Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Julie in the Times

Here's a link to the New York Times obit for Julie Schwartz. (One minor quibble: The 1956 Flash revival started with scripts by Robert Kanigher, not Gardner Fox.)

Also, there's an obit in Newsday and one in the Telegraph.

Also: Since folks are still writing to ask, I want to repeat: Donations can be made to the Julius Schwartz Scholarship Fund c/o DC Comics, 1700 Broadway, New York, NY, 10019.

• Posted at 10:51 PM · LINK

They're Ba-a-a-a-ck!

In 1983, a new super-hero group debuted on the comic rack, the co-creation of Yours Truly and a superb artist named Will Meugniot. It was called The DNAgents, though an awful lot of people referred to it as "DNA Agents." Will and I had a lot of fun doing the series and then after he went on to other things, I had a lot of fun doing it with a number of other fine artists, and I did it until it stopped being fun and the publishing company got into trouble. (Those two things occurred at roughly the same time and were not unrelated.) It also yielded a couple of spin-off comics including one called Crossfire that I did with yet another terrific illustrator, the one named Dan Spiegle. Ever since we stopped doing the books, I've been receiving requests to revive and/or reprint them and that's finally going to happen this year. Nat Gertler of About Comics will soon issue the first in a series of paperback collections that will reprint DNAgents and Crossfire in glorious black-and-white. Each volume will contain 176 pages (or around six issues of the original comics) in a 7.5" by 5.5" page format and include an afterword by me and leftover sketches by Will and others. Retail price will be $9.95 for each, and the first DNAgents will be out in June with the first Crossfire collection to follow not long after. I'll post a link here when it's possible to order them, and I hope you will.

• Posted at 3:31 PM · LINK

Tomorrow's News Today

I like to try and identify what's going to be "The Big Story," especially in politics, before it becomes "The Big Story." Right now, it's Bush's National Guard service, though it seems to be morphing into a Conservative attack on John Kerry's Vietnam record. Both onslaughts bother me, partly because they seem so irrelevant to possible future presidential actions and partly because the accusers (and often, the defenders) tend to so readily misrepresent old quotes and evidence. There may be something shameful in each man's past but it's not to be found in trying to zero in on which Tuesday in 1972 Bush was on or off the base, or locating a photo of Kerry in the proximity of Jane Fonda.

Between now and Election Day, I'd bet we're going to go through a cycle of recriminations on what actions George W. Bush took on the morning of 9/11...or didn't take. We will hear in righteous condemnation that even when there was clear info that hijacked airplanes were heading for populated buildings, Bush was no leader; that he sat there and read goat stories to children and then was "out of the loop" for hours, allowing others (mainly, Dick Cheney) to make his decisions for him. I don't know if there's a lick of truth to this — and neither do most of the folks who'll be charging or denying this — but we're going to hear an awful lot about it.

In anticipation of that controversy, I refer you to this article by Gail Sheehy. It's primarily about the flight attendants and air traffic controllers on 9/11 — what they knew and when they knew it — but it gets to the question of how government agencies responded that horrible morning. And it raises more questions about just what weaponry the hijackers brandished that enabled them to get through security, then seize control of four airliners.

• Posted at 12:42 PM · LINK

Oldie But Goodie

You know what I heard today? "Classical Gas," the 1968 hit record by Mason Williams. There was a month there, at least at University High School in L.A., where you couldn't take three steps without hearing "Classical Gas." I decided to find out what I could learn about that song and I quickly found a whole website about it.

• Posted at 2:07 AM · LINK

ME at a Con

I will be among the guests at the Wondercon in San Francisco, April 30-May 2. This link will take you to a page crammed with details and you'll note that another guest is my frequent collaborator, Sergio Aragonés. This means we will probably be doing a Groo Panel, as well as another rousing game of "Quick Draw," in which Sergio and several other fast cartoonists act upon the odd challenges I throw their way. You'll want to be there for that event alone so make your plans now. Should be a great convention.

• Posted at 12:28 AM · LINK

Obits for Julie (And Some Good News)

The passing of our friend Schwartz is being noted in venues as far apart as The Independent and The Cleveland Plain Dealer. But the best, most knowing obituary for the man is not yet available on the web. A little while ago, Harlan Ellison faxed me his magnificent 2000 words on Julie that will appear in Locus, The Comics Buyer's Guide and other venues. Keep at least one eye out for this one.

For Harlan, it's been a few days of Bad News mixed with Good: Today, he won an important decision in his lawsuit against America On-Line for the unauthorized dissemination of his work. If you're interested in the details of the case and have Adobe Reader installed, this link will send you a PDF file of today's court ruling. It briefly summarizes the events that led to this day, then remands the case to a full trial, which was what Harlan was seeking. Good for him.

• Posted at 12:09 AM · LINK

February 12, 2004 • Current • February 10, 2004