Wednesday, July 9, 2003

Powerful

Back on! Yay!

• Posted at 8:02 PM · LINK

Even More Powerless

And while I'm at it, I thought I'd see if I could post via an even less sophisticated connection. I am currently typing on a Targus collapsible keyboard which has been uncollapsed and connected to my little Jornada 540 handheld palmtop into which I have inserted a Targus flashcard modem which is then connected to the telephone line and a very slow dial-up connection. This is probably how they connected to the Internet in Ben Franklin's day. Which reminds me: The way things are going here, I may have to get a kite and wait for a thunderstorm to see electricity around here again.

• Posted at 4:57 PM · LINK

Powerless

This message is kind of a test. The electricity is out for about ten blocks around me, rendering my desktop computer and cable modem about as useful as Nigerian yellowcake uranium. So I'm on the laptop and a dial-up connection and I thought I'd see what it felt like to post to my weblog this way. It feels rather prehistoric — about on a par with pounding laundry on a rock by the river to wash it. But if you're reading this, it works.

• Posted at 4:30 PM · LINK

Pattern Dying

Richard Roeper debunks the claim that celebrities always die in threes. Seems to me the belief has always been pretty silly. Several people die each week who could arguably be called famous. When a real biggie goes, some folks suddenly look around, pick two others and say, "Well, they always go in threes." But you could make it work for twos, fours, fives, even higher groupings depending on how you defined the rules.

• Posted at 11:36 AM · LINK

Comic Artist Website of the Day

Once upon a time, most comic book inkers were guys who inked others' drawings because they weren't good enough to draw it on their own. Over the years, a few outstanding talents elevated inking to a genuinely creative job — none more so than Joe Sinnott. Joe was always more than competent to do it all by himself but when he was assigned to ink Jack Kirby or John Buscema or any other artist, the sum of the parts actually seemed greater than the individual contributions. He still has that wonderful eye that allows him to interpret another artist's work, bringing out all that the penciller intended and maximizing its impact. Put simply, he's improved everything he's ever touched in comics, and he's one of the nicest men in our business. And now, he even has his own website!

• Posted at 11:03 AM · LINK

Oh, and One Other Thing...

I just took another look at that window card for Springtime for Hitler and my respect for Max Bialystock plunged: No author credit!

• Posted at 1:27 AM · LINK

One Other Auction Item

The same auction I mentioned a moment ago is also selling this copy of the class photo taken when Marilyn Monroe graduated (as Norma Jean Baker) from Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High School in West Los Angeles. I didn't know she went to Emerson. Guess this makes me the second-most famous graduate of the place...

• Posted at 1:06 AM · LINK

New Groo 4 U

I haven't seen a copy yet but The Groo Odyssey is out now. It's another collection of old Groo stories by Sergio Aragonés and Yours Truly — four of them, done back when we were published by Marvel/Epic. (We did ten solid years of monthly issues for them — all produced on schedule by Sergio, letterer Stan Sakai and myself, almost all colored by Tom Luth — and I still sometimes hear people say, "Creator-owned comics never come out on time.") Anyway, if you like what we do, you can buy this book from Amazon by clicking here. If you've never tried Groo, you can buy this book from Amazon by clicking in the same place. And if you have tried Groo and don't like it...well, what can I say? You're young. You'll learn. Meanwhile, over at his webpage, Bill Sherman gives us a nice review and wonders why this volume doesn't contain the traditional silly text page by me. I'm kinda wondering the same thing at the moment.

And to answer a Frequently-Asked Question: There is no announced release date for the next Groo mini-series, but we're starting to work on it now. Once I know when it's coming out, you'll know. Thank you.

• Posted at 12:33 AM · LINK

Hitler For Sale

There it is: The window card for the greatest Broadway musical that never really existed...at least not with Lorenzo Saint DuBois in the lead. This is a prop created for the 1968 movie, The Producers, and the credits for music, choreography and art direction on it are for men who actually filled those functions on the film. The designer listed there, Charles Rosen, has put a number of items from his personal collection up for auction with a firm called Profiles in History. They, in turn, are offering them for purchase via eBay. One is the card seen at left. Another is a page that purports to be Mel Brooks's original lyric sheet for the song, "Springtime for Hitler." There's also a bound copy of the script, a fake Playbill, a poster and a bunch of set design sketches. I'm not going to be bidding but if you'd like to — or if you'd like to window-shop and browse some of the interesting information accompanying these items — here's a link to the auction.

Also up for grabs are props and costumes from a number of science-fiction films and TV shows, including a Superman costume worn by George Reeves, a head of E.T., the robot from the Buck Rogers TV series and other things you can't afford.

But getting back to The Producers: The most interesting item (to me) is this one, which is the original screenplay, dictated by Mel to his assistant, Alfa-Betty Olsen, and studded with hand-written changes by both of them. Ms. Olsen's name may be familiar to you since she later had a decent career as a comedy writer, often teamed with Marshall Efron, and also did some acting...plus, there was a character named after her once on Get Smart. A lot of folks hailed her as the unsung hero of The Producers since she not only helped Brooks assemble the screenplay but did a lot of the casting, as well. This original of the screenplay is apparently from her files, and I hope it doesn't disappear into someone's private collection. It would be nice to see an arrangement made with Brooks and other interested parties to reprint it in a big book, complete with all the cross-outs and altered lines. Flaunt it, baby. Flaunt it.

• Posted at 12:20 AM · LINK