Category Archives: To Be Filed

In case you're just joining us: Where ya been? You'll want to catch up by reading Part 1 and then Part 2 and if you get that far, you might as well read Part 3. We resume at the Ray Bradbury-Julius Schwartz panel at the 2002 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California…

So I'm on stage with Ray and Julie. Al Feldstein, who Julie did not want on stage, is in the third row. My job? Get him up there with us, at least for a few minutes so the audience can witness the first-ever meeting of Ray with Al, the man who so lovingly adapted his work for EC Comics. Here is how Al would describe in a later interview, that event and the circumstances that led up to it…

So I called my contact in San Diego and I said, you know I adapted these stories, we've never met and I'd be interested in speaking at the panel, and he said, "No, I don't think that Schwartz will allow that but I'll think about it," and I get a call back from Mark Evanier and he says, "I am hosting that panel," and he says, "Get into the audience and we'll see what we can do." (laughter) So I'm sitting in the audience and Bradbury comes hobbling up with a walker and oh God he's gotten so old, 'cause I remember when he was young, and Evanier steered the conversation into the comics and into EC's adaptations, and asked Bradbury, did he ever meet the guy who did them all, and of course Bradbury said no. And so he called me up and well, I was so touched that I cried, I really couldn't help it, tears came to my eyes. And we embraced, and he was very sweet…

When I started writing this account, I did not have a recording or transcript of the event and didn't know if one existed so I was going to paraphrase from memory. I still don't know about a recording but a friend of mine named James Van Hise wrote last night to say he had a typed transcript and that's the reason this last part wasn't up sooner. I was waiting to get that text from him, and now that I have it, what follows is not a paraphrase.  Here I am, as Al would note, steering the conversation into comics…

ME: Ray, you were an attendee at one of the very first San Diego conventions, and at that point they had 300 or 400 people at the whole convention. Coming back here now, how do you feel seeing this convention all filled with science-fiction and comic book fans, people who are like your children; your offspring, inspired by your works?

RAY BRADBURY: It's wonderful, but I want to explain why I'm here to begin with. When I was nine years old, Buck Rogers came into the world. October, 1929. I was immediately in love with that comic strip and I started to collect it every day of my life for three months. I stopped collecting that because the kids in the fifth grade made fun of me. That was 1929, the beginning of the Depression. I listened to these kids and I tore up the comic strips. It's the worst thing I ever did because three days later I broke into tears and I said to myself, why I am crying? Who died? And the answer was me. I killed myself. I'd torn up the future. I listened to these stupid people. So I said, how do I cure this? I went back and collected Buck Rogers strips for the next seven years, every day, and never listened to one more stupid sonofabitch after that. And that's why I'm here. I collected Prince Valiant and all the various comic strips, and Tarzan drawn by Harold Foster in 1932. Incredible work. And when I published my first book in 1947, I sent a copy of the book to Harold Foster with a note saying, "You're one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, and I love your work and I love you." He sent me back two incredibly huge original Prince Valiant comic strips, which I still have at home. They're priceless! And I stayed in touch with Harold Foster to the end of his life twenty years ago. So you see, I'm a dedicated collector and I know what I'm looking at. And when I came to this group here, thirty odd years ago, I didn't realize it was going to grow so big. There were very few people here thirty years ago, and the exhibits were very poor. Very fragmentary. But now you've got this amazing display downstairs. I've been here two years, and I can't believe what's happened. So I'm very happy for all of us, and we're going to be here today, and we're all going to be crazy together.

ME: Now a lot of people probably first saw your work when they saw the EC Comics. I know you're told this story before, but I'd like to hear it again. How did they wind up adapting your stories into their science-fiction comics?

BRADBURY: They stole them. Like the Russians. The Russians steal everything. The Russians have been stealing my books for fifty years and I haven't gotten one ruble for it. They laugh about it. Well, the same thing happened with EC Comics. A friend of mine told me, "They're adapting your stories in the comic magazines but they're not giving you credit." And I didn't believe this person, but I finally looked up the magazines, and I was outraged. I said, "My God! This is incredible!" What am I going to do about it? Should I write them a nasty letter? And I said, no, what would Jesus do? Well, Jesus would have turned the other cheek. So I'll write a turn the other cheek letter to EC Comics and congratulate them on their brilliant adaptation, and their wonderful drawings, and what have you. And at the end of my letter I said, incidentally, you're very busy, but you forgot to send me an adaptation check. And the next week I received an adaptation check in the mail.

As Ray is telling this tale, I have a chilling thought.  He is predictable by being predictable in his unpredictability. He is, after all, a man who likes to shock his readers a little, occasionally leading them this way and then shoving them that way. What if I move the discussion even closer to Al Feldstein and the following happens?

ME: So…what did you think of those adaptations that EC did of your stories? And did you ever meet the man who wrote and edited those comics, Al Feldstein?

RAY: Well, I used to say all the time that I liked them and I guess I did at one point. But over the last few years, I've had the occasion to read some of them again and I don't know what I was thinking. They crammed my stories into these little seven-page holes and left out the guts and…well, no. I never met this Al Feldstein but if I ever do, I'll probably punch his lights out or something.

Well, that would certainly make for a memorable panel.  Fortunately, the above is not how it goes.  How it really goes is like this…

ME: But you liked the job they did adapting them.

BRADBURY: There was some wonderful work.  Krigstein did some great stuff.  Elder.  Williamson.

ME: The editor who adapted all these was a man named Al Feldstein, who adapted your stories and crammed them into these tiny spaces.  How many times did you consult him or meet with him to do this?

BRADBURY: Never.  After the first few adaptations I knew they weren't going to change the stories.  They were going to use my words and they would be faithful.  So I never met him.

ME: So you never met Al Feldstein?

BRADBURY: Never.

ME: I think it's about time that happened.  Ladies and gentlemen, the genius behind EC Comics, Mr. Al Feldstein!

Al Feldstein sprints to the stage — and I mean sprints.  The audience erupts in applause and excitement, and everyone in the hall is thrilled.  Everyone, that is, but a man named Julius Schwartz who is staring stilettos at me.  At that moment, he does not like me a whole lot.  Al settles into the extra chair I had them put onstage…and of course I realize Julie is going to take the presence of that chair as prima facie evidence that this was not a spur-o'-the-moment summoning to the stage of Feldstein, who just "happens" to be in the third row.  That will be the proof I planned the whole thing. Which, of course, I did.

But I'll worry about that later.  Right now, Al Feldstein is about to speak…and you need to know this about Al: He is not the warmest, friendliest guy in the world.  Or at least when he was editing MAD, he had something of the opposite rep.  He was All Business, doing much of his work behind the only closed door in the office.  Everywhere else in the place, doors were open, jokes were told and it was like an ongoing party that somehow managed to accidentally put out this silly magazine every six weeks.  Feldstein didn't socialize much and he told interviewers he was a mercenary who just did what he did for the paycheck.  I am thus a bit surprised but not at all displeased by what he says when he sits down next to me…

ME: Al, I hope you brought a check.

AL FELDSTEIN: I have to tell you a story. We didn't really adapt his stuff without paying him. At least I didn't know about it. You have to understand how we worked, Bill Gaines and I. Bill Gaines was taking Dexedrine pills to lose weight, only he used to take them at night before dinner, so he was up all night wired. And he used to read, and he'd read things, and we used to have story ideas four times a week, and he brought in some story ideas, and I said those two combined would be great, and that's the two stories into one that I wrote as an original story that he caught me with. And it was the start, I want to tell you Ray, of the most inspiring period of my life…

At about this point, Al begins crying.  Actual tears.

AL FELDSTEIN: To have the privilege to take this guy's work, which was spectacular, and adapt it into the comic format, and try to be faithful to it, all of it, because every word is precious. It was a great pleasure and also a great tutorial for me as a writer. And I was really just a part-time writer. I wasn't really a professional writer. I was an artist, and you're an inspiration to me as an artist, because the way you wrote. You wrote like a painting. You took words that were colors and phrases that were brushstrokes, and you painted a visual picture that everyone in their own minds saw. The limitation to your stuff was that I'd give it to an artist and they would delineate the image that I think was a detriment, in a way, but it was the first virtual reality for comics. This guy was writing virtual reality!

By the time he's halfway through, Al isn't the only one on stage crying.  Ray Bradbury is, as well.  He can tell, and it's obvious to all, that Al is not a demonstrative man.  This is not easy for him but it's something he feels he has to do. In later years as I get to know Al better, I will discover what a lovely, sensitive human being he is…and a contrast like that with his old reputation doesn't mean that the old rep was misreported.

Some people get nicer as they get older, especially when they stop being The Boss. Julius Schwartz got nicer as he got older and a lot nicer once he was no longer the senior editor at his company…

Though as I'm sitting on that stage, I'm thinking he wants to strangle me for double-crossing him and bringing Al Feldstein into the Ray Bradbury/Julius Schwartz Panel over his objections. I'm thinking he'll never speak to me again…or worse, he'll speak to me constantly to tell me how I betrayed him.

But then again, maybe not…

Because as I look over at him, I see Julie remove his glasses to wipe his eyes. They're damp. So up there on that stage, we've got Al crying and Ray crying and now Julie's crying and I suddenly feel something moist on my cheek.

This could go on but I decide if we do, it'll be sheer anti-climax and it will indeed become the Bradbury/Feldstein Panel and Julie will indeed throttle me. So I wrap it up and Al and Ray hug and after Al exits, Ray whispers a pronounced "Thank you" in my direction and we start talking about him and Julie. The rest of the panel — Julie and Ray swapping anecdotes — is pure gold and I am so utterly unnecessary that I actually leave before it's over. The convention, forgetting that I can't be in two places at the same time, has me moderating another panel across the hall then and I regret not being able to hear Ray and Julie through to the end. On the other hand, I'm still not sure Julie doesn't want to slap me silly so perhaps an early exit is prudent. He will later say to me, "You shouldn't have done it. But I'm glad you did" and we will be even closer friends than before.

So will Al Feldstein and Ray Bradbury for the years Ray has left. They spend more time together at the con and subsequently there are other meetings, other chances to discuss their glorious remote collaborations as well as, I'm sure, other topics. These men were two heroes of mine and it's great that the two of them got together.

Any one of you could have and probably would have engineered that first meeting if you'd been the moderator of that panel. That's why I don't deserve any special credit and I didn't tell you this long story to try and get any. I told it because it's one of my favorite memories of Ray, of Julie, of Al (Al's still with us, happily) and of Comic-Con, and I often relive great moments by sharing them with others. That's kind of what great moments are there for.

Gilbert Gets It. Just what it is he gets, I don't get. But he gets it, whatever it is. Let's see if we can figure out together what Gilbert gets…

Hard to believe but it's less than four weeks until this year's gala Comic-Con International in San Diego. Please do not write and ask me if I can get you into the convention because unlike the Obama administration, I hate disappointing people.

I will be running my usual roster of panels and events, and the whole schedule of programming will be up before long. (Hint: Quick Draw! and my two Cartoon Voice panels will be in the same time slots and rooms they were in last year…and our Guest Cartoonist this year for Quick Draw! will be this very funny guy.)

On Saturday afternoon of the con (that's July 14), I will be co-hosting a star-studded Ray Bradbury Tribute at 5 PM. If there's one event you won't want to miss at the convention, this is it. Watch this page for more details…but don't wait for the details. Plan on being there for this one.

I don't write much on my iPad but if I did, I don't think I'd try this app which forces a writer to keep writing or face severe consequences. For one thing, it confuses writing with typing. Typing is easy. Writing something you want the world to see with your name affixed…that's the occasional hurdle.

Number two hundred and fifty-eight in a series…

Noel Murray thinks trailers are ruining movies. I think so, too. There are movies I feel like I've seen even though I haven't seen them.

Ed Kilgore explains why everything Mitt Romney is promising to do to fix Health Care in this country is moonshine. It's the illusion of making things better while, in fact, making them worse.

Five minutes of Johnny with Buddy Hackett…

As several folks have informed me, there's a new way to get into Comic-Con: Go on The Price is Right. On yesterday's show, the second showcase included a laptop computer, a subscription to read digital Marvel Comics on that computer, two tickets to Comic-Con in San Diego (including Preview Night), limo service to the con from Los Angeles and four nights in a hotel in the Gaslamp District. Oh, yeah…and there was also a new car. What would a Price is Right showcase be without a new car or two?

There does not seem to be an excerpt online but CBS does have the entire hour-long show on its site. If you want to sit through a lot of online commercials, you can watch it here but it isn't particularly a memorable episode or segment.

So…wanna guess the price? The showcase includes a one-year subscription to Marvel's digital service, a MacBook Pro with a 15" screen, two tickets to Comic-Con, a limo ride from L.A. to the con and four nights in a "luxury hotel" near the convention center. Oh, yeah…and I keep forgetting the car, which is a 2013 Hyundai Sonata GLS. What do you bid? The winner is the person who comes closest to the actual retail price, rounded off to the nearest dollar, without going over.

When you're ready, clicking this link should give you the answer. (more…)

For the first part of this story, click here.  For the second part of this story, click here.  If you're up to speed, proceed to the next paragraph — and I warn you: I'm not going to finish this time.

It was 2002 and the big Comic-Con International was soon to occur in San Diego.  I had been drafted into service as the wholly unnecessary moderator of a panel with Ray Bradbury and his first agent, Julius Schwartz.  This was obviously a fine idea for a panel in and of itself but the reason it was arranged was because Julie, God love him, was looking for a way to convince the convention organizers that they should agree to pay to bring him out to the convention.  And agree they did.

So two weeks before the con (he says, subtly shifting tenses), I get a call from one of those organizers.  I'm not certain which one but I'm thinking it was Gary Sassaman.  That con has a lot of organizers.  Whoever it was, he reminds me that Al Feldstein is a Guest of Honor that year, which I know because I'm already hosting two or more panels on which Al is appearing —

— and really looking forward to them.  I have a lot of heroes in comics and Al Feldstein is high on the list.  He'd be up there just for his stewardship of MAD magazine for 29 years.  Those included the year I discovered it and it had a profound impact, wholly for the better, on this sense of humor that I've somehow been able to parlay into not just a career but an approach to life.  That Feldstein also wrote and edited some of the best comics ever for EC has always been kind of a bonus reason for me to admire the guy.

"Al called," the person who may have been Gary Sassaman says.  "He never met Ray Bradbury and was wondering if he could crash the panel you're hosting with Ray and Julie."

The first-ever meeting between Bradbury and the man who adapted his work for EC Comics? Sounds like a great idea to me but it doesn't sound like one to Julie when I run it by him.  "This is a panel about Ray and me," he says.  "Not Ray and Al Feldstein.  If you want to do a panel about them, talk to Ray and see if he'll do a separate panel with Al."  But of course when he says this, Julie knows full well that Bradbury will only do one program event each year…and the following year, Al Feldstein won't be a Guest of Honor at the con.

I can make the case for Julie's viewpoint: He did arrange this event and he arranged it as the two of them.  Julie's role in Ray's early career has gone somewhat unheralded and I assume (correctly, I later learn) that one of Ray's reasons for doing the joint appearance is that he wants to shine some light on his friend that way.  It's also going to be the biggest event Julie has ever done at the con.  Ordinarily, he's on panels where the audience is in the hundreds.  This time because of Ray, the crowd will be in the thousands.  When Julie starts lobbying the con to make him a Guest in 2003, which he will do, it won't hurt to point out that he was half of one of the most important, well-attended panels of '02. Add Feldstein into it and Julie could easily become an extra at an event in which he was supposed to co-star.

But I also think this: Ray Bradbury and Al Feldstein finally meeting is a historic moment…and it will happen.  It will happen at that convention, somewhere.  If it's not on a panel in front of an audience, I will drag Al over and introduce him to Ray in the dealer's room or in the professional lounge or at adjacent urinals in the men's room or somewhere.  It would be nice if I wasn't the only witness to this event and if it wasn't in the men's room.

The next thing that happens is that I speak with Al.  In his account of the panel which I will quote here before we're done, he recalls that I phoned him and said, "I'm hosting the panel."  I recall him calling me and saying, "I hear you're hosting the panel."  Whatever the sequence of events, I tell him to come to the panel and sit in the front row or as close as he can get.  I will find an opening to bring him up on stage no matter what Julie wants. I then coordinate with the con's Programming Director — who at the time was, I'm sure, Gary Sassaman — and the schedule is slightly rearranged. Al Feldstein has a panel of his own that day showing off the fine work he's been doing in retirement as a painter and it was opposite the Bradbury-Schwartz coffee klatsch. It is moved to later in the day so as to not conflict.

So now it's Saturday, August 3, fifteen minutes or so before the panel.  Julie comes up to me and suggests that we start the panel with just him and me on stage.  The idea is that I will introduce him first since Ray is, as Julie readily agrees, the bigger celebrity.  That's the way to do it but Julie wants Ray to then make an entrance and this I am against.  Ray is walking poorly, being wheelchaired around the con, and there is no wheelchair lift for the stage. Instead, there are stairs he will have to ascend using a walker. Since there's no curtain there, he's going to have to do that in full view of the audience with people assisting him.  Better to have that sad awkwardness before the panel starts when the audience won't be paying as much attention…and applauding.

Julie says, "If he doesn't make an entrance, he won't get a standing ovation.  Ray deserves a standing ovation."

I say, "I absolutely agree he deserves a standing ovation.  He will get a standing ovation."

Julie says, "Not if he's already on stage.  He needs to make an entrance for that to happen."

I assure Julie — nay, I promise him — that even though the panel will start with Ray Bradbury already seated on stage, he will receive a standing ovation when I introduce him.

Someone wheels Ray to the edge of the stage and he climbs the stairs holding onto bannisters on either side and then uses a walker to get to his chair.  It takes a while and I'm glad we are not trying to do this after the panel starts and all eyes are on him.  A minute or two before the start time, Ray is comfortably seated between Julie and me.  That's when Julie comes over and whispers, "This was a mistake.  The audience is not going to give him a standing ovation now."

I offer to bet Julie $25,000 that the audience will give Ray Bradbury a standing ovation.  Julie mutters something about how he hopes I know what I'm doing and returns to his seat.

The panel begins with me introducing myself as quickly as I can.  I then introduce Julie and take a few moments to recount his immense contributions to the worlds of comic books and science-fiction.  He receives a very nice round of applause from somewhere between 4000 and 5000 people who have come to this event.

Then I yell out — and I did this in actual italicized capital letters — "AND WOULD YOU SHOW YOUR LOVE FOR THE BEST DAMN WRITER OF SCIENCE-FICTION AND FANTASY THE BUSINESS HAS EVER SEEN, MR. RAY BRADBURY!"  Before I even get near the "MR.", those four to five thousand people are on their feet, cheering and clapping and stomping and just plain loving Mr. Ray Bradbury. The ovation is so thunderous that videogame companies exhibiting in the hall downstairs call to complain about the noise.

You want to know why I host so many panels at conventions, folks?  It's so that every so often, I can feel like I made something like that happen. They would have leaped up for him anyway but I got to feel like I'd given Ray a little gift.  It's a real thrill and as an added attraction, I can look over at Julie with a stare in my direction for which he should have paid royalties to the Jack Benny Estate.  It's one of those "Okay, so I was wrong" looks that us writers love to get from editors.

As the applause is dying out and the crowd is settling back down into its seats, I look out and see Al Feldstein in the third row, sitting down in unison with everyone else.  And I think, "Y'know, if I ever have something called a 'blog' and I ever tell this story on it, this would be a good time to leave everyone with a cliffhanger and tell them they'll have to come back tomorrow to read the conclusion."

Click here to jump to the conclusion of this story.

Number two hundred and fifty-seven in a series…

Southwest is that rarest of airlines these days: The kind making money. This article mentions some of the reasons and I'll mention three more…

1. They seem to go the right places at the right time. Well, at least they do for me. I fly Southwest about 80% of the time when I fly. I rarely find a case where another carrier has a flight leaving at a time that would be better for me. The only time that's happened in a while was my recent trip to and from Indianapolis. When I'd flown there in the past on business, I took Southwest because their flights left and arrived at times that would work for me. They've now discontinued those particular flights but as it turns out, and this is perhaps not a coincidence, Delta added flights at those exact same times.
2. There's just a friendliness about Southwest. The people who work there seem happy to be working there…and not so beleaguered doing half a hundred things that they don't have time to answer a question.
3. This is like the second one but not quite. When things go wrong, as happens with any airline, I've always found it easy to find an appropriate Southwest employee to assist me. I have a couple of horror stories about an airline that will remain nameless (it was United) that seemed to think, "Hey, we can save money by not having any employees who can help folks with problems."

So there's three reasons they're doing so well. A fourth might be that there's bucks to be made if when I fly anywhere, my suitcase isn't put on the same plane as me. I don't know how this can be so lucrative for them but it must be, given how often they do it.

Former Republican state party official Michael Stafford on why he can no longer be a member of that party.

This is not the next chapter of the Ray Bradbury/Julius Schwartz/Al Feldstein story. That'll be along later tonight…or maybe some time tomorrow, the rate I'm going. But a lot of people have written in either to ask who all those folks are in the photo I posted with the second installment or to tell me. So let's go over them, shall we?

We'll start with the back row. The woman on the left is apparently (there's some question) Myrtle R. Douglas, described by Forrest J Ackerman as his "significant other" of the time. She was a science-fiction fan Forry had met while studying Esperanto and she made the futuristic costume he wore to portions of the event where this photo was taken — the first World Science-Fiction Convention.

Next over is Julius Schwartz, who was one of the organizers of the convention and at the time, a partner in the Solar Sales Service Literary Agency — the only agency to specialize in science-fiction stories. He would later become an editor for DC Comics for around four decades and a lot of great comics.

To the right of Julie is Otto Binder, then an up-and-coming writer for the s-f pulps who had just begun writing for comic books. He would soon become the main writer for the original Captain Marvel and (later) one of the main Superman writers.

Next over is Mort Weisinger, who had been Julie Schwartz's partner in founding the Solar Sales Service agency…and before that, in publishing the first s-f fanzine. By the time of this photo, I believe Weisinger had turned the agency over to Schwartz and become an editor for Standard Magazines, publishers of several of the top pulp magazines. Like his partner, Weisinger would later become a longtime editor for DC Comics, primarily on the Superman titles.

On the far right is Jack Darrow, an active contributor to s-f fanzines.

Second row, first position we have Forrest J Ackerman, who's probably best known today as the founder-editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. Forry was a rabid collector of s-f and horror movie material, an expert on those topics and to many, an avuncular figure at conventions and throughout fandom.

Next over is Ross Rocklynne, a popular science-fiction author of the day and a Guest of Honor at the convention.

Then we have Charles D. Hornig, who was the publisher of Fantasy Fan, one of the earliest s-f fanzines.

…and then we have Ray Bradbury. No further identification needed.

Thanks to Buddy Lortie, Anthony LeBlanc, Steve Thompson and I think someone else who sent in info on these folks. There's a lot of history there for one photo.

Here's a press release that went out today.  I think we done good…

Frank Doyle, Steve Skeates to Receive Bill Finger Award

SAN DIEGO – Frank Doyle and Steve Skeates have been selected to receive the 2012 Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. The choice, made by a blue-ribbon committee chaired by writer-historian Mark Evanier, was unanimous.

The Bill Finger Award was instituted in 2005 at the instigation of comic book legend Jerry Robinson. Each year, the awards committee selects two recipients, one living and one deceased.

"There have been way too many writers in this industry who have not received their rightful reward and/or recognition," Evanier explains. "The idea Jerry had was that this award could at least supply a little of that recognition for folks who have, like the man for which it is named, an impressive body of work. Frank Doyle, with his thousands of uncredited scripts for Archie is a perfect example. So is Steve Skeates, who wrote some of the brightest, cleverest scripts in comics in the late sixties and early seventies."

Frank Doyle started in comics as an artist, drawing for Fiction House and other companies before deciding that his true calling was as a writer. He began writing for Archie Comics in 1951 and soon became their most prolific writer, handling not only Archie, Betty and Veronica, Jughead, and other Riverdale titles but also the She's Josie comic, "That Wilkin Boy," and just about every other funny strip the company published. Archie editor Victor Gorelick recalls, "Frank wrote a story every day and on Monday, he'd usually hand in a two-parter he wrote over the weekend." An exact tally is impossible, but everyone familiar with Doyle's output agrees he authored more than 10,000 stories for the firm before his passing in 1996.

Steve Skeates began his comic book career as an assistant to Stan Lee (his replacement when he left was Roy Thomas) and then wrote westerns for Marvel, numerous scripts for Tower's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Undersea Agent. For Charlton he worked on, among others, The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves, Thane of Bagarth, Kid Montana, Abbott and Costello, and Sarge Steel. At DC, he handled Aquaman, The Hawk and the Dove, and numerous stories for House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Supergirl, and Plop, among others. He also worked for Warren, Gold Key, Atlas, and Red Circle Comics.

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, book publisher), comic book writer Kurt Busiek, artist-historian Jim Amash, and writer/editor Marv Wolfman.

The 2012 awards are being underwritten by DC Comics (the major sponsor), along with supporting sponsors Maggie Thompson and Heritage Auctions.

The Finger Award falls under the auspices of Comic-Con International: San Diego and is administered by Jackie Estrada. The awards will be presented during the Eisner Awards ceremony at this summer's Comic-Con on Friday, July 13.

Additional information on the Finger Award can be found at http://comic-con.org/cci/cci_finger.php