shi, Sgt. Rock - The Lost Battalion), Neil Vokes (The Black Forest, The Wicked West), Matt Wagner (Zorro, Grendel), Mark Waid (Flash, Boom! Studios), Mark Wheatley (Frankenstein Mobster, Mighty Motor Sapiens), Ron Wilson (The Thing), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).
The Harvey Awards will return to the Baltimore Comic-Con for the third consecutive year. The awards dinner and ceremony will be held Saturday night, September 27, 2008, following the convention's normal hours. As in 2007, the first 300 paid attendees and honorees at the 2008 Harvey Awards Ceremonies will receive a Hollywood-style bag of swag. Last year's bag included The EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales - Volume 1 from Gemstone Publishing, a complete base set of the soon-to-be-released Jericho Season One trading cards from Inkworks, an exclusive pin from AdHouse Books, a Comic-Con exclusive edition of 30 Days of Night: Red Snow 1 from IDW Publishing, a Toon Tumbler from Popfun Merchandising, and an exclusive Harvey Awards keychain from LaserMach. Nominating ballots are presently online at www.harveyawards.org. Kyle Baker will return as Master of Ceremonies for the evening's events.
For more information about the Baltimore Comic-Con, e-mail cardscomicscollectilbes@yahoo.com or call (410) 526-7410. The guest list and other information can be found on the convention's website or on its MySpace page.
For more information about the Harvey Awards, including sponsorship opportunities, e-mail baltimorecomiccon@yahoo.com.
Tickets Now Available for the Baltimore Comic-Con!
Baltimore, Maryland - August 8, 2008 -
The Baltimore Comic-Con is proud to announce that tickets for the show are now available for sale. From the show's website, fans can now click on the Tickets link to reach TicketMaster and purchase tickets for Saturday, Sunday, or both!
In addition to a great guest list, the Baltimore Comic-Con offers an amazingly diverse list of vendors from all around the country! They'll be bringing their Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and Modern Age comics, graphic novels, trade paperbacks, statues, action figures, collectible cards, original art, and much, much more!
"If you are looking for something particular, chances are it will be in the room," said show promoter Marc Nathan. "The strength of any great convention is the dealers area, and this year we have some of the best any room can offer."
A full list of retailers can now be found on our website.
Swamp Thing co-creator and Frankenstein artist Bernie Wrightson will be the show's Guest of Honor.
He headlines a guest list that includes, in alphabetical order, Michael Bair (Identity Crisis, 52), Kyle Baker (Nat Turner, The Bakers), Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, Secret Invasion), Ivan Brandon (NYC Mech, Marvel Comics Presents), Buzz (JSA), Jim Calafiore (Exiles, Countdown), Dennis Calero (X-Factor, Countdown), Tommy Castillo (Grimm Fairy Tales, Kong: King of Skull Island), Howard Chaykin (Wolverine, American Flagg), Cliff Chiang (Green Arrow & Black Canary), Darwyn Cooke (New Frontier, The Spirit), Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows, Mighty Avengers), Steve Conley (Star Trek, The Escapist), Amanda Conner (Green Arrow/Black Canary, JSA Classified), Todd Dezago (Perhapanauts, Tellos), Steve Dillon (Punisher, Preacher), David Finch (World War Hulk, New Avengers), Ramona Fradon (Aquaman, Mermaidman and Barnacleboy), John Gallagher (Buzzboy, Roboy Red), Ron Garney (Wolverine, Skaar: Son of Hulk), Michael Golden (Micronauts, The 'Nam), Bryan J.L. Glass (Mice Templar), Mike Grell (John Sable, Iron Man), Cully Hamner (Blue Beetle, Black Lightning), Dean Haspiel (American Splendor, Brawl), Adam Hughes (Catwoman), Stuart Immonen (Ultimate Spider-Man), Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, Action Comics), J.G. Jones (52, Wonder Woman), Robert Kirkman (Invincible, Ultimate X-Men), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man, Empire), Rich Koslowski (Marvel Comics Presents, Sonic the Hedgehog), Scott Kurtz (PvP), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon, Image EIC), Jim Lee (All Star Batman & Robin, Wildcats), Norman Lee (Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane), the Luna Brothers (The Sword, Girls), David Mack (Kabuki, Daredevil), Mark McKenna (Banana-Tail, Annihilation: Conquest), Bob McLeod (New Mutants, Spider-Man), Pop Mhan (Blank, Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Mike Mignola (Hellboy, Disney's Atlantis), Mark Morales (Civil War, Secret Invasion), Phil Noto (Danger Girl, Jonah Hex), Michael Avon Oeming (Mice Templar, Powers), Mike Okamoto (Hellraiser, Chaos! Quarterly), Jimmy Palmiotti (Painkiller Jane, Jonah Hex), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Brandon Peterson (Ultimate X-Men, Strange), Eric Powell (The Goon), Tom Raney (Annihilation: Conquest, Ultimate Secrets), James Robinson (Superman, JSA), John Romita Sr. (Amazing Spider-Man), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Craig Rousseau (Perhapanauts, X-Men: First Class), Andy Runton (Owly), Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween, Heroes), Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man, Feast of the Seven Fishes), Jim Shooter (Legion of Super-Heroes), John K. Snyder III (Grendel), Mark Sparacio (Heroes for Hire, Captain Action), Robert Tinnell (EZ Street), Peter Tomasi (Nightwing, Green Lantern Corps), Herb Trimpe (Incredible Hulk), Timothy Truman (Conan, Grimjack), Billy Tucci (Shi, Sgt. Rock - The Lost Battalion), Neil Vokes (The Black Forest, The Wicked West), Matt Wagner (Zorro, Grendel), Mark Waid (Flash, Boom! Studios), Mark Wheatley (Frankenstein Mobster, Mighty Motor Sapiens), Ron Wilson (The Thing), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).
The Harvey Awards will return to the Baltimore Comic-Con for the third consecutive year. The awards dinner and ceremony will be held Saturday night, September 27, 2008, following the convention's normal hours. As in 2007, the first 300 paid attendees and honorees at the 2008 Harvey Awards Ceremonies will receive a Hollywood-style bag of swag. Last year's bag included The EC Archives: Two-Fisted Tales - Volume 1 from Gemstone Publishing, a complete base set of the soon-to-be-released Jericho Season One trading cards from Inkworks, an exclusive pin from AdHouse Books, a Comic-Con exclusive edition of 30 Days of Night: Red Snow 1 from IDW Publishing, a Toon Tumbler from Popfun Merchandising, and an exclusive Harvey Awards keychain from LaserMach. Nominating ballots are presently online at www.harveyawards.org. Kyle Baker will return as Master of Ceremonies for the evening's events.
For more information about the Baltimore Comic-Con, e-mail cardscomicscollectilbes@yahoo.com or call (410) 526-7410. The guest list and other information can be found on the convention's website or on its MySpace page.
For more information about the Harvey Awards, including sponsorship opportunities, e-mail baltimorecomiccon@yahoo.com.
Adams, Kubert do comic book story on Holocaust survivor
Today's NY Times has an article about Neal Adams and Joe Kubert drawing a story to aid Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor and animator get some original artwork returned. Stan Lee also participated. See "Comic-Book Idols Rally to Aid a Holocaust Artist," By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES, New York Times August 9, 2008. You can download the comic story as well.
Early articles on this issue, courtesy of my Comics Research Bibliography research, are
Wyman Institute. 2006.
450 Cartoonists Urge Poland to Return Auschwitz Paintings [by animator Dina Babbitt].
Kansas City infoZine (September 21):
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/17845/
Brady, Matt. 2006.
JOE KUBERT RALLIES THE CREATIVE COMMUNTY FOR DINA BABBIT.
Newsrama (September 12): http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=83781
Early articles on this issue, courtesy of my Comics Research Bibliography research, are
Wyman Institute. 2006.
450 Cartoonists Urge Poland to Return Auschwitz Paintings [by animator Dina Babbitt].
Kansas City infoZine (September 21):
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/17845/
Brady, Matt. 2006.
JOE KUBERT RALLIES THE CREATIVE COMMUNTY FOR DINA BABBIT.
Newsrama (September 12): http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=83781
Thursday, August 07, 2008
August 10: Capital Associates comic book con
$3 and at the Dunn Loring fire dept. See www.capicons.com for details. I'll be there around the opening at 10 am.
OT: Out of Sequence: Underrepresented Voices in American Comics exhibit
A couple of guys I know from ICAF, John Jennings and Damian Duffy, have some interesting ideas on exhibiting comics. They've curated a new exhibit, "Out of Sequence: Underrepresented Voices in American Comics," which argues:
Despite recent attention to the history and development of comics, the steps required to create a new canon have been limited and incomplete. Out of Sequence continues and expands on investigations such as Masters of American Comics, presented in 2005 by UCLA's Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, by showcasing areas of sequential art that might otherwise be overlooked or underappreciated. These areas include the work of women and minority artists and small press and webcomics creators. The exhibition will explore alternate histories of American comics and suggest some of the limitless possibilities for the medium in the past, present, and future, from early newspaper strips to the Internet and virtual narratives in simulated three-dimensional space.
The exhibit includes a catalog as well.
It's booked for display in two places so far:
Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion
October 24, 2008 to January 4, 2009
The Laboratory of Art and Ideas at Belmar (The Lab), Belmar, CO
January 28, 2008 to April 26, 2009
Check out this checklist of art as well. This looks like an excellent exhibit. I hope it wanders to the East Coast too.
Despite recent attention to the history and development of comics, the steps required to create a new canon have been limited and incomplete. Out of Sequence continues and expands on investigations such as Masters of American Comics, presented in 2005 by UCLA's Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, by showcasing areas of sequential art that might otherwise be overlooked or underappreciated. These areas include the work of women and minority artists and small press and webcomics creators. The exhibition will explore alternate histories of American comics and suggest some of the limitless possibilities for the medium in the past, present, and future, from early newspaper strips to the Internet and virtual narratives in simulated three-dimensional space.
The exhibit includes a catalog as well.
It's booked for display in two places so far:
Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion
October 24, 2008 to January 4, 2009
The Laboratory of Art and Ideas at Belmar (The Lab), Belmar, CO
January 28, 2008 to April 26, 2009
Check out this checklist of art as well. This looks like an excellent exhibit. I hope it wanders to the East Coast too.
Otakon anime fest in Baltimore this weekend
Here's another article on Otakon in Baltimore this weekend - "Wide-eyed wonder: Otakon draws fans of exotically simple anime," By Julia Marie Simpson, Howard County Times 8/07/08.
Cavna's Signe Wilkinson interview
The Philadelphia cartoonist is on the Comic Riff's blog at "The Interview: Political Cartoonist Signe Wilkinson," By Michael Cavna August 7, 2008.
"Spadefoot' trade for FREE on Wowio.com
Matt Dembicki's sent along a note about his new comic book:
Just wanted to drop a quick note that Spadefoot, an 84-page graphic novel about a space frog and his merry band of misfits prophesized to conquer an evil emperor, a salamander named Hellbender, is available to read online for FREE at Wowio.com. (Type "Spadefoot" in the search function.) It's a whacky, good old-fashioned space opera! (If you want to download it, it's $4; that's something new with Wowio since it was recently bought by another company.)
If the comic hits a target number of visits, AlternaComics has agreed to publish a print version, which, of course, is any creator's goal. So, please check it out and, if you think it's good, please recommend friends to read it, too.
Thanks!
Matt Dembicki
http://threecrowspress.blogspot.com
http://trickster-anthology.blogspot.com
Just wanted to drop a quick note that Spadefoot, an 84-page graphic novel about a space frog and his merry band of misfits prophesized to conquer an evil emperor, a salamander named Hellbender, is available to read online for FREE at Wowio.com. (Type "Spadefoot" in the search function.) It's a whacky, good old-fashioned space opera! (If you want to download it, it's $4; that's something new with Wowio since it was recently bought by another company.)
If the comic hits a target number of visits, AlternaComics has agreed to publish a print version, which, of course, is any creator's goal. So, please check it out and, if you think it's good, please recommend friends to read it, too.
Thanks!
Matt Dembicki
http://threecrowspress.blogspot.com
http://trickster-anthology.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
OT: Flu comic book
In my professional life, I dabble in medical history. Dave Lasky's done a comic book "No Ordinary Flu" about the 1918 influenza epidemic for King County in Washington State. You can download it as a pdf in multiple languages. Their website reads:
To promote pandemic flu preparedness, Public Health - Seattle & King County has developed a 12-page comic book on pandemic flu. Targeting readers of all ages, this story tells the tale of a family’s experience of the 1918 influenza pandemic. It also explains the threat of pandemic flu today, illustrates what to expect during a pandemic (such as school closures), and offers tips to help households prepare.
You can also hear Lasky on KUOW's Sound Focus for August 6th - "No Ordinary Flu and Recipes for Peaches." Here's a direct link.
Thanks to cartoonists Scott Gilbert and Scott Faulkner for the tips!
Richard Thompson Interview On-Line
Chris Mautner has a look at Cul de Sac at "Graphic Lit: An interview with Richard Thompson,"Panels and Pixels Tuesday, August 05, 2008.
http://panelsandpixels.blogspot.com/2008/08/graphic-lit-interview-with-richard.html
Richard's got a comment about it on his blog now too. His post is better because he can draw Alice. --Mike
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Bush political cartoon ad
The NRDC Action Fund paid for a full-page caricature/political cartoon ad in today's Washington Post showing George W bush as a snake-oil salesman. It's a lovely piece and they've put a pdf online - I can't recall anything similar since Pat Oliphant did a series of full page ads about airlines at least a decade ago.
August 8: Otakon anime fest in Baltimore
For more information, see "Otakon draws people together," By SALLY NEWLIN, Herald-Mail August 5 2008.
I've lifted the relevant physical info from the end of the article:
Otakon
9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 8, to 2 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug.10
Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W. Pratt St., Baltimore
$65 each day for Friday and Saturday; $25 for Sunday
Visit www.otakon.com for more information and for a complete schedule.
I've lifted the relevant physical info from the end of the article:
Otakon
9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 8, to 2 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug.10
Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W. Pratt St., Baltimore
$65 each day for Friday and Saturday; $25 for Sunday
Visit www.otakon.com for more information and for a complete schedule.
NY Times on French cartoonist Sine's resignation UPDATEd
A Scooter, a Sarkozy and Rancor Collide
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: August 5, 2008
A scandal has emerged in France involving the president’s son, his wealthy fiancée, a much-beloved and scabrous magazine, a crusty cartoonist and humid charges of anti-Semitism.
I don't have a deep interest in this, but I've run across a few more articles for my Comics Research Bibliography, so here's links:
Satirical jab at Sarkozy's son sparks cries of anti-Semitism
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies August 4 2008
Cartoonist gets death threats over Sarkozy 'Jew' quip
Adam Sage in Paris
The Times August 6, 2008
Muslims, Jews and the free speech debate
By Sarah El Sirgany
Daily News Egypt August 5, 2008
French satirist sparks uproar with Sarkozy son Jewish jibe
by: Emma Charlton
05/Aug/2008 16:58 (AFP)
'Anti-Semitic' satire divides liberal Paris
Controversial columnist's aside about Sarkozy's son and a Jewish heiress reignites old embers
Jason Burke in Paris
The Observer, Sunday August 3 2008
French cartoonist fired for anti-Semitic remarks towards Sarkozy's son
EJP 29/Jul/2008
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: August 5, 2008
A scandal has emerged in France involving the president’s son, his wealthy fiancée, a much-beloved and scabrous magazine, a crusty cartoonist and humid charges of anti-Semitism.
I don't have a deep interest in this, but I've run across a few more articles for my Comics Research Bibliography, so here's links:
Satirical jab at Sarkozy's son sparks cries of anti-Semitism
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies August 4 2008
Cartoonist gets death threats over Sarkozy 'Jew' quip
Adam Sage in Paris
The Times August 6, 2008
Muslims, Jews and the free speech debate
By Sarah El Sirgany
Daily News Egypt August 5, 2008
French satirist sparks uproar with Sarkozy son Jewish jibe
by: Emma Charlton
05/Aug/2008 16:58 (AFP)
'Anti-Semitic' satire divides liberal Paris
Controversial columnist's aside about Sarkozy's son and a Jewish heiress reignites old embers
Jason Burke in Paris
The Observer, Sunday August 3 2008
French cartoonist fired for anti-Semitic remarks towards Sarkozy's son
EJP 29/Jul/2008
Rob Ullman comic reviewed by Comics Reporter
Tom Spurgeon looks at Rob Ullman's minicomic Crustacean Frustration. I must confess that I now barely glance at Savage Love in the City Paper without Rob's illustrations.
Cavna's Steve Breen interview
Comic Riffs has a longer interview with editorial cartoonist Steve Breen up today - see "The Interview: Political Cartoonist Steve Breen."
Monday, August 04, 2008
Hoo-hah! Pekar book news and an unused piece by Harvey
My buddy John Lent, editor and publisher of the International Journal of Comic Art called today and told me he had my Harvey Pekar: Conversations book in his hand. I argued with him because the press just emailed me that it would be out in November. He insisted and eventually I conceded - he's got an advance uncorrected proof. Darn! A collectible I don't own!
Harvey's working with DC Comics now - the first miniseries American Splendor: Another Day was just collected and is some of his best stuff. Vol. 2 is out as individual comics, and you can find them on Amazon or at a local comic book store.
I called Harvey and let him know the book's becoming more real and also asked his permission to republish some of his stuff that the Press cut from the book on this blog. Here's a 1987 piece Harvey wrote about being interviewed by David Letterman. I didn't even try to get permission to use those interviews. It appears here courtesy of and copyright by Harvey Pekar. Print it out and put it in the appropriate place in the book, after the 1987 interview by Henry Allen of the Washington Post:
Late Night of the Soul with David Letterman
Harvey Pekar / 1987
From The Village Voice, August 25, 1987, pp. 45-46. Reprinted with permission of Harvey Pekar.
Compared to many artists I'm in good shape. I've got a civil service job in Cleveland that pays me enough to write and publish, without making compromises, a comic book called American Splendor. In April '86, Doubleday issued an anthology of my work and it received gratifying critical response. Then, last summer, an assistant producer from Late Night With David Letterman contacted me about making an appearance on the show. It turns out that Letterman's head writer is from Cleveland and had recommended me as a guest. I was scheduled for October 15 and told, "Above all, don't get too serious."
Trouble was, I'd never been on TV. I knew nothing about Letterman except that he was a renowned put-down artist, and had no idea what to expect. I figured it'd be a one-shot; I'd answer a few questions and go home. All I wanted to do was sell a few books and avoid embarrassment.
I guess I'm jaded—I live in Cleveland and I've seen it all—so I wasn't surprised when Letterman started asking me these dumb questions, like "How are things in Cleveland?" They were so silly I started giving him incredulous looks and ridiculing him, saying he was a show biz phony and complaining about the lousy money he paid ($100 for the first appearance). The audience ate it up. Here was this sour faced, sloppily dressed file clerk turning the tables on Mr. Condescending Wise Guy. Letterman, who's, off camera, a quiet, thoughtful man, held me over five minutes and publicly asked me to return.
They raised the amount I got for the next show to $490. That plus free plane rides and a hotel room for my wife and myself made doing Late Night again worthwhile. I wasn't selling out, was I? The thought bothered me, and, as my next appearance, on January 6, approached, I began to consider injecting some substance into my slapstick act. For some time, I'd been reading disturbing reports about the state of affairs at NBC, which, with the rest of RCA, had been purchased by General Electric in December '85. GE sent their man Robert Wright over to assume the NBC presidency in September '86. Wright quickly made his presence felt by cutting the budget 5 per cent, laying off around 300 people. In December there was another stunner: Wrright had issued a secret memo in which he advocated setting up a political action committee at NBC. "Employees who elect not to participate in a giving program should question their dedication to the company and their expectations," he'd written.
This looked like material for my next Letterman spot. After all, Dave was already making cutesy quips about Wright's mental capacities. I'd improve on his act. I'd dig up a lot of solid, hard formation on GE and spill it on the show. On top of that, I'd be cocky and funny. I'd offer Wright equal time, and challenge him to a debate for money, marbles, or chalk.
So I went to the library looking for dirt. It was all over the place. While researching a 1961 price-fixing conspiracy GE had been involved in, I found an article stating that the company had been convicted of antitrust violations in 29 of the previous 50 years. They were still doing questionable things in the '80s. I ran across articles with titles like "Defense Department Disqualifies GE From New Work," "GE Pleads Guilty to False Claims, Statements," and "Foul Play on a Mega-merger? (Inside Traders and the GE-RCA Deal)." Armed with this information, I'd square up in front of the TV cameras and take on the beast in its lair.
I talked about my GE-bashing ideas to a couple of Letterman staffers and they thought it would be okay, so I was surprised when head producer Barry Sand pleaded with me an hour before the show not to talk about GE. He said it would be inappropriate: "This isn't Meet the Press." Beyond that, he said he'd checked with the legal department and there might be dire consequences for me and members of the Letterman staff if I condemned GE in a serious way. I had trouble believing Sand, but I knew Wright could make it rough for him and his co-workers, whom I liked, so I decided to shelve my plans and do about what I'd done on my first show – mess around.
The January program was loose, a lot of fun. Letterman and I visited a Live at Five broadcast, which aired while we were on the set. I saw weatherman Al Roker, who'd previously worked in Cleveland, and got into a noisy discussion with him about the old days and great weathermen of the past. (Cleveland is a spawning ground for outstanding meteorologists of every description.) Once in a while, the camera would cut to guest Ruth Westheimer, who sat in the corner looking puzzled. Later in the segment, Letterman asked if I liked him and I replied, "Man, I don't even know you!"
Laughs came so easily that night! I felt pretty good about myself. But the next day I was embarrassed when a buddy asked, "Hey, big shot, I thought you were gonna talk about GE. What happened?" What happened was that I'd demonstrated I could get laughs by acting like "the lunatic from Cleveland." Was it possible to have a normal, interesting conversation on Late Night? The segment producer told me only celebrities could get away with it. Maybe not even celebrities. If Einstein returned from the other side with the answer to the origin of the universe and made his initial appearance on Late Night, Letterman would chide him about his baggy clothes.
Late Night would wind up a trap for me if I played along. I'd gotten indications that even Letterman, a quick-witted, perceptive guy but no intellectual, may be annoyed by the show's bright-eyed vacuousness. Once during a commercial he said to me, "Do you believe I get paid for this?" But the money's good, be gets a lot of days off, obviously likes doing comedy, and is good at it. Does anyone think he's going back to Ball State for his Ph.D. in meteorology?
Meanwhile, my life was beginning to change. A filmmaker offered me $1000 a day for a walk-on. A director wanted to dramatize some of my stories and have me act in the production. A TV producer pitched me to the Fox network as a talk show host. I told him I wasn't interested, I didn't want to waste my time in lightweight conversation with celebrities and live in a fishbowl. The producer laughed at me and went on negotiating. He set up a deal for me to go out to L.A. and do a couple of pilots for Fox. I said I still wasn't interested. He couldn't believe it. He got his friends and business associates to try to talk me into it. When I wouldn't change my mind, they couldn't believe it. Why do so many Americans think the greatest thing in the world is to be on TV, that the more people see you the better off you are?
But a little show biz doesn't represent a commitment, right? So I was going back on Late Night March 24. What would I talk about? You guessed it, GE! Was I obsessed? Well, yes and yes. Yes, I am obsessive. Yes, it's always worthwhile to focus the public's attention on outfits like GE. And yes, it's okay to bite the hand that holds out $490.
I devised a new strategy for the March 24 show. I'd begin my segment as usual, then craftily lead the conversation around to GE and explode. I wouldn't tell the producers my plan, so they couldn't stop me. It didn't work out too well. I opened with a strident pitch for my second Doubleday anthology, shouting, flapping my arms, waving off Letterman's attempt to stop me. I got some yuks, but it occurred to me that a lot of people thought I was a lunatic. Our conversation didn't flow, it ground along. I was depressed and Letterman seemed melancholy. Still, he was convulsing people with remarks like "Where'd you get those eyebrows? You look like Zero Mostel."
I was getting shakier and more frustrated by the minute. Then I remembered there was something bigger here than my ego; the world had to be saved from GE. "Stop your slide, man, dig in your heels and make your move." I mentioned that as youths Tom Brokaw, Robert Redford, and I had roamed the Pacific Northwest, rock climbing and white water rafting, then said, "Speaking of Tom, I hear he's upset about working at NBC News because there's a conflict of interest between them and GE. GE's the third largest defense contractor, you know." The crowd was silent, puzzled. Letterman shifted to a commercial.
GE and NBC got plenty of attention this spring and summer. Its subsidiary, Kidder, Peabody, & Co., was fined $25.3 million for securities violations. In late May, the Cleveland Plain Dealer broke a story concerning three southern Ohio power companies suing GE for over $1 billion for selling them a defective nuclear reactor. GE had sold reactors of the same type, all with design flaws that made them unsafe, unreliable, and costly to operate, to other utility companies around the country. Billions of dollars have been spent trying to repair them and bring them up to standard, money that rate payers ultimately supply. Amazingly, it was discovered that GE had a report, compiled by their engineers in 1975, identifying the reactors' defects. GE executives decided to sell them anyway and let a purchasers/pay for most of the repairing and upgrading.
The GE reactor story is an important and ongoing story, yet NBC national news hadn't covered it by July 31, when I made my last appearance on Late Night. That reminded me of the congressional hearings that had been held in April, concerning problems inherent in TV networks being owned by conglomerates. Wright and NBC News chief Lawrence Grossman testified that GE couldn't possibly get away with forcing the network to alter the content of its news broadcasts. Any attempt to do so, they claimed, would result in an uproar so great that it as bound to fail.
I vowed to bring the subject up on my next appearance. What if I just jumped up and down and started yelling about GE without a lead-in? What could Letterman do, not ask me back? So what; I had a decent job, a place to stay. I had to do something constructive on TV, if not for the good of humanity then just to feel at peace with myself. Get the GE monkey off my back.
Before the show I ran into Letterman. We had a chat and he told me I had star potential, but during my last appearance we'd gotten bogged down in bickering. It was okay to insult him, since Late Night resembles professional wrestling, but if I did, the crowd would be on his side since it was his show.
I said, "Okay, but I want to talk about GE."
He said, "This isn't Meet the Press."
I insisted, so he finally agreed to let me do it if I didn’t stay on the subject too long. His bottom line was, “I’ll ask the questions, you answer ‘em."
Before the show, the segment producer came up to me with a list of eight questions. I noticed that GE was number seven and smelled a rat. So I went over to Letterman and asked him to move it to number two, so we could get it in.
The show starts. First is a harried zoo-keeper from Columbus who inadvertently loses track of some snakes and a hummingbird. Then Chris Elliott does a Marion Brando imitation. Next is a Gomer Pyle-type guy, supposedly doing a remote from Pittsburgh about an Arena Football game. Then I walk in, scowling. Letterman asks me about the TV talk show offer. I tell him I turned it down. "Why?" he asks. "Because," I tell him, "I been watching you up here." Hilarity breaks loose. The first five minutes are magic. During the commercial Letterman leans down and says, "perfect."
He isn't going to ask about GE. I've got to act alone. After the break I start shouting denunciations of GE. Letterman tries to interrupt. "Shaddup," I say, "I'm doing my thing."
Letterman complains that what I'm doing is inappropriate, that I, as a guest in his house, shouldn't be sneezing in the hors d'oeuvres. "Bullshit, where's the hors d'oeuvres," I say. The bit ends.
I'd wondered what would happen if I seriously bad-mouthed GE on NBC. Now I know. David Letterman can put down their lightbulbs, but I can't criticize their nuclear reactors.
There's plenty more to come in the book, and I'll have 2 more pieces Harvey wrote to post here in the next two months.
Harvey's working with DC Comics now - the first miniseries American Splendor: Another Day was just collected and is some of his best stuff. Vol. 2 is out as individual comics, and you can find them on Amazon or at a local comic book store.
I called Harvey and let him know the book's becoming more real and also asked his permission to republish some of his stuff that the Press cut from the book on this blog. Here's a 1987 piece Harvey wrote about being interviewed by David Letterman. I didn't even try to get permission to use those interviews. It appears here courtesy of and copyright by Harvey Pekar. Print it out and put it in the appropriate place in the book, after the 1987 interview by Henry Allen of the Washington Post:
Late Night of the Soul with David Letterman
Harvey Pekar / 1987
From The Village Voice, August 25, 1987, pp. 45-46. Reprinted with permission of Harvey Pekar.
Compared to many artists I'm in good shape. I've got a civil service job in Cleveland that pays me enough to write and publish, without making compromises, a comic book called American Splendor. In April '86, Doubleday issued an anthology of my work and it received gratifying critical response. Then, last summer, an assistant producer from Late Night With David Letterman contacted me about making an appearance on the show. It turns out that Letterman's head writer is from Cleveland and had recommended me as a guest. I was scheduled for October 15 and told, "Above all, don't get too serious."
Trouble was, I'd never been on TV. I knew nothing about Letterman except that he was a renowned put-down artist, and had no idea what to expect. I figured it'd be a one-shot; I'd answer a few questions and go home. All I wanted to do was sell a few books and avoid embarrassment.
I guess I'm jaded—I live in Cleveland and I've seen it all—so I wasn't surprised when Letterman started asking me these dumb questions, like "How are things in Cleveland?" They were so silly I started giving him incredulous looks and ridiculing him, saying he was a show biz phony and complaining about the lousy money he paid ($100 for the first appearance). The audience ate it up. Here was this sour faced, sloppily dressed file clerk turning the tables on Mr. Condescending Wise Guy. Letterman, who's, off camera, a quiet, thoughtful man, held me over five minutes and publicly asked me to return.
They raised the amount I got for the next show to $490. That plus free plane rides and a hotel room for my wife and myself made doing Late Night again worthwhile. I wasn't selling out, was I? The thought bothered me, and, as my next appearance, on January 6, approached, I began to consider injecting some substance into my slapstick act. For some time, I'd been reading disturbing reports about the state of affairs at NBC, which, with the rest of RCA, had been purchased by General Electric in December '85. GE sent their man Robert Wright over to assume the NBC presidency in September '86. Wright quickly made his presence felt by cutting the budget 5 per cent, laying off around 300 people. In December there was another stunner: Wrright had issued a secret memo in which he advocated setting up a political action committee at NBC. "Employees who elect not to participate in a giving program should question their dedication to the company and their expectations," he'd written.
This looked like material for my next Letterman spot. After all, Dave was already making cutesy quips about Wright's mental capacities. I'd improve on his act. I'd dig up a lot of solid, hard formation on GE and spill it on the show. On top of that, I'd be cocky and funny. I'd offer Wright equal time, and challenge him to a debate for money, marbles, or chalk.
So I went to the library looking for dirt. It was all over the place. While researching a 1961 price-fixing conspiracy GE had been involved in, I found an article stating that the company had been convicted of antitrust violations in 29 of the previous 50 years. They were still doing questionable things in the '80s. I ran across articles with titles like "Defense Department Disqualifies GE From New Work," "GE Pleads Guilty to False Claims, Statements," and "Foul Play on a Mega-merger? (Inside Traders and the GE-RCA Deal)." Armed with this information, I'd square up in front of the TV cameras and take on the beast in its lair.
I talked about my GE-bashing ideas to a couple of Letterman staffers and they thought it would be okay, so I was surprised when head producer Barry Sand pleaded with me an hour before the show not to talk about GE. He said it would be inappropriate: "This isn't Meet the Press." Beyond that, he said he'd checked with the legal department and there might be dire consequences for me and members of the Letterman staff if I condemned GE in a serious way. I had trouble believing Sand, but I knew Wright could make it rough for him and his co-workers, whom I liked, so I decided to shelve my plans and do about what I'd done on my first show – mess around.
The January program was loose, a lot of fun. Letterman and I visited a Live at Five broadcast, which aired while we were on the set. I saw weatherman Al Roker, who'd previously worked in Cleveland, and got into a noisy discussion with him about the old days and great weathermen of the past. (Cleveland is a spawning ground for outstanding meteorologists of every description.) Once in a while, the camera would cut to guest Ruth Westheimer, who sat in the corner looking puzzled. Later in the segment, Letterman asked if I liked him and I replied, "Man, I don't even know you!"
Laughs came so easily that night! I felt pretty good about myself. But the next day I was embarrassed when a buddy asked, "Hey, big shot, I thought you were gonna talk about GE. What happened?" What happened was that I'd demonstrated I could get laughs by acting like "the lunatic from Cleveland." Was it possible to have a normal, interesting conversation on Late Night? The segment producer told me only celebrities could get away with it. Maybe not even celebrities. If Einstein returned from the other side with the answer to the origin of the universe and made his initial appearance on Late Night, Letterman would chide him about his baggy clothes.
Late Night would wind up a trap for me if I played along. I'd gotten indications that even Letterman, a quick-witted, perceptive guy but no intellectual, may be annoyed by the show's bright-eyed vacuousness. Once during a commercial he said to me, "Do you believe I get paid for this?" But the money's good, be gets a lot of days off, obviously likes doing comedy, and is good at it. Does anyone think he's going back to Ball State for his Ph.D. in meteorology?
Meanwhile, my life was beginning to change. A filmmaker offered me $1000 a day for a walk-on. A director wanted to dramatize some of my stories and have me act in the production. A TV producer pitched me to the Fox network as a talk show host. I told him I wasn't interested, I didn't want to waste my time in lightweight conversation with celebrities and live in a fishbowl. The producer laughed at me and went on negotiating. He set up a deal for me to go out to L.A. and do a couple of pilots for Fox. I said I still wasn't interested. He couldn't believe it. He got his friends and business associates to try to talk me into it. When I wouldn't change my mind, they couldn't believe it. Why do so many Americans think the greatest thing in the world is to be on TV, that the more people see you the better off you are?
But a little show biz doesn't represent a commitment, right? So I was going back on Late Night March 24. What would I talk about? You guessed it, GE! Was I obsessed? Well, yes and yes. Yes, I am obsessive. Yes, it's always worthwhile to focus the public's attention on outfits like GE. And yes, it's okay to bite the hand that holds out $490.
I devised a new strategy for the March 24 show. I'd begin my segment as usual, then craftily lead the conversation around to GE and explode. I wouldn't tell the producers my plan, so they couldn't stop me. It didn't work out too well. I opened with a strident pitch for my second Doubleday anthology, shouting, flapping my arms, waving off Letterman's attempt to stop me. I got some yuks, but it occurred to me that a lot of people thought I was a lunatic. Our conversation didn't flow, it ground along. I was depressed and Letterman seemed melancholy. Still, he was convulsing people with remarks like "Where'd you get those eyebrows? You look like Zero Mostel."
I was getting shakier and more frustrated by the minute. Then I remembered there was something bigger here than my ego; the world had to be saved from GE. "Stop your slide, man, dig in your heels and make your move." I mentioned that as youths Tom Brokaw, Robert Redford, and I had roamed the Pacific Northwest, rock climbing and white water rafting, then said, "Speaking of Tom, I hear he's upset about working at NBC News because there's a conflict of interest between them and GE. GE's the third largest defense contractor, you know." The crowd was silent, puzzled. Letterman shifted to a commercial.
GE and NBC got plenty of attention this spring and summer. Its subsidiary, Kidder, Peabody, & Co., was fined $25.3 million for securities violations. In late May, the Cleveland Plain Dealer broke a story concerning three southern Ohio power companies suing GE for over $1 billion for selling them a defective nuclear reactor. GE had sold reactors of the same type, all with design flaws that made them unsafe, unreliable, and costly to operate, to other utility companies around the country. Billions of dollars have been spent trying to repair them and bring them up to standard, money that rate payers ultimately supply. Amazingly, it was discovered that GE had a report, compiled by their engineers in 1975, identifying the reactors' defects. GE executives decided to sell them anyway and let a purchasers/pay for most of the repairing and upgrading.
The GE reactor story is an important and ongoing story, yet NBC national news hadn't covered it by July 31, when I made my last appearance on Late Night. That reminded me of the congressional hearings that had been held in April, concerning problems inherent in TV networks being owned by conglomerates. Wright and NBC News chief Lawrence Grossman testified that GE couldn't possibly get away with forcing the network to alter the content of its news broadcasts. Any attempt to do so, they claimed, would result in an uproar so great that it as bound to fail.
I vowed to bring the subject up on my next appearance. What if I just jumped up and down and started yelling about GE without a lead-in? What could Letterman do, not ask me back? So what; I had a decent job, a place to stay. I had to do something constructive on TV, if not for the good of humanity then just to feel at peace with myself. Get the GE monkey off my back.
Before the show I ran into Letterman. We had a chat and he told me I had star potential, but during my last appearance we'd gotten bogged down in bickering. It was okay to insult him, since Late Night resembles professional wrestling, but if I did, the crowd would be on his side since it was his show.
I said, "Okay, but I want to talk about GE."
He said, "This isn't Meet the Press."
I insisted, so he finally agreed to let me do it if I didn’t stay on the subject too long. His bottom line was, “I’ll ask the questions, you answer ‘em."
Before the show, the segment producer came up to me with a list of eight questions. I noticed that GE was number seven and smelled a rat. So I went over to Letterman and asked him to move it to number two, so we could get it in.
The show starts. First is a harried zoo-keeper from Columbus who inadvertently loses track of some snakes and a hummingbird. Then Chris Elliott does a Marion Brando imitation. Next is a Gomer Pyle-type guy, supposedly doing a remote from Pittsburgh about an Arena Football game. Then I walk in, scowling. Letterman asks me about the TV talk show offer. I tell him I turned it down. "Why?" he asks. "Because," I tell him, "I been watching you up here." Hilarity breaks loose. The first five minutes are magic. During the commercial Letterman leans down and says, "perfect."
He isn't going to ask about GE. I've got to act alone. After the break I start shouting denunciations of GE. Letterman tries to interrupt. "Shaddup," I say, "I'm doing my thing."
Letterman complains that what I'm doing is inappropriate, that I, as a guest in his house, shouldn't be sneezing in the hors d'oeuvres. "Bullshit, where's the hors d'oeuvres," I say. The bit ends.
I'd wondered what would happen if I seriously bad-mouthed GE on NBC. Now I know. David Letterman can put down their lightbulbs, but I can't criticize their nuclear reactors.
There's plenty more to come in the book, and I'll have 2 more pieces Harvey wrote to post here in the next two months.
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