Over at Comic Book Resources, author Chris Knowles has been ringmastering a debate or discussion or some sort of inquiry as to whether the Superman pose on the cover of Action Comics #1 (seen above right) was derived, copied or inspired by the painting of Hercules, "Heracles and the Hydra," painted in the year 1475 by Antonio Del Pollaiolo. See here and here for such discussions. Several folks, including Chris, have asked me to weigh in so I'll weigh in…

Of course not.

There. I've weighed in. Really, I think this one is three notches below Ridiculous on the Absurdity Scale. The overwhelming number of those who've voted in the site's online poll agree. As of this moment, 952 votes have been cast and 750 feel as I do, that the poses are way too different to indicate any connection and that there's no "there" there. Of the rest, 149 think it's an "homage," which I guess means that it was inspired but not copied, and only 53 think it was copied. I don't know what those 53 are looking at. I'm sure Joe Shuster was inspired by all kinds of heroic figures he'd glimpsed but so is every artist who draws anything. I'd hate to think how many drawings have been done that were copied from the cover of Action #1. I'll bet more artists in history have imitated Shuster's composition than Del Pollaiolo's.

My body and brain seem to be creeping back towards Pacific Time from opposite sides. Still, I don't think I'll be truly home from my trip until that crate of dirty laundry I shipped back to myself arrives and is laundered and in the dresser.

Two weeks is a long time to be away…for me, at least. It makes you appreciate things like sleeping in your own bed (or, at least, one that isn't in the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan) or eating in some local restaurant. In another day or so, I suppose those feelings of reconnection will stop.

During the two weeks, two topics kept presenting themselves with the people I encountered. One, since many old acquaintances hadn't seen me in quite a while, was my big weight loss. The other, of course, was the Writers Guild Strike. I answered an awful lot of questions about both. (In Third Place was, "Hey, when is that book of yours about Jack Kirby coming out?" Answer: Late February.)

To many people, I was 100-120 pounds lighter than when they'd seen me last. (My weight still fluctuates a lot over about a ten pound spread. This morning, I was five pounds below the last time I weighed myself, which was the day I left on the trip.) I'm still amazed and amused at some of the reactions, which range from total non-recognition of me to just plain not noticing anything odd. Most interesting are the delayed double-takes. The person is talking to me for two or three minutes and then they slowly notice something is different.

I usually wind up explaining about Gastric Bypass Surgery — I've now got the basic shpiel down to under a minute — and saying that I've had almost no complications — or at least, I've had fewer physical problems than if I was still carrying all that weight around. I also usually have to listen to the other person tell me about someone they know who had similar surgery and experienced all kinds of troubles and side effects. I'm not sure if these stories should make me feel lucky or worried.

Regarding the strike, people usually seem fuzzy on whether I'm writing anything at all ("You don't have to stop posting on your blog, do you?") or just what it means. The explanation is that the WGA is on strike against just the enterprises it covers, which is the writing of motion pictures and TV shows and some animation. I'm still writing comic books and weblogs and magazine articles (I have another, shorter one coming up about the strike in The New Republic) and even a cartoon show not yet covered by the Writers Guild.

I seem to have lost a screenplay deal that would have been nice. Back when the 1988 strike hit, I was writing a script on assignment for one of the major studios — a project I really liked and which I still think would have been produced had it not been for that strike. I quite willingly stopped all work on it for the duration of our long, long work stoppage…and then when the strike was resolved, I finished it up and handed it in. Alas, by that point, every single person at the studio who'd been involved in hiring me had left that studio. I turned it in and I got paid…but I turned it in to people who hadn't championed the project, hadn't even known what it was. It is very rare in this business that someone who's involved in Development (the buying and nurturing of scripts) runs with the projects initiated by their predecessors. After all, they get hired to replace someone, not to pick up exactly where that person left off. My script was pretty much D.O.A.

This time, I didn't get as far as a deal. Long ago, I'd interested a producer in an idea for a movie. In September, he called to say he'd almost worked out with another company to co-finance the development of a screenplay. When it looked like the WGA might strike, he called to confirm what he already knew; that I would not be writing screenplays during a strike. And he said, in essence, that the other company's interest would not be waiting for me on the other side. Which I can certainly live with. In this business, things can be so flaky even without a strike that you can't get your panties in a bunch over any one project. As my first agent used to say, "It doesn't happen until it happens…and sometimes even not then."

I think that's one of the strengths we have in a strike situation. Most of us are used to projects being on and off with sudden abandon…and usually with less logic and reason than the fact that the WGA is on strike. Most writers, including the real successful ones, learn to roll with the odd rhythms and not be surprised when the thing you thought you'd be writing next week is postponed or something comes out of the blue that needs to be finished by Monday. So the answer I give people is that I may not be writing what I'd like to be writing…but I'm writing. And I've also learned to, whenever possible, like what I'm writing. Even if no one else will.

I expect to be showing my face at more comic conventions than usual in 2008. I'm a special-type guest at the WonderCon in San Francisco from February 22 through 24, and another special-type guest at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, which is July 24 through July 27. (Actually, it opens with Preview Night on the 23rd.)

Registration is now open for the 2008 convention in San Diego and if you're thinking of attending, it wouldn't be a bad idea to sign up now. They sold out of memberships last year and everyone will be very surprised if '08 doesn't sell out long before it occurs. I understand the current plan is to not even be set up to sell admissions at the convention. Memberships will probably be scarce enough that someone will be selling them on eBay for a goodly amount. That is a prediction, not a joke.

Also, there's a progress report out that will (one hopes) kill the oft-heard rumor that the convention is moving to Las Vegas or Anaheim or L.A. or Dubuque. We keep telling you here that they're staying put and somehow, no one believes us. The con has signed to be in the same place through 2012, which is as far ahead as any convention ever plans, farther than most. Hotel rooms may be as difficult to procure in '08 as they were in '07 but I'm hearing that after that — for a number of reasons, including new hotels opening — things should get a lot better.

Of course, I'm always at the San Diego con and usually at the San Francisco one, as well. What'll be different next year is that I'll be doing a lot of new (to me) ones, especially after my book on Jack Kirby comes out in — they tell me — late February. I'll also be doing a couple of brief book tours and I'll tell you all about these when plans are firmer.

As a gesture of mutual back-patting or reaching-around or whatever you want to call it, I commend Bob Elisberg for his articles over on The Huffington Post that seek to make sense of the Writers Strike. And by the way, maybe we oughta stop calling it that and start calling it the Producers' Forced Strike or something of the sort. Of all the lunkheaded things that have been written and said about this ugly negotiation, none is more lunkheadier than the notion that anyone in power at the Writers Guild wanted to be on strike. In all the WGA picket lines I've walked, I've never encountered anyone who was "strike-happy" unless you define that in some aberrant, awkward way. ("He preferred going on strike to taking a rotten deal? Why, he must be strike-happy!")

So where are we today with this thing? They're negotiating, there's a news blackout and there are rumors that a deal has already been quietly made and that they're in there even as we speak, checking the commas on it. Excuse me if I don't believe that last part. It's possible but I think it would be healthier not to believe it. At least, not yet.

I do think a settlement is possible this year because I think the Producers have realized something. In order to soften this Guild up to the point where they'd take a crummy deal, they'd have to wait until March or April at the soonest. But there's really no point in settling with the WGA in April because the Screen Actors Guild contract is up at the end of June, and SAG is at least as militant on all the key issues as we are. That has been the brilliance of the WGA-SAG alliance in protest rallies and online videos. It has put the AMPTP on clear notice that SAG considers our fight as Coming Attractions for their fight.

To settle with the WGA in April would mean you'd be getting scripts in May and June…just in time to not start filming them because you're worried that SAG will strike. I mean, there ain't a lot of point to having scripts for My Name is Earl if Earl's out on the picket line. You're not going to start shooting a feature film on June 15 if the actors could all walk out on June 30. The only thing that makes sense from the Producers' position is to settle with the WGA and then try to make an early deal with one of the other two above-the-line guilds…probably the Directors Guild and then SAG. Once they've settled the trigger-point issues with two of those labor organizations, the third won't have a lot of room in which to manuever, nor a lot of necessity.

Like I said, I think it's healthier not to presume we're in the Endgame just yet. In any negotiation, one or both parties is liable to throw that last minute lowball, hoping the other party is eager enough to be done with it all. The WGA came into this with a pretty long list of issues that needed to be addressed, and the rank-and-file is expecting movement in some of those areas even if the matters of DVDs and Internet Streaming are resolved. That's why I don't think we're going to hear before the week is out, as some people seem to be predicting, that there's a deal that the WGA Negotiating Committee can recommend to the members. But I've been wrong before and on this, I'd love to be wrong again.

As you may be able to discern from the time on this posting, my brain is still on East Coast time even though my carcass is decidedly situated in Pacific. That was one of the longest spells I've ever been away from home in my life and I found myself wishing the trip had been shorter…though so many great things happened during it, I can't imagine which days I'd have given up. A better hotel room in New York, a little less rain and better Internet access would have made things just about perfect. Oh, yeah — and it would have been nice if the lady who was housesitting for me hadn't phoned to say that a water leak from an upstairs toilet was creating an aquacade in my kitchen and dining room. There's a fun bit of news when you're far, far from home.

Here are a couple of other things I'm remembering from the trip, none of them particularly important…

• In Times Square, even in the rain, there are guys handing out leaflets and sales pitches, trying to get tourists to visit some night spot or store. Right outside the Marriott Marquis, there was a gentleman touting Dangerfield's, the comedy club that was owned by and named for Rodney Dangerfield. I've never set foot in there but the rumor is that if you do, you see a lot of underpaid comics perform to an audience of tourists, many of whom came under the delusion that there was a chance of Rodney putting in an appearance. Since his death, the odds of that happening have only gotten marginally worse. When he was alive, Rodney was filling big rooms in Vegas at $100+ a ticket. There wasn't much chance of him spending an evening surprising folks who'd already paid to be in a small room on First Avenue. Anyway, a week or so ago out in the New York rain, I was watching this guy hawking reservations to the small room, and I'm guessing he was on some sort of commission deal, getting X bucks for every outta-towner he caused to pass through the club portals. He was great, putting on a little show and doing an uncanny Rodney imitation. The logic of the sales pitch wasn't too sound — it was kind of like, "Go to this club because you used to love the comedian who sounded like this…" but he got the attention of passers-by, which few other street barkers were able to do. And he was probably funnier than half the comics you'd see if you did go to Dangerfield's. Also, cheaper.
• U.S. Airways has gone to an odd system for the boarding of the plane. Other airlines generally divide you up into three or more groupings based on rows — rows 21-30 get on the jet all at once, rows 11-20 get on at the same time, etc. U.S. Airways divides the plane into seven or more "zones" that seem to be based not just on rows but on whether you have a window seat, an aisle seat or one in the middle. Carolyn and I took two U.S. Airways flights yesterday and on each, we were assigned different zones even though we were sitting side-by-side. But the rule is — and they don't explain this very loudly — that if you're travelling with someone who has a lower zone number than you do, you board when they board. Since about 70% of all passengers (that's a guess) are travelling with someone else, this kind of wipes out the whole point of the new divisions…or would if everyone understood the part about boarding with whoever has the lowest zone number. I saw a number of people who didn't know and who had to figure out which of them would carry what onto the plane because they thought they couldn't all get on at the same time.
• I understand the need for security in office buildings these days but in order for Sergio Aragonés and me to get into the offices of MAD Magazine, the editor had to leave his desk and come down in the elevator to the lobby. Is this the best use of this man's time? In fact, isn't this the kind of thing MAD Magazine would be ridiculing?

And I'll probably think of more of these over the next day or three.

I am home. This morning at 6:30 AM Eastern Time, whilst trucking luggage down from our hotel room in Columbus, Ohio, I ran into my friend, Bob Ingersoll, as he checked out after a glorious Mid-Ohio Con there. At 10:30 AM Pacific Time, Carolyn and I were in the airport in Las Vegas to change planes when I received on my BlackBerry, an e-mail from Ingersoll cluing me in to the name of the guy in the photo in the previous posting. And now here I am, back at my desk and a real, full-size keyboard in Los Angeles, to share that info with you.

He's Scott Crawford, a local (in Columbus) gent who fashions expert costumes and wears them to conventions. Here's an article all about the guy. Thank you, Bob.

This afternoon at Mid-Ohio Con, I had the pleasure — and believe me, it was one — to interview Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane on the Superman TV show…the best one, the one starring George Reeves. The more I've learned about that show, the more impressed I am with how it was carried by the fine acting abilities of Reeves, Noel, and the gent who played Jimmy Olsen, Jack Larson. The series had about the same budget as the 8mm monster movies I used to make in my backyard and that meant shooting them piecemeal. That is, they'd film all the scenes in Perry White's office for several episodes. Then they'd film all the scenes in Clark Kent's office for several episodes…and so on. The actors worked killer hours, put up with cheap special effects and had to struggle to remember which storyline they were in.

And still it all worked. Few shows have ever been rerun as often and loved as much. That was all, I think, because of the three leads.

So it was great to sit and talk with Noel, especially because today was her birthday. To the delight of the audience, "Superman" arrived in mid-panel bearing a candle-lit cake…and I apologize that I don't know the name of the gent in the suit.   Noel was also presented with a huge birthday card signed by about half the people at the convention.

I don't know why but it makes me very happy to see someone like that mobbed at conventions, with people lining up to buy autographed photos. In many cases, the photo purchase is just an excuse to meet the person and tell them how much their work has meant to you, how much pleasure it brought. I guess a lot of it is seeing the fans make up a little for the lousy pay that folks like Noel Neill had to endure.

A couple notes before I leave the topic of Mid-Ohio Con: Not that most of you will ever be able to use this information but we had several great meals in Columbus, Ohio. Thanksgiving Day, we dined at an old and classic restaurant called Lindey's in the German District. One of the nicest places I've ever eaten in — beautiful decor, great service, exquisite food.

Then, we had a couple meals at B.D.'s Mongolian Barbecue, which is a chain that I regret has not yet reached anywhere near Southern California. I always liked the concept of Mongolian Barbecue: You fill a bowl with meat and vegetables of your choice, select a sauce and have them stir-fry the thing for you. Alas, all the ones I've been to in L.A. have disappointed me, usually because the meat in the buffet bins looked like it had been there since about the time the Macarena was popular. This was not the case at the B.D.'s a few blocks from the Mid-Ohio Con. We loved it the first visit, then Saturday night, I organized a big expedition to invade the place and it was a huge hit. Between them, Steve Rude and Sergio Aragonés, who selected the "all you can eat" option, consumed enough bowls that Mr. B.D. probably didn't show a profit for the week.

Quick! Someone near me in L.A. open one of these. And while you're at it, if you'd be so kind, I'd really like a Five Guys hamburger place. Get right on that, would you?

And of course, the con was great today and my panels went well and I talked to a lot of interesting people and all. But you already knew that. Thanks again to Roger Price, who runs Mid-Ohio Con about as well as I've ever seen a con run.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume mañana in the AMPTP/WGA standoff. I will be surprised if they result in a quick meeting of the minds. The more likely scenario is at least one more flare-up where both sides claim they've made major concessions to settle the thing and the other side has not responded in good faith.

But I must admit that a lot about this strike has not gone according to script; that things that seemed inevitable based on past WGA strikes have not occurred. In the past, we always had a loud faction within the Guild that decried striking; that said that whatever Management offered was good enough and that we should grab it and get back to the keyboards. I've barely heard a peep in that direction this time, not even from certain parties who'd say that if the offer was for us to henceforth pay them to let us write movies. I have also not seen my Guild rupture along the usual fault line of the Haves and Have-Nots; of the so-called "working writers" and the usually-unemployed.

In every past WGA walkout of my life, the major talking point from the Producers was that the strike was not truly supported by the "working writers," the ones who actually comprised the industry. It was those outta-work, nothing-to-lose types that were driving the strike, they said. It was never true but it was a hard assertion to knock down. No matter how many Larry Gelbarts and Phil Alden Robinsons got up and proclaimed their militancy, the story would spread that the strike was nothing more than a temper tantrum of bitter, unemployable guys who earned their livings working at Radio Shack. (For some reason, of all the dopey places one can work these days, Radio Shack became the place most often cited. At one WGA rally during the '88 strike, someone even stood outside passing out employment applications for Radio Shack.)

Hasn't happened this time and I'm amazed.

I'm not sure how much of that is attributable to the outrageousness of the Producers' position and how much is due to good p.r. work by my Guild, rallying the important folks and getting them out front-and-center. I'm sure it's both but I'm not sure which has been the more important. When the Producers' spokesguy Nick Counter goes out and makes his assertions that we don't understand the business, you get the feeling that even he doesn't believe it…but I guess the guy has to say something. Regardless of how this thing turns out, the folks who employ him to keep unions from gaining any muscle in town can't be too happy at how this one's been managed.

The Las Vegas production of The Producers will close February 9 of '08, which is one year after it opened and probably way sooner than its backers expected. It would be nice if the lesson learned from this was that if you're going to do a hit Broadway show, do the show that was a hit on Broadway, not a 90-minute cutdown version. But that's not what the folks who mount Vegas shows will think. They'll say it proves there's no market for theater in their city.

A good time is being had by, it would seem, all at the Mid-Ohio Con here in chilly (but not unpleasant) Columbus, Ohio. Roger Price, who operates this annual post-Thanksgiving feast, really knows how to put on a friendly convention. There's plenty to do and plenty to buy but it never feels cramped or hectic. I'm especially impressed with the vast number of small-press and self-publishers displaying their wares. There are some very fine comics on display from such folks.

I've decided to start paring down my convention reports here since all they ever seem to say is that I'm enjoying myself and my panels went well, and then I list folks with whom I chatted. This is a waste of my time and yours, so just assume all is well and then guess who I saw.

I will say it's nice to be able to put faces to a lot of e-mail addresses. Years ago before the Internet, I would often meet at cons, people I only knew from correspondence and/or mimeographed fanzines. Once I did, I would no longer think of them as an elite typeface or a bizarre array of indents and margins. Now when I meet in person someone I met over the Internet, they stop looking like their AOL address or their weblog.

Three panels tomorrow and on one, I get to interview the Once and Future Lois Lane…the actress who played her on the 50's Superman series, Noel Neill. Should be fun.

Michael Kinsley on what it takes to be president. I think I agree with the line about how the unpopularity of George W. Bush is hurting Hillary Clinton in a way. As Kinsley notes, a lot of people are saying, "Enough with relatives, already."

The past few years, this weblog has celebrated the work of a brilliant cartoonist named Don Martin by noting his very funny holiday, National Gorilla Suit Day. I've encouraged you to remember the late Mr. Martin and his work and now I'm in the odd position of…well, not discouraging you but just announcing that Don's widow has asked me not to mention him or his holiday and to delete all past mentions of both. I don't fully understand why but I still have (and will always have) the greatest respect for the man…so I've done as she asks. I don't think I would do this for anyone else so Mrs. George W. Bush and Mrs. Dick Cheney, don't bother asking.

The following is a review of a production of the show, Monty Python's Spamalot. It contains information that warrants a big, fat SPOILER ALERT. If you don't want to know what happens, read no further.

Now then: Due to the Stagehands' Strike, you can't see Spamalot on Broadway at the moment but you can in Columbus, Ohio, at least while the national touring company is parked here for the next few days. This evening, my friend Carolyn and I, accompanied by Maggie Thompson of The Comics Buyers Guide, saw it at the Ohio Theater, not far from where the Mid-Ohio Con is taking place this weekend. If this troupe is wandering anywhere near you — according to this page, they go next to Toledo — you might want to do so. I dunno how the original cast was in New York or how the currently-idle cast there is but these folks put on an awfully good show.

It is, of course, freely (very freely) adapted from one of my and probably your all-time favorite movies, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but there's an awful lot that's new. And funny. And even hummable. They also have one of the funniest Playbills I've ever seen.

I did want to mention the main cast members because they were all quite splendid: Michael Siberry, Esther Stilwell, Ben Davis, Jeff Dumas, Christopher Gurr, Patrick Heusinger, Robert Petkoff and Christopher Sutton. And there was one other person on stage who really gave an outstanding performance, and I think he deserves special mention. I am speaking, of course, of me.

Here's where that SPOILER ALERT kicks in. At one point in the show, they haul an audience member who's sitting in a certain seat up on stage to be a part of a key scene. Guess who was the lucky (?) person sitting in that seat. It was rather odd to be watching the play one moment and being on stage and a part of it, the next.

In a situation like that, you kind of have to play dumb because the show's on auto-pilot and anything odd you do can only screw things up for them. So I nodded and grinned as they asked my name and then used it in subsequent dialogue and a song…and then returned to my seat with a Polaroid photo of me and the cast, and a little Python Foot trophy they present to whoever gets conscripted to participate. Carolyn and Maggie were both thrilled, and not because I was in that seat instead of one of them. They just thought the show was better with me in it. If you go see it, I probably won't be in it but don't let that stop you.

Over at Slate, they're offering a slide show of 11 Peanuts strips that, they say, capture the essence of the magnum opus of Charles M. Schulz. The text leans a bit heavily on the new David Michaelis book that is endorsed by no one who actually knew Schulz…but the observations are worth some consideration.

Like Kevin Berger, I would like there to be a No Music Day in the United States, and for the same reasons. Actually, I'd settle for a No Music Day in restaurants where I'm with someone with whom I'd like to have a conversation.