This is from some group called The Gypsy Guitar Academy…

For some reason, I've recently received a lot of questions about the digest-sized comics that Western Publishing Company once published under its Gold Key logo.  Most of those questions can be answered in this post from back in 2003 that I've already rerun once before here.  If I was writing it today, I would make more of the success that the Archie company has had over the years with their digest line. I'm told it kept that company alive for a long time and the fact that it no longer works as well as it once did is why they're floundering about, trying stunts to refurbish a very old, outta-date property.

I would also include a remark I once heard from Jack Kirby. Jack liked things big. He liked big comics and big panels and big scenes and big concepts. When DC started their "super-size" lines of comics with a larger-than-usual page size, he was thrilled with the concept…and disappointed that they started by filling them with reprints of old comics, thereby not taking advantage of that bigger canvas.

Anyway, one time Jack looked at a Gold Key Digest and he said, speaking just of the page size, "That's a terrible thing to do to comics." He wasn't wrong but I still find something fun about those books.

Back in the sixties, Western Publishing Company (Gold Key Comics) began to have increasing problems getting their comics distributed. All the publishers were having this problem but it was most acute for Western. DC and Charlton owned their own distribution companies so they were able to push a little harder and at least they were paying their distribution fees to themselves. Marvel was distributed by DC until they jumped to a company owned by the same conglomerate that owned Marvel. The other companies, like Archie and Harvey, were hurt…but they (like DC and Marvel) were largely using their comic book publishing as a loss leader for the merchandising of the properties depicted in their comics. DC didn't consider it fatal when sales on the Batman comic went down since they were making money off Batman t-shirts and games and spatulas and such.

Western, however, did not control their own distribution, nor did they make any money off the merchandising of most of the characters in their comics. They had the Disney properties, Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, etc. — all properties owned by others. The few comics Western did own did not yield any real licensing money.

So they began hustling to find a way to sell comics in other venues — bookstores, toy stores, anywhere. They explored other forms of distribution and to this end began experimenting with different sizes and shapes of comics. Long before anyone at DC or Marvel was ready to break from the conventional funny book format, Western tried oversize comics, paperback comics, comics bundled in plastic bags and a few other ideas. Some received limited test marketings or never made it that far. Others came out and were widely ignored. The one thing that did well for a time was the digest comic — a little paperback about 6 and 3/4" tall with (usually) a little under 200 pages. Today, the Archie people have done quite well with their digests and the rumor is that other companies are gearing up to try them — especially for "funny" comics, whose less-detailed pages suffer less when reduced in size.

I don't believe this format will ever catch on big. Archie's success with it has largely been a matter of skillful (and expensive) marketing. They've managed to get excellent display in airports and at supermarket checkout counters. It often costs a lot of money to get your wares into those locations…which can accept very limited amounts of product. I also think there's a fundamental problem with the format in that its very size makes comics look cheap and unimportant.

One thing that some publishers seem to have missed is a lesson that Western learned when they were the only publisher doing them. When the digests were successful, they were only successful in stores that were completely isolated from regular-size comics. If a store had both sizes, no one bought the digests. If a store didn't carry regular-size comics but the one across the street did, no one bought the digests. I forget the actual sales numbers I was shown but it was something like this: When no regular-sized comics could be purchased nearby, a store that carried the digests might expect a 75% sale, which was very good. If the same store had regular comics, the digests would sell 10%. Therefore, Western was in the odd position of trying very hard not to distribute one of their products to some outlets. This they did until the digests died out in the early-seventies — about the time DC and Marvel were both enjoying some success with larger-than-normal comics. Western's distribution was crashing anyway by then but I've often wondered if the appearance of the tabloid "super-size" comics made the digests just look so puny that they helped finish them off.

My friend Gary Sassaman shares some tales of his early days in comic book fandom and convention-attending, and also tells the story of how he almost had work in a Marvel comic…

Gary is hosting a panel at Comic-Con all about Jack Kirby's return to Marvel in 1975 after he made the painful decision that he'd be better off there than remaining at DC. John Morrow, publisher of The Jack Kirby Collector, and I will be joining Gary. It's Thursday, July 23 in Room 9 at 11 AM.

The man got his wish…

Comic-Con International begins with a Preview Night on Wednesday, July 22 and continues until 5 PM on Sunday, July 26. Here are some things you should know…

• The con is sold out and has been since about 45 minutes after tickets went on sale long ago. There are folks selling them on scalper websites but there's a good chance those badges are bogus and will not be honored at the door. Even if they are real, badges are supposed to be non-transferrable so don't take the chance.
• The only completely Kosher way to buy a badge for this con is to purchase a "Legend" membership for the Comic-Con Museum. You can do that here but I'll save you the click and the sticker shock by telling you that it costs $1900.00. For nineteen hundred bucks, you could probably get me to come to your house and host panels in your backyard.

• For the days of the con, the National Weather Service is predicting it'll be 76° during the days and 67° at night.
• The schedule of panels and other such events will be posted online later this week. The schedule for Thursday will be posted this Thursday, the schedule for Friday will be posted this Friday, etc. I seriously suggest that if you're attending and you're at all interested in attending panels, you study that schedule carefully and make a note of what you want to see. And you might also pick out second choices in case your first choice is so popular that all the seats fill up early.
• I don't know anything about parking except that some people have found that it's cost-effective to find a parking space a few miles away and Uber or Lyft to the convention. The San Diego Trolley Line may also be able to get you there and back from wherever you left your car.
• Don't be surprised at what some people will want to charge you for an autograph.
• And lastly for now: Take it easy.  Don't try to see everything.  Hydrate, which might mean bringing along a water bottle.  Plan ahead where you're going to eat.  Bring more money than you think you'll need but not so much more that you'll be mad at yourself for having spent it.  Wear the most comfortable shoes you own.  And remember that if you go out onto a back terrace of the convention center, there's a lovely marina out there with water and fresh, not-airconditioned air accompanied by a little peace 'n' quiet.  Take advantage of that.

Robert Forman wrote to ask me the following question — but first, some background: Vince Sullivan was the editor at what we now know as DC Comics. Bob Kane was one of the freelancers doing comic book stories for him. Here's what Mr. Forman wants to know…

I'm familiar with the Vincent Sullivan/Bob Kane Batman origin story and I have a question that I've always wondered about it. So Sullivan tells Kane something like "Hey, this new Superman character is doing great. We could use more like it." I take it that Kane was either familiar with Superman or familiarized himself with the character before trying to create a new character like Superman.

So why did Kane give Sullivan a non-super character? I mean, other people came up with characters with some sort of "power" like speed or had a "power ring," etc. Why did Kane give him a character that had more in common with The Green Hornet or the Crimson Avenger? Why not give his Batman something like a bat's "radar power" or something like that? Was this something Kane ever addressed?

The trouble with getting an explanation from something Bob Kane said is that Bob Kane said it…along with many things that weren't always true. When I was in my teens, I sat with Bob for an hour or two as he downed several glasses of vodka and told me all sorts of stories about him life and his career and what he did and what he didn't do. One of them was a long story about him having sex with Marilyn Monroe. I would believe that there really was a Batman before I'd believe Bob's story about Marilyn Monroe.

But I think the answer to your question is pretty obvious: Sullivan wanted a costumed hero who did extraordinary things. The extraordinary heroes with which Bob was familiar back then were The Green Hornet or The Shadow or Zorro or The Phantom. And Superman wasn't that "super" in his early stories. I interviewed Vince Sullivan at Comic-Con back in, I believe, 1993. I don't recall him saying he wanted a character that had unearthly powers. I think he just wanted one as colorful and able to do amazing things.

So Bob thought about all those inspirations and came up with Batman in some form.  Then he huddled with Bill Finger (probably the brains of the operation) and they thought about all those popular, heroic heroes from the pulps, radio, movie serials and comic strips of the day and, lo, there was the primal Batman. Most comic book characters didn't get power rings or radar powers until later.

At least, I'd assume that's what happened.  It's also possible they knew that the new character, if accepted, would wind up in Detective Comics. and felt a science-fiction element wouldn't fit into that book.  But you know what's not possible?  That story about Bob and Marilyn Monroe. How can you ever trust anyone who'd tell you something like that?

Cynthia Lin and her All-Ukulele Band…

Kevin Greenlee wrote to ask…

Charles Schulz famously said that if you read enough of his work you would have a pretty good idea of what he was like as a person. Do you feel the same applies to your own work? If someone wanted to get an understanding of you, what pieces of writing (scripts, articles or books) would you suggest they read?

I would suggest they read this blog, especially the pieces where I tell some story from my past. And I would suggest they not assume anything I put into a work of fiction is particularly autobiographical, especially if it's a story which doesn't have my name in the copyright line.

In fact, this blog was kind of an extension of a weekly column I wrote for a newspaper called The Comics Buyers Guide and I started that column, in part, because I felt there was too little of me in what I was writing. (A lot of those columns are on this blog, reachable from this page. Keep in mind that some of those columns are, like, thirty years old so my views and understandings may have changed. This also applies to same past posts on this site.)

Personally, I've found that what Mr. Schulz said is rarely true. I've met a lot of people who I knew first from their writing and then been quite surprised by the person in person. I'm not sure it even applied to Charles Schulz. At best, you may be able to see some common ground between the writer and writing that is not explicitly autobiographical..but not much. At least, that's been my experience. I did once write a comic book story about someone who hated cole slaw but that character was a bear and I'm not one of those.

This is a group called The Heavytones and here they give the Heavytone treatment to the theme song from a TV series I once (briefly) wrote for…

The American version of the game show Deal or No Deal debuted on NBC on December 19, 2005 and was a pretty big hit, sometimes airing twice a week and offering all sorts of special episodes and gimmicks. When you have a hit like that, someone's going to copy it and, sure enough, there were a lot of big money prime-time game shows soon, some of which didn't last too long. The one that was closest to the template of Deal or No Deal was probably Show Me The Money, hosted awkwardly by William Shatner. Every time I see Mr. Shatner in anything, I'm reminded of a line directed at Sammy Davis Jr. in one of those Dean Martin roasts. I forget who said it but I remember the line. It was, "You know, Sammy, you're allowed to turn things down."

Show Me The Money debuted on ABC on November 14, 2006. They made seven episodes but ABC only aired five of them, the last of which was broadcast on December 13, 2006. You weren't watching and neither was anyone else.

Why didn't it go? Well, Shatner's discomfort in the role of Game Show Host was probably a reason but I think, first of all, America was getting tired of shows that looked like this. Secondly, I think the game itself was kind of forced and clumsy and it got buried under all the pizazz and neon and an audience that was programmed to love every second of everything that happened on that stage.

You can see that in the episode below. You can also count all the ways it was trying to be like Deal or No Deal…

The following intrigues me: On most game shows, the release that contestants sign has a clause that says, in essence, that you don't receive the prizes if the show doesn't air. This goes back to the time when the prizes were all furnished to some extent in exchange for the on-air plugs. I knew someone who, on tape day, won big on the 1975 revival of You Don't Say! with Tom Kennedy. He was ecstatic but the program was abruptly canceled and the last week or two — including his episode — never aired and he didn't receive his winnings.

The last two episodes taped of Show Me The Money! didn't air on ABC. Game Show Network picked up the rights to air all seven episodes but — well, here: I'll let you read for yourself what Wikipedia says about it…

The first episode aired [on GSN] on June 12, 2007, and the second episode aired on June 19, 2007. However, on June 26, 2007, GSN replaced the series with an episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It is known that GSN pulled the show due to bad ratings for the first two weeks and it was replaced by Dog Eat Dog on the Tuesday nights for the remainder of July 2007. There is no indication that GSN will air the show again, thus the two episodes not broadcast by ABC remain unaired.

GSN's webpage for the show included a photo from one of the two unaired episodes. The photo depicted Bob Glouberman, the contestant whose game was in progress at the end of the last episode aired by ABC, and a winnings total of $890,000 displayed on the scoreboard. Glouberman completed his game with that total in his bank and was paid, even though the episode showing his victory never aired on ABC.

So I'm wondering if the last two episodes didn't air because it wouldn't have been cost-effective if they had to pay some big winner who was not seen, as Mr. Glouberman was, in the shows that did air on ABC. I know a few game show experts who follow this site. Maybe one of them knows.

And I can just imagine how awful it would be to win a six-figures amount — what they call "life-changing money" — on a game show, then find out weeks later that you weren't getting it. That fellow I knew who didn't get the money from You Don't Say! charged a lot of purchases he thought he could afford before he found out that he couldn't.

Jimmy Kimmel picks some favorite David Letterman moments. What's interesting about his selections is that Letterman was on TV most nights for 33 years and the bits Kimmel chose are all from his first year or so and not at all indicative of what Dave did for the last three decades of those 33 years. They're also bits that may reflect the talents of Merrill Markoe and the writers more than of Dave…

Jeopardy! deals in so much obscure knowledge that it's inevitable that they should sometimes get things wrong. Here's an article about times they got things wrong.

Phil Collins recorded a new version of an old song that's very appropriate these days…

Cruising the 'net these days, I see a lot of people looking forward to attending Comic-Con in San Diego. And they're obviously not going to be attending the same convention that I'm going to be attending there in — hold on, lemme do the math — nineteen days. An awful lot of them are only or mainly interested in the exclusive collectibles that'll be available there…or getting tickets to obtain certain autographs…or to get into Hall H and parking there for as long as possible…or cosplaying…or getting into all the great evening parties…

…or otherwise doing things that are not and have never been part of my Comic-Con experience. This is, by my count, the 55th one of these and, of course, it's my fifty-fifth. I've never done any of those things, even back before I stuffed my Comic-Con schedule full of panels to host and/or appear on. That's one of the great things about Comic-Con: It's many different conventions all occurring simultaneously in one place. To have the best possible experience, you need to find the convention there that you want to attend. I know one guy for whom Comic-Con is only really about hanging out at bars and parties each evening, consuming alcohol with like-minded folks. I've never done that either.

My own reasons for being there have changed. Once upon a time, I think my main reason for attending any comic book conventions was to meet the people who were responsible for the comics I loved as a kid. Can't do that anymore. The few who are still among the living probably won't be there. (There's a very real chance that the person at this con with the oldest credits in professional comic books will be me.)

I also attended because I felt it was good for my career. I began enjoying the con a lot more when I simply decided to forget about that aspect of it.

Last year at the con, I moderated or merely appeared on nineteen panels. This year, I'm taking it easy by only doing eighteen. When people ask me why I do this to myself, I have what seems to me like a perfectly fine answer: I enjoy it. And I also enjoy being at the convention and contributing to it.  I'm not sure what I'd do down there if I didn't have all those panels. So that's the convention I've decided to attend there. If you're attending, I hope you find the one that makes you happy. You sure have a lot to pick from.

Here's another installment of Everything You Need to Know About Saturday Night Live, this time covering Season 27. This includes their first broadcast after 9/11 and the end of Will Ferrell's time and dominance on the show. If you want to see the earlier episodes, click here.