I don't necessarily agree with Matt Taibbi about the current economic crisis. But I think his article is worth reading and thinking about.

…on my back porch. The wet footprints are because they were in my pool.

I chased 'em away and took in the food. I think I'm going to stop feeding feral cats out there after dark.

Quick reminder: If you're at your computer between 4 and 6 PM Pacific this afternoon (7 and 9 PM Eastern), you'll enjoy the heck out of Stu's Show with his guest, Jack Riley. Details here.

Blazing Combat was a black-and-white comic magazine published from 1965 to 1966 by Warren Publishing. Crafted consciously in the mode of Harvey Kurtzman's classic EC war comics — and even employing as many of the same artists as they could get — Blazing Combat was largely the creation of editor-writer Archie Goodwin, one of the great talents of his generation. Still, despite his excellent scripts, covers by Frank Frazetta and interior artwork by the likes of John Severin, Reed Crandall, Wally Wood, Alex Toth, Russ Heath and others of that standard, it didn't sell. Four issues and out.

Publisher James Warren blamed the failure largely on reaction to its brief Vietnam content, especially a story in the second issue which suggested that some U.S. forces were killing civilians Over There. That kind of thing, Warren said, caused the magazine to disappear from stores on military bases and also triggered complaints and pressure from the American Legion and similar groups. A few years later, I don't think there would have been quite the outrage but in '65, one did not dare suggest that the American effort was anything but humane, honorable and certain to result in unqualified victory.

It was a shame that Blazing Combat didn't continue because Goodwin presented memorable, unidealized tales of men throughout many wars, weaving separate tales into overall themes of humanity. The stories he concurrently did for Warren in Creepy and (soon) Eerie also had some of that in the context of ghosts and werewolves and vampires. It just meant so much more in the context of stark reality.

Happily, Fantagraphics Books has now issued the complete contents of Blazing Combat (minus the four Frazetta covers, though two are used in part as end papers) in a handsome hardcover which I highly recommend. The pages are a bit smaller than the original editions but the material is barely diminished by this. It's well-reproduced and very pleasant to read in this format. I flipped through my copy and intended to only read the interviews with Warren and Goodwin, conducted by Mike Catron, who has done a fine job preserving and promoting this work. But the mention of one story in an interview prompted me to read that tale…and then I read the story after it and the one after it, and wound up reading the whole splendid book, enjoying them all again.

Now, here I'd usually post an Amazon link to the book so you could go and order it. But at this moment, Amazon doesn't have the book and isn't even taking advance orders for it. So I'll alert you when you can get a copy…because it has been printed. I got mine and I'm glad to have it.

Good to hear that Stacy Keach is well enough to return to his Nixonian starring role in the national touring company of Frost/Nixon. The actor has a series of minor strokes recently and missed a number of performances, but will soon be back on stage, lying and undermining democracy.

I was recently voted into a rather elite group — a club of comedians and comedy writers, mostly veterans in their field, called Yarmy's Army. Founded by the late Don Adams in honor of his brother, Dick Yarmy (Don's real name was Don Yarmy), Yarmy's Army is a place where folks in the business of funny sit around and tell stories and provide general support for one another and select charities. One of its distinguished members is the guest this Wednesday on Stu's Show, the show biz interview program hosted by Stu Shostak on his very own web-based station, Shokus Internet Radio.

He's Jack Riley, a very talented gent. You have to be talented to steal The Bob Newhart Show from Bob Newhart.

My old comrade Lorenzo Music was one of the creators of the show and I asked him once if they conjured up the role of Elliott Carlin and then cast Riley to fill it…or if they looked at Riley, realized how funny he could be playing self-obsessed, paranoid and belligerent, and concocted Carlin to make use of all that. "A little of each," was Lorenzo's reply. I thought Riley was the funniest thing on what would even have been a funny show without him. But then Jack's funny everywhere…on cartoon shows like Rugrats, in movies (including most Mel Brooks films) and on many, many other TV programs, including Mr. Leno's.

Stu's interviewing him tomorrow. I think this is going to be such a good show that I've decided to tag along and be in the studio for the live telecast. Listen to it. Call in if you get a chance. I guarantee you a fine time.

Now, very important: This is not a podcast. You can't download it and listen to it whenever you want. You have to "tune in" when it's on…which in this case is from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM to 9 PM Eastern. Stu's Show is done live on Wednesday and that's the best time to listen because, among other reasons, you can call in and ask questions. You can hear the show on your own computer by going to the website of Shokus Internet Radio at the appointed hour and clicking where you're told to click. The show reruns on other days, usually in the same time slot. Check out the site for a full schedule…and while you're there, take note of some of the other fine, free programming.

So here's where we are with the mystery of Lionel Ziprin, who claimed to have written war comics for Dell Comics in the late forties and fifties that sold in the millions and paid him $10 a page.

A few of you wrote in to suggest Mr. Ziprin was talking about Dell Comics of the World War II years like USA is Ready (1941), War Comics (1940), War Heroes (1942), War Ships (1942) and War Stories (1942). I don't think these are what he was talking about. They didn't come out in the late forties and the fifties, they didn't cover all different wars, they didn't sell in the millions and they certainly didn't pay $10 a page for scripts. Also, Ziprin said he wrote movie adaptations, and Dell published very few movie adaptations until the mid-fifties.

A lot of you wrote in to suggest he wrote Dell Comics of the mid-sixties like Air War Stories (1964), Combat (1961), Guerilla War (1965), Jungle War Stories (1962) and World War Stories (1965). Again, these books don't fit the timeline, they didn't sell anywhere near "millions" and they didn't pay $10 a page for script. They were also, according to most sources including Paul S. Newman, largely written by Paul S. Newman. There weren't all that many published, either. On the other hand, Dell in that same period did do a lot of movie adaptations…and did employ some writers who have never been identified.

So if Ziprin said he wrote for Dell "through the late forties and into the fifties," might he have meant 1961-1965? Possible. One of the challenges one faces when one tries to dope all this stuff out is that people err, people exaggerate…and sometimes, they just plain lie. It would not be at all unprecedented if Mr. Ziprin inflated the amount of money he was paid, though it would be a little odd, given that he was simultaneously complaining about having to sign away his rights to the work and not receive credit. Usually if you're bitching about how poorly you were treated in a job, you understate the pay. (Dell in the sixties probably paid everyone around $5 a page for script…or less. For a time, Don Segall was their star writer and he got $5 a page.)

It would also not shock me if he or anyone overestimated sales…in this case, by at least 400%. The date error seems less likely to me…but then again, we don't have a direct quote from Ziprin that the work in question was done in the "late forties and into the fifties." Someone else wrote that and maybe that person got it wrong. I'm correcting stuff like that all the time in obits about comic book people.

So that's as far as I can take it, I think. The only other "lead" would be for someone to call Sam Glanzman, who drew many of those war comics for Dell in the 1961-1965 period and see if the name "Lionel Ziprin" triggers any recollection. Anyone in touch with Sam these days?

The plunging economy has harmed a lot of industries…but not Broadway.