Monthly Archives: July 2008

Lorenzo Semple Jr. developed the Batman TV show (the one starring Adam West) and was its key writer. In this article, he remembers how it all happened.

Two points of note. One is that he seems to recall that his pilot script, which featured The Joker, was the first one aired. Actually, the first episode that aired featured The Riddler and the second week featured The Penguin. It wasn't until the third week that The Joker showed his white face…and that script was credited to Robert Dozier, son of Exec Producer William Dozier. So something is wrong in his recollection.

Also: The way Semple tells it, he makes it sound as if ABC forced Batman on Bill Dozier as a project he neither initiated nor wanted to do. Dozier used to tell the story of how he came across a Batman comic book in an airport gift shop and that's how he got the idea to do the show. I seem to recall that in one telling, Dozier even described the issue in question well enough that guys like me could identify it was Batman #171 — which featured The Riddler and which contained story elements that turned up in Semple's script for the first episode aired.

I'm pretty sure Semple's right about all the other stuff but those two matters have me a little puzzled.

Even as we speak, programming is being finalized for the Comic-Con International. They've posted the schedule of panels 'n' such for Thursday and for Sunday. Friday and Saturday should follow in a day or so. I'll have up the list of my seventeen (17? Is the man crazy?) panels shortly.

I'm going to defer to Stan Sakai to report what I did last night. It was a tribute to our late friend, Dave Stevens. There will be another one at the Comic-Con International…on Sunday morning, July 27 at 11 AM in room 7AB. This immediately follows the annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel in the same room at 10 AM. We don't have a large enough room for either and we don't have nearly enough time to say everything that needs to be said. So get there early.

Time for this year's announcement…

Comic-Con International, the largest comic book and popular arts event in the United States, is proud to announce that Archie Goodwin and Larry Lieber have been selected to receive the 2008 Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. The choice was made unanimously by a blue-ribbon committee chaired by writer and historian Mark Evanier.

The Bill Finger Award was instituted in 2005 under the supervision of comic book legend Jerry Robinson. The awards committee is charged each year with selecting two recipients, one living and one deceased. "With all the writers who seem worthy of this award, you'd think it would be an impossible decision," Evanier explains. "But this year, two names just jumped off the list of candidates. Much like the late Bill Finger, Larry Lieber and Archie Goodwin did important, groundbreaking work in our field that has not received the recognition it deserves. We're hoping to rectify that a little with these awards."

Archie Goodwin did his first work in comics (mystery stories for Harvey, along with assisting Leonard Starr with the newspaper strip On Stage) in the late 1950s. From 1964 to 1967, he produced a body of acclaimed work as writer/editor of Creepy and Eerie, then moved on to work as both a writer and editor for DC Comics and Marvel, writing memorable scripts for Batman, Iron Man, Star Wars, Manhunter and many others. He also wrote several newspaper strips, including Star Wars, Secret Agent X-9 and Captain Kate. Goodwin passed away in 1998.

Larry Lieber began working in 1950 at the company now known as Marvel, doing artwork under the editorship of his brother, Stan Lee. In the late 1950s, he and Stan comprised the entire writing staff for the company, and Larry's work on monster comics (including the acclaimed "Fin Fang Foom") helped lay the groundwork for the Marvel superhero line of the sixties. For that line, Larry scripted the first stories of Thor and Iron Man and many early tales of The Human Torch. He is currently the illustrator of the Spider-Man newspaper strip.

The Bill Finger Award honors the memory of William Finger (1914-1974), who was the first and, some say, most important writer of Batman. Many have called him the "unsung hero" of the character and have hailed his work not only on that iconic figure but on dozens of others, primarily for DC Comics.

In addition to Evanier, the selection committee consists of Charles Kochman (executive editor at Harry N. Abrams), comics and animation writer Paul Dini, writer Tony Isabella, and writer/editor Marv Wolfman. The 2008 awards are part of Comic-Con International with DC Comics as the major sponsor, along with supporting sponsors Comics Buyer's Guide (CBG) and Heritage Auctions.

The Bill Finger Award will be presented during the 2008 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards ceremony at this summer's Comic-Con on Friday, July 25. Additional information on the Finger Award can be found on this page.

Nothing really to add to the press release except to say it was a quick decision. It's a pleasure to be able to turn the spotlight on two such fine gentlemen. And of course, it's sad that Archie's award has to be posthumous. We lost a lot when we lost that guy.

You get a lot of really stupid messages when you have a blog like this one. Here's one from someone who signs himself "Yoda Bear," and it wouldn't surprise me if that's his real name…

I saw the YouTube clip of that convention panel where you pretended to phone Chuck McCann, the voice of the Cocoa Puffs bird. How stupid were the people at that convention? I recognized the voice you had on the end as a RECORDING of an old Cocoa Puffs commercial. Did they not realize you'd just set up an accomplice with a tape? No wonder you believe Barack Obama's b.s. You must think some people are so stupid they'll believe anything. Sadly, you may be right.

I was amazed how many people at that convention asked me afterwards if that was really Chuck McCann on the phone. Yes, it was really Chuck McCann on the phone. If anyone would like to bet that it wasn't, I'll take all bets up to one million dollars…and we can settle it on Saturday, July 26 at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. At 12:30 PM in room 6CDEF, I'll be co-hosting a panel of Cartoon Voice Artists and one of them will be — in person! — Chuck McCann. I'm sure Chuck will be glad to verify that it was him, live on the phone that evening. Put your money where your mouth is, as they say.

(That panel will also feature Jason Marsden, Wally Wingert, Alicyn Packard, Phil LaMarr and one other person I'm waiting to hear from. There will also be a panel on Sunday with six other voice actors, plus my friend Earl Kress and I are hosting a panel on the business side of doing cartoon voices — how to break in, how to prepare a demo, how to get an agent, etc. That's also on Sunday. The whole schedule should be available in a day or three.)

DNA tests have cleared John and Patsy Ramsey in the 1996 murder of their daughter, JonBenét. I seem to remember an awful lot of weblog postings and cable news programs and even tabloid newspapers that called it an open/shut case that they'd killed their kid, and that it was obvious to anyone with an I.Q. over about 60. I'm sure we're about to see a slew of apologies and retractions and maybe even some folks admitting that they were too hasty to pass judgment.

Congress has voted to immunize telecoms for alleged illegal lawbreaking, terminate lawsuits against them for doing this, and pretty much bless any darn eavesdropping that the Bush administration wants to do on anyone without warrants or following the FISA provisions for warrants. Glenn Greenwald is as annoyed as I am, not so much at the Republicans but at Democrats, Mr. Obama included.

This was sold as — and reported in the press as — a "compromise proposal." But in a compromise, both sides give up something and regret some aspect of the agreement. A number of Democrats regret things in it but I don't see any Republicans unhappy at even a semi-colon in the bill. This kind of thing wouldn't happen if the Democrats had a majority in either the House or the Senate.

I could to some extent buy the argument that the telecoms should not be punished for doing what their government asked them to do. What I don't like is the precedent/principle that there is apparently no such thing as illegal surveillance any longer. I would like to see the following question put to those who supported this bill: "Give me a few hypothetical but possible scenarios for instances of government eavesdropping where you would say, 'Someone ought to go to prison for this.'"

If they can't name a couple then the Fourth Amendment is kinda meaningless, isn't it? And if they can name some, then the question is how we would ever know if they were occurring and how would we prosecute in an environment when the administration (any administration) could just say, "This is necessary for the War on Terror?"

I get deluged with samples of "small press" comics. I came back from Minnesota with a dozen and that wasn't even a comic book convention. They go into a couple of "read when I get the time" boxes here which, I'm ashamed to admit, probably have well over 500 books that may not get read in this or the next decade. If you have something in those boxes, please accept my apologies for not being able to deal better with the pile. It's my loss, I know, because there's obviously some pretty good stuff in there.

One "small press" guy whose work I've read and enjoyed is a fellow named Ryan Claytor, who does mostly autobiographical comics that are skilled and far from self-indulgent. Ryan is about to embark on a cross-country trip to sign and promote his work and if he comes near you, go see him and buy something.

He's also moving from California to Michigan for reasons that I gather are romantic in nature. I figure he'll either get a great relationship out of it or another great autobiographical comic…maybe, if he's lucky, both.