Can't believe I forgot to get this one up here in greater detail. At the big National Comic Book Convention in New York last Saturday, I moderated a wonderful panel with four veterans of Marvel Comics: Dick Ayers, Joe Sinnott, Herb Trimpe and Gary Friedrich. And when I say "veterans," I don't just mean veterans of working in comics. Dick, as befitting the man who drew all them issues of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, wore his old Army uniform from World War II, which is still intact and still fits. (In the above photo, we have — left to right — me, Gary, Herb, Dick and Joe.)

So I'm chatting with all these gents and right in the middle of the panel, my little BlackBerry vibrates to tell me I got an e-mail and it turns out it's Stan Lee, who's way off in Los Angeles at that moment, writing to thank me for things I said about him (and didn't say) at that dinner the previous Sunday. I couldn't resist reading his e-mail to the audience there and quickly writing him back:

Hi. I am at this very moment moderating a panel at a New York con with Dick Ayers, Joe Sinnott, Gary Friedrich and Herb Trimpe. They all say hi and the audience was thrilled when I read your email to them. Any message for them?

That was sent at 12:26 PM EST. At 12:44, while the panel was still going on and I could read the message to the crowd there, I received the following in reply:

Yeah, here's a message for them — tell them to stay away from hick towns from now on and have their next convention in L.A. so I can be with 'em!

Excelsior!
Stan

So that was how we sorta/kinda got Stan Lee on the Marvel Panel even though he was 3000+ miles away and unaware it was even taking place. This is precisely the kind of thing that the Internet was invented for. Well, that and porn.

Sorry to hear of the death at age 68 of actor-writer Michael Blodgett. He had a pretty successful career as a novelist but most folks will remember him as Lance Rocke, the dislikable stud who got his head lopped off in the classic movie, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Me, I'll remember him best as the host of Groovy, a bizarre local (in Los Angeles) TV show that I wrote about here. Here's a link to the L.A. Times obit which reminded me of his short-lived talk show. As I recall, he was pretty good at it.

I've written an awful lot of comics and while it's wrong to play favorites, I have to say that one of mine was a book called Crossfire, which was created by myself, Will Meugniot and Dan Spiegle, written by me and drawn by Dan. Working with him was a joy, and that knowing he'd be drawing what I was writing caused me to write some of the things of which I'm proudest. I have genuinely missed not working with Dan the last decade or so, and especially not doing Crossfire.

Well, I've gotten to do both again…only for eight pages but, hey, eight's better than zero. Coming your way in March is the first issue of Many Happy Returns, an anthology which will resurrect some notable comics of the past, and there's a newly-concocted Crossfire story in there. Go over to this page for the full info. And just imagine the wide grin on my face as I get to announce this.

Mark (that's me) is back in Columbus, Ohio. I drove back here last evening from Muncie — about a 2.5 hour commute, the first half of which was under heavy drizzle and the last half of which was with streaming H2O fighting to overpower my wipers. I'm not a big fan of driving in the rain but it's a lot easier here, where the roads and drivers expect it, than it is in Southern California where everyone's so utterly unprepared for the whole concept of water coming down from the sky.

My rental car contains the new Garmin GPS, which is quite good except that it has never heard of the street on which Jim Davis's office is situated. Last year in Muncie, I got around via a Hertz rental with their "NeverLost" system, which sounds like something Peter Pan would use to find his way home. It's a Magellan-brand Global Positioning System and it performed so well that I got one for my car when I returned home. The Garmin is superior in some ways — it speaks the names of streets, for instance, whereas my Magellan just says to turn in X miles — but I suspect the main differences are because the Garmin is new, whereas my Magellan is almost a year old.

Last year's Magellan GPS could find the street on which the Garfield office is located but this year's Garmin couldn't so I got briefly lost. I pulled over to the side of an unpaved road to figure out what to do next and a woman came by and asked if she could help. I told her the name of the street I was seeking and she said, "Oh, you're going to see the guy with the cat." She then proceeded to tell me exactly how to get to that street and I proceeded to drive exactly as she instructed…and within five minutes, I was exactly Hopelessly Lost, as opposed to my previous condition, which was only Hopefully Lost.

What I did at that point: The Garmin couldn't find Jim's street but I remembered a Burger King that was located not far from the office and I figured the Garmin could find that. Sure enough, it directed me there and then I used my own low-tech memory to find my way to the studio of The Guy With The Cat. Which is what I've learned you have to do with GPS units. They're not a substitute for thinking or even for knowing where places are. They're just to help you chart and follow routes. The best part is that you can keep glancing at the screen and think, "Yep, I'm still on the right road." Or find out quickly when you aren't.

This is turning out to be a great trip but I do regret not being in Los Angeles during two weeks of what's turning out to be The Great Writers Strike of '07 and Maybe Part of '08. I did picket (in the rain, no less) the Viacom building in Times Square but even if I'd brought a sign along, there's no place worth picketing in Muncie or Columbus. From all reports, the big mass picket/demonstration on Hollywood Boulevard the other day was a smashing success, proving that "the town" is behind the WGA strike and — of great importance — that it is widely understood that the disruption of the industry is due to the Producers' behavior and not to the Writers being unreasonable.

This concept seems to be lost on some. I am bewildered that it is lost on a man named Thomas Short, who is the current president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Mr. Short continues to blast my union, cursing our strike and writing things like, "The IATSE alone has over 50,000 members working in motion picture, television and broadcasting and tens of thousands more are losing jobs in related fields."

I expect Management to make such remarks but Mr. Short presides over an aggregate of unions that find the occasional necessity to strike and those strikes always, without exception, inconvenience others and often lead to layoffs and loss of employment. It is a regrettable fact of union activity. Even now, the Stagehands' strike in New York (which everyone back there except the employers seems to support, by the way) is creating hardships for innocent bystanders and causing non-IA workers to lose jobs. The strike was authorized by Mr. Short.

I'm currently on Honorable Withdrawal (I think they call it something else) from the Animation Guild, which is a division of IATSE. But when I was a member, I walked its picket lines and endured the same criticism from the companies we were striking: Our strike was hurting the business, it was causing Filmation to layoff secretaries and Hanna-Barbera to terminate contracts, etc. I understood why the heads of Disney were saying things like that to try and act like the strike was in no way their fault; like it was wholly because the evil/stupid union wouldn't just accept whatever it was offered and remain on the job. I don't understand a man who represents some very good, effective unions talking like that.

But he may not have much to complain about for very long. What I'm getting from "the buzz" is that while no one expects the WGA strike to end right after talks resume on the 26th, there's a lot of optimism that it won't last months longer; that the Producers have decided they'll lose way too much if they stonewall until the WGA starts to wobble. They seem to have realized that if they drag this out to April or May, they'll wind up with much the same terms they can get right now. More significant: The Screen Actors Guild is already ramped-up and determined to strike at the end of June '08 if they don't make the kinds of gains the WGA strike is all about. If the Producers settle with the WGA by the end of December, they stand a real good chance of getting scripts and shooting a lot of movies and TV episodes in January through June. So if there is a SAG strike (or even, God forbid, a DGA one), they'll be in better shape to weather and resist it.

Before every possible WGA strike of the past, there has always been the threat of "stockpiling" — the idea that the Producers would commission extra scripts, build up an inventory and therefore be able to better endure a prolonged WGA walkout. That hasn't happened much, this time or ever. They need us around to write and rewrite up to the point when filming or rehearsals commence, and even after that, so it's never very practical. On the other hand, there is an obvious advantage to the Producers to have a stockpile of completed shows and movies in case they can't make the deal they want with the Actors and/or the Directors. Right now, the WGA strike is an obstacle to them buildng up that stockpile.

So there are some big reasons for optimism. Which is not to suggest I'm optimistic quite yet about the strike ending. I'm just optimistic that we may soon have good reasons for optimism. Whatever, it looks like I'll still have plenty of opportunities to picket when I get back to Los Angeles.

Have a joyous Thanksgiving Day, everyone. I'm going to be thankful for, at long last, a real Internet Connection.

Here's another of the Private Snafu cartoons that were produced primarily by the Warner Brothers Cartoon Studio (with a few outsiders pitching in) during World War II. I told more about the series here so what you need to know now is that this is The Chow Hound, which was directed by Frank Tashlin, who went on to write and/or direct live-action films with Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and others of that stature. Mel Blanc is Snafu and some of the other folks. The other male voice in there is a man named Robert C. Bruce, who the WB Cartoon Boys used to use as a narrator for their travelogue parodies. This was released in June of 1944.

I feel a need to apologize for the paucity of postings on this here site. I'm still outta town, staying (tonight) at a lovely little bed 'n' breakfast inn that has been open a grand total of one day. I'm the first guest to stay in this room, where — as you might have expected — the Internet Connection doesn't work. So I'm still BlackBerry-blogging which, even with my add-on keyboard ain't so easy.

But maybe you're better off that way because if I could post long posts, all you'd get would be me yakkin' on about what a good time I'm having on this trip. (In case you care, and I can't imagine why you would, I'm in Muncie, Indiana for meetings with Jim Davis on upcoming Garfield projects.) This coming weekend, I'll be in Columbus, Ohio for the gala Mid-Ohio Con, seeing friends and hosting panels. And then it's back to Los Angeles…but regular posting here should resume before that. All I need is a decent Internet Connection. I couldn't find one in New York or Indiana. Maybe I'll have better luck in Ohio.

In my continuing quest to blog from the unlikeliest of places, the previous entry was — swear to God — blogged from my Blackberry to the World Wide Web from the back seat of a limo careening through New York City streets as Carolyn and I made our way to La Guardia Airport.

I don't know why I did it but I did it.

This one's coming to you live from a hotel room in Columbus, Ohio. I'll explain in a few days why we're here.

News of the WGA Strike? Well, as you probably heard, they're heading back into negotiations on the 26th of this month. That presumably means both sides have indicated some willingness to bend on heretofore-intractable points. That does not indicate a quick settlement is at hand. For one thing, the bending may not be enough. For another, there are still all those areas that have yet to be addressed at all. Even if DVD revenues and Internet Streaming are no longer obstacles, something else can and probably will be, Then again, some movement is better than no movement. I still think we should lock all the parties in a room with salty snacks and nothing to drink until they arrive at a deal.

One of my favorite political-type publications, The New Republic, has a nice piece up about the Writers Guild Strike. And they really found a wise and perceptive expert to write it for them: Me.

The first thing I should tell you about Xanadu, the musical I saw last Saturday night on Broadway, is that the curtain speech was worth the price of admission. Many shows have these fund-raising speeches in which a cast member asks you to donate as you exit, the money going to a worthy charity called Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. At Xanadu, the pitch was delivered by a lady named Jackie Hoffman, who plays two roles in the show. Bookmark my words: Any day now, someone's going to star this lady in a sitcom or maybe even a talk show and make an indecent amount of money. She was pretty funny in the show, too.

I never saw the movie of the same name but the creators of the stage version apparently decided to take its best part (the songs, mostly) and mock its worst elements, and the whole thing is done with such an infectious energy that you kinda, sorta, have to love it. I did, anyway. There's a ten member cast and here, I'll list them all: Cheyenne Jackson, Curtis Holbrook, Anika Larsen, Kenita Miller, Annie Golden (subbing for Mary Testa), Jackie Hoffman, André Ward, Kerry Butler, Peter Samuel (understudy in for Tony Roberts) and Marty Thomas. Butler and Jackson are the stars, with the former filling the Olivia Newton-John role. One of the biggest laughs I've ever heard in a theater erupted at a point when Ms. Butler was singing at the edge of the stage in her roller skates — there's a lot of skating in the show — and she suddenly looked for all the world like the key art from the movie poster — windswept hair and all. Then you noticed a stagehand at the edge of the stage, deliberately visible and holding a large electric fan on her to produce that effect.

The plot is…oh, heck. The plot's the plot of the movie. You can look it up in Leonard's book — something to do with muses from ancient mythology and one muse falling in love with a guy who wants to open a roller disco. This is set in the early eighties and at one point, the muses bemoan that America is entering a period of bad art where even the theater will flounder with shows based on bad movies and vapid pop tunes. How can you not love a movie that says that about its own bloodline?

It all breezes along quickly…it's a short, intermissionless show that seems to be catching on, partly because almost everything else on Broadway is closed due to the strike, but also because it's just a great fun show. I can't help but note that with its lower budget and small cast, it's a nice counterpoint to Young Frankenstein. I liked that a lot, too but I think I have more admiration for Xanadu. It was just as entertaining but in terms of budget, they did just as much with so much less. Plus, unlike the Mel Brooks extravaganza, they started out with a movie that nobody really liked very much.

Hello…and sorry about the frantic game of Beat the Clock in the last posting. You'd think that in midtown Manhattan, you could get a decent Internet connection…and you can at all the local Burger Kings. But in the Hotel Pennsylvania, it's a bit more difficult.

Let me back up and go into more detail about some parts of my trip. This is my first time in New York since…well, I think since the last Mel Brooks musical opened. I'd forgotten the bustling foot traffic, the ubiquitous smell of honey-roasted nuts and chicken skewers on every corner, and the impossibly narrow and steep stairways one must occasionally handle. Apart from those things and wet weather, I like everything about the town. And even the bustling foot traffic can be enjoyable if you actually know where you're going and can bustle along with the rest of 'em.

I told you about Young Frankenstein and am about to tell you about Xanadu. Not much to add about Christine Pedi's wonderful cabaret act other than to lament there aren't more good rooms for folks like her. We could certainly use a few more of them in Los Angeles.

The comic convention was jammed. It sprawled over several floors of a once-proud hotel with the longest lines being for Hayden Panettiere and Kristen Bell, and you'll have to excuse me for being more excited at the presence of Soupy Sales and Larry Storch. Among those I talked with: Alan Kupperberg, Darwyn Cooke, Jimmy Palmiotti, Alan Weiss, Irwin Hasen, Kyle Baker, Robin and Elayne Riggs, Heidi MacDonald, Michael Netzer, Danny Fingeroth, Jim Salicrup, Ken Gale, Peter David, Peter Sanderson, Rich Johnston, Steve Saffel and Dave Shelton, plus we had a last minute surprise appearance from Don McGregor and some fine conversations with the folks who operate the online Jack Kirby Museum, Rand Hoppe and Richard Bensam. Forgive me, all those I omitted. It was especially great to see Dick Ayers, Joe Sinnott, Herb Trimpe and Gary Friedrich again.

A lot of folks asked me about my Jack Kirby book so here's the deal: It's done and I hope to see some proofs tomorrow morning before I get on a plane for Ohio. The official release date is now March of '08 but we may see copies before February is out.

Oh, you'll like this. Everyone who stays at the Hotel Pennsylvania receives a little pocket-size fold-out map of New York that also contains a big ad for the Broadway show, Hairspray. Here's what it looks like folded out, and you'll notice there's a pull quote from critic Clive Barnes that says, "A great big fat gorgeous hit!"

That's a great quote until you fold up the map. I noticed that when you fold it along the pre-existing creases (in other words, exactly the way you're supposed to fold it), it looks like this…

Someone owes Al Jaffee a royalty.

I think that's about everything for now. As I think of more things, you'll see them up here.

Good A.M. to you all and my apologies for not posting for a while. As I think I mentioned, I'm in a hotel with the kind of Internet connectivity you find in Amish country. I've also been more than a little busy. Here's a brief rundown on what I've been up to, and some of these warrant elaboration at a later date…

Thursday morning, it was raining. Sergio Aragonés and I hiked over to the offices of MAD magazine and DC Comics with H2O pelting us all the way. Later, I went out and did some rain-drenched bi-coastal picketing of the Viacom Building in Times Square. The WGAe members with whom I chatted were happy to have a West Coast guy in their midst and the mood on the line was upbeat and determined despite the weather.

A nice time at MAD, a nice time at DC Comics (more to come about both stops) and then Carolyn and I dined at one of our favorite restaurants, the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station, and then it was off to Young Frankenstein.

Friday, we had dry but very cold weather in New York. I spent the day at the offices of Harry N. Abrams, Inc., the folks publishing my upcoming book on one Jack Kirby. Everything looks to be on schedule for a release in February, 2008. Again, more of this to come when I have a better 'net connection. Then I checked in at the National/Big Apple Convention for a few hours. In the evening, Carolyn and I dined with her friend Sue at Keen's Chop House, a venerable and fine institution. (Turned out, we missed running into the fine writer-artist Darwyn Cooke by about five minutes. He got there just after we left, as I found out chatting with him the next day.)

Later, we went to see my friend Christine Pedi (this person) doing her wonderful act at The Metropolitan Room. I'll have to tell you more about Christine soon, too. (I'm rushing through all this because I lose this Internet connection in six minutes.)

Saturday, I spent the day at the comic convention, including a fine panel with Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers, Herb Trimpe, Gary Friedrich and a surprise e-mail appearance by Stan Lee. Stan chanced to e-mail me during the panel. I got it on my Blackberry and e-mailed him back to get a statement and…well, I'll tell you all about it when I have more than four minutes left. I'll tell you about all the other folks I talked to and things I saw and did.

Evening: Carolyn, Richard Howell and I had a fine time at a musical based on the movie, Xanadu. Leonard Maltin recommended it to me and once more, I've learned to trust Leonard.

I'm down to two minutes so will have to flesh this out with the next report. Sorry for the fast typing and any typos you see. I have one minute left so I'd better post this. Bye.

I haven't posted one of these for a while so here goes. This is another one of those great Superman cartoons that were produced by the Max Fleischer cartoon studio. Did I ever mention that when Paramount went to the Fleischer Brothers and asked them to whip up some animated cartoons of the then-new comic book character, the brothers weren't interested? That they quoted a high price tag so as to discourage Paramount? And then Paramount agreed to pay it? The money sure wound up showing on the screen.

This is Superman and the Magnetic Telescope, which was released on April 24, 1942. It still seems to be Bud Collyer doing the voice of Superman and Clark, with Joan Alexander as Lois…and I don't recognize any of the other players. Here you go…

Carolyn and I had a very good time at Young Frankenstein. As much as at the previous Mel Brooks musical, The Producers? No, but if I spend my life expecting that, I'm going to be disappointed a lot. Just as you'll be disappointed by the stage version of Young Frankenstein if you go in expecting the movie. The film's best joke was for me, the slavish imitation of the look 'n' feel of an old Universal horror film. That, of course, isn't even attempted here. In fact, quite the opposite. The musical version is lavish and colorful and I don't know what they spent on the sets and special effects but they wouldn't have spent it if they hadn't thought this thing was going to run for many years on Broadway.

They could be right. There are moments that are disappointing and a few musical numbers that fall surprisingly flat. But there are also enough moments when the show is as good as you want it to be — the number that closes the first act, for instance. (I'll bet that's the one they do on the Tonys next year.) Or the "Puttin' on the Ritz" number where the Monster goes the full Fred Astaire route. Shuler Hensley's portrayal of the Monster is surprisingly affecting, given how he's burdened with the clunky makeup and costume, and has to grunt most of his role.

I really liked Roger Bart in what we might call the Gene Wilder role…and by the way, could Mr. Wilder's name be any smaller on the posters? The buzz in the theatrical community was that Bart was electric during the show's Seattle tryouts but owing to back problems, not quite as fabulous in New York. If that's so, he seems to have gotten over it. The "stealing the show" award though is probably evenly split between Christopher Fitzgerald in the role originated by Marty Feldman, and Andrea Martin playing Frau Blücher (horse whinny), the role played by Cloris Leachman in the film. Fred Applegate plays two roles — the local constabulary (the Ken Mars part) and the hermit (Gene Hackman in the film). In the latter, he has a short but effective number that stops the show.

Of course, there's no stopping this show. The musical numbers aren't up to the standards of Broadway's best — or even Mel Brooks's previous. But the story is fun and the energy is there and the sets and staging are incredible, and the whole thing managed to surprise me (in a good way) often enough that I'll probably go see it again some time when it isn't like docking the Space Shuttle to get tickets. On the other hand, I don't think I'll be playing the cast album a lot. This is one where you kinda have to be there.

Missed a whole day of weblogging whilst travelling. American Airlines did an acceptable job of getting us to JFK Airport, which is to say the flight took off 45 minutes late but only arrived 15 minutes after the scheduled hour. We have, however, the worst hotel room I've ever had in New York…and if you remember the one I had in '85, you can imagine how horrible this one is.

Well, some of you may not remember the one I had in 1985 but I'll never forget it. I spent my whole stay searching for the prize because I believed that every Crackerjacks box came with a prize in it. This year's room is smaller…and stickier. It's in the same hotel I stayed in when I attended my first comic book convention, which was back in 1970. The place has not been cleaned since.

Among the room's other deficiencies, the High Speed Internet Connection is a Dixie Cup and a string…which explains why I'm way behind on e-mail, my friends.

Dinner was at a Ruby Tuesday in Times Square where I had an overdone hamburger and, after I informed the manager, an underdone apology. You know, I believe saying "I'm sorry" is among the most important things a person must say in this world from time to time but you have to mean it and not just lip-sync the words to get rid of someone who's been wronged. I wasn't expecting a refund or even one of those coupons they give you for a free dessert next time you come in and buy something. I was just expecting some interest in my burger and maybe some inkling that she was going to have a word with the chef about not cooking the meat until it could pass for a rice cake.

That all happened yesterday. Today's anecdotes will have to wait until later. We're off to see Young Frankenstein tonight. I'll report on that, too.

Speaking of speakers: Lee Hester, who runs a couple of fine comic book shops in California, was at the CAPS Banquet the other night when Stan Lee was honored for…well, partly for his work and partly for just being Stan. Mr. Hester shot some video of Stan's acceptance speech and an excerpt from that speech is our video link for today. The gentleman standing to the left in the frame is CAPS President Bill Morrison and you can catch glimpses of me standing at the right.