Monday, January 19, 2004

A Cup of Joe

Here's the first part of an interview with the great Joe Kubert over at Comic World News.

• Posted at 9:46 PM · LINK

Iowa Stubborn

Among the Democratic candidates for prez, I have no favorites. Kerry, Clark, Dean, Gephardt, Kucinich, Edwards...it doesn't matter to me just as long as it isn't Lieberman. I'd like to see Al Sharpton do well enough in the primaries to keep him in the race until the convention, but only because he's the only one of those guys I really enjoy hearing speak. (There's nothing racial about this but I felt that way about Alan Keyes in the last election. Since I knew he had no chance to win, I could enjoy hearing an articulate, passionate speaker. I didn't agree with much of what he had to say but it was more fun to listen to him than some boring, pandering guy who mouthed all the right, poll-tested buzzwords.)

The best thing about putting the Iowa Caucuses behind us is that we no longer have to listen to reporters trying to convince us the Iowa Caucuses are that important. The worst thing is that from here on, when someone says that either Bush or the Democrat can't possibly win, we can't remind them how silly it is to project a winner before one single vote has been cast. Now, some people have actually voted. I guess that's a step in the right direction but let's not pretend this part really matters much. Unless you're Dick Gephardt.

• Posted at 9:38 PM · LINK

Tony, Tony, Tony!

Every year, the Tony Awards fare poorly in the ratings. Nevertheless, to its credit, CBS sticks with the event. They'll run this year's on June 6 and they've extended their commitment through the year 2010.

By June, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick will have exited The Producers. Rumor has it that Martin Short will follow Broderick in the Leo role and that the producers of The Producers are talking with Kelsey Grammer about a tour of duty as Max. I would think any two of these four people would make dandy hosts for this year's telecast.

• Posted at 11:04 AM · LINK

A Worthy Cause

The historic comic book seen above left introduced the new version of The X-Men, as revamped and refurbished by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. Dave, who designed many of them (and many of the rival Legion of Super-Heroes) is a terrific artist I've known since we were both contributing to the same fanzines in the sixties. His work in them was so good that absolutely no one was surprised when he went on to become a top artist for DC and Marvel. A nice guy, too. We labored together on a few projects and it was always a joy to see what Dave did with my silly scripts. So it was quite a wrench to hear that Dave's been ill lately, hospitalized for a severe case of double pneumonia, plus a bacterial infection in his lungs and blood. He is on the mend (they just took him off the respirator) but he has a ways to go before he'll be off the disabled list and able to draw again. So send good thoughts but it may help even more if you send some money.

A veritable Legion of Dave's Friends is contributing to The Uncanny Dave Cockrum Tribute, an art portfolio celebrating the talents of Guess Who. So far, the roster includes Murphy Anderson, Dick Ayers, Mark Bagley, Chris Claremont, Gene Colan, Peter David, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Ron Garney, Tony Isabella, Stan Lee, Mike Pascale, Johnny Romita, Marie Severin, Dave Sim, Walt Simonson, Mark Texeira, Roy Thomas, Lee Weeks, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman and Yours Truly. The book is being edited and coordinated by Clifford Meth, and he's also holding an auction of original art. All proceeds, natch, go to help out Dave and his lovely spouse, Paty. You can get yours here...and do take a moment and place your order. If you've been reading comics in the last thirty years, Dave's probably given you more than a few hours of enjoyment. You'll want a copy of the tribute book just to have one, but it's also a nice way of saying thanks.

• Posted at 10:01 AM · LINK

January 20, 2004 • Current • January 18, 2004