Thursday, March 13, 2008

Shop Bob

Are you looking for great old comic books at good prices? Would you like to do a good deed for a good guy? You can do both at the same time.

For years now, one of the friendliest, comics-loving dealers in old funnybooks has been a gentleman named Bob Beerbohm. If you go to many conventions, you've probably passed his booth and maybe browsed and/or bought. You might also have spent some time discussing comic book history with Bob, because he's one of those great scholars, digging out hitherto-unchronicled information. Much of what is known about the industry's past is known because of Bob Beerbohm.

Bob is in need of dual hip replacements. This is not cheap and Bob is planning to go overseas for the work because the cost in this country is just too high. Even then, he needs to raise a lot of money and soon.

He is not asking for charity. He's just hoping a lot of people will browse his "for sale" list and buy stuff. Here's a link to his website so you can see what he has up for sale and buy some good comics for good prices for a good cause. I've known Bob for years and he's an honest fellow and most deserving of your attention.

• Posted at 6:40 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

It's sometimes interesting to look at movie trailers and consider what was on the mind of the person who cut the thing together: What selling points were they pushing? What concerns about the film's marketability were they trying to finesse or work around? I've met folks in this line of work who were very proud that they were handed a turgid drama to sell and they managed to generate a trailer that made it look like a wacky teen comedy.

This is a short (minute and a half) trailer for the movie, All That Jazz. I have no idea who assembled it or what was on their mind(s)...but it looks like the marching orders went something like this: "The reviews and negative feedback are all grousing that it's a self-indulgent romp about this character Roy Scheider plays, with Bob Fosse dragging everyone into his neurosis. So don't mention Fosse and don't make it look like a movie about this one guy. Make it seem like a film about the magic and drama of show business."

Or something like that. Take a look and see if you don't agree someone was trying to make moviegoers think this was the film version of A Chorus Line.

• Posted at 10:20 AM · LINK

About Dave

The Los Angeles Times has an obituary up for our pal, Dave Stevens. They also have a shorter blog piece about Dave.

There are some other nice pieces about Dave on the web. Tom Spurgeon has an excellent, exhaustive obit. Dave's old co-worker William Wray wrote his thoughts. And the webmaster of Dave's website has set up this page where fans and friends can post tributes and comments, and that page contains a number of other links.

• Posted at 1:34 AM · LINK