Bookstores all over seem to be closing their physical doors and opening virtual ones.  The science-fiction emporium Dangerous Visions in Sherman Oaks has recently gone that route and will henceforth sell only online.  The trend is a shame, though I have to admit my contribution to it.  I used to go to bookshops incessantly and now I seem to visit them only when I'm near one with time to kill.  Otherwise, I do my browsing at Amazon like so many of you.

The last physical event of the Dangerous Visions store is, appropriately enough, a signing by Harlan Ellison of the new, 30th anniversary edition of his landmark s-f anthology, Dangerous Visions.  If you'd like to obtain a copy of same, the autographing is at a photography studio next to the old, now-shuttered bookstore on Saturday, November 23.  Or you can order one or more copies via the Internet (though only if you do so in advance) at the Dangerous Visions website, which is at www.readsf.com.  Henceforth, that's where they'll be doing all their business.

You can also, of course, order this important book at Amazon.Com…and if you do so by clicking on our links here, this site receives a teensy cut of what you spend there.  But buy Dangerous Visions from Dangerous Visions, instead.  You'll get it autographed that way and, more important, you'll support a worthy business.  Art Cover and Lydia Marano are the folks behind the store and they are well-deserving of your bucks.

Some articles.  The New York Times has an obituary up for Hilary Bader.  The comics news site Newsarama has a good legal analysis, almost in layman's terms, of the status of Joe Simon's suit with Marvel.  And a news site in San Diego has a very sad piece about the dissolution of Forrest Ackerman's collection of sci-fi memorabilia.

The last of these is called to my attention by Loston Wallace, a fine illustrator who works for DC Comics and various makers of role-playing games.  You can get a peek at his work over at www.lostonwallace.com.

So, Stan Lee — the man who invented the No-Prize — is complaining about the No-Profit.  As I said before, I hope Stan gets every last dime they owe him.

In the meantime: Year before last, the legendary Smilin' One was involved in one of those Internet companies that did a swan-dive into economic oblivion.  As its stock went South, so did its business head, who departed for Brazil.  There, he is reportedly still in prison, negotiating his extradition to the U.S.

Before Stan Lee Media crashed and burned, it produced an array of "webisodes" — short cartoons done in Flash animation, viewable on your home computer and featuring new Stan Lee creations, including "The 7th Portal" and "The Accuser."  An array of fine writers and artists worked on them and so, briefly, did I.  From what I can tell, no one — including Stan — was entirely satisfied with the product.  Too many cooks and all that, plus the short webisode format seemed quite confining to Stan's ideas.  So I'm not recommending the shorts but I am informing you that they're available again for download on the 'net.  At this website, you can view them online or save them to your hard disk.  Either way, your computer will need some form of Shockwave Flash, while you'll need a certain tolerance of continued stories that were never completed…and probably never will be.

Reader Michael Kilgore writes, with regard to an earlier item here…

It's easy to pick on the old Perry Mason episodes, especially for the witness-stand breakdowns that occurred much too often on TV and never in Gardner's books.  But Perry's practice of trying the case in the preliminary hearings was common in the original books as well.  The books had more time to let other characters note how unusual that was, but there it was.

(They were also a bit dated.  One book ends with Perry telling Della that he'd marry her, except that then she'd have to quit being his secretary.)

Maybe these shows are an example of the quality the studios can achieve when the author acquires ultimate power over the production. (See also: Harry Potter)  The show cast long-time heavy Burr as the hero at Gardner's insistence, and Burr is a dead ringer for the descriptions in the books.

Mr. Gardner made a good choice.  Raymond Burr is terrific…though I recall a neighbor lady, back when I was a kid, who had an alternate view.  She was a big believer in the philosophy that people were whatever they played on the screen; not that a guy who portrayed a murderer was really a murderer but that he had to have some murder in his heart to play one.  Mr. Burr, she was positive, was as reprehensible a human being as he'd been in most of his earlier screen roles, and she was quite vocal about this.  I think she watched each week with great certainty that Perry Mason had to be the murderer.  She didn't live to see him play Ironside but I'm sure she'd have been among those who asked how Raymond Burr lost the use of his legs.

But of course, you're right.  They should listen to the author more often, and it's often not a matter of differing judgment but of politics that they don't.  I once worked with a producer who said, "If they did everything the writer said, they wouldn't need me."

Stan Lee files lawsuit against Marvel Comics.  Here are the details.  I still think this will get settled out-o'-court, but it does suggest that relationships between Stan and Marvel are even worse than anyone thought.

Want to know more about the court decision that Joe Simon won, allowing his copyright claim to go forward on Captain America?  Click here.

Among his many running, self-deprecating gags — his stinginess, his age, his alleged hairpiece, his vanity, his violin playing, etc. — Jack Benny had his movie career.  It really wasn't unsuccessful, what with the classic To Be Or Not To Be and others that weren't as great but were entirely watchable.  Still, he did jokes about making a swarm of bad movies until The Horn Blows at Midnight was so bad, no one ever wanted to let him in front of a camera again.  This is not true, as you can see for yourself.  Turner Classic Movies is running The Horn Blows at Midnight the morning of November 15.

We were talking here recently about John Cleese and his assistant, the Pantomime Goose named Kim "Howard" Johnson.  The other day, DC Comics announced that a forthcoming project in their "Elseworlds" series will be a Superman story called True Brit, created by Mr. Cleese and Mr. Howard.  The "Elseworld" line contains tales of the DC characters in alternate realities, and this one is about what might have happened if Superman's spaceship had landed in Great Britain instead of the U.S. of A.  Sounds like fun.

DC also announced a two-volume Archives set reprinting the issues of Challengers of the Unknown by Jack Kirby.  An excellent comic, well worth collecting in hardcovers.

This is pretty silly.  The cable/satellite channel Bravo is running The Larry Sanders Show in its laundered version.  Some language is edited or replaced via alternate takes.  But if you go to the Bravo website each week, you can watch a clip with the "f" word intact.  Isn't this just admitting to their own timidity?

I said earlier that I didn't know Hillary Bader too well.  Presumably if I had, I would have known that she spelled her first name Hilary — with one L.  Much of the Internet seems to have it wrong, too…but I should have known better than to trust the oft-errant forces of Cyberspace.  My apologies.  It's Hilary Bader, not Hillary.  But I wasn't wrong about it being a tragic loss.

Are you a comic retailer?  If not, you can skip the rest of this item.  If you are, go read Peter David's current column for Comics Buyer's Guide.  Not long ago, comic book editor-reporter Heidi MacDonald, wrote in CBG that "most retailers" did not support Marvel's current policy of not overprinting their comics — a common practice elsewhere (and previously, at Marvel) which allows stores to reorder.  The head honchos at that company took great umbrage at Heidi's statement and insist she's wrong and that retailers adore it.  Peter is now conducting a survey to determine if they're right or she's right.

I have no horse in this race.  I don't talk to many retailers and don't know enough about retailing to know if I support (or even understand) Marvel's policy.  But I know I support Heidi and Peter, so go participate in the vote.  And I'll bet you the David Survey will be twice as accurate as any Zogby Poll, and a lot more meaningful.

We told you a few weeks ago about a great website devoted to the life of Hans Conried, one of our favorite actors.  Now, sight unseen, we're going to recommend a book — Hans Conried: A Biography; with a Filmography and a Listing of Radio, Television, Stage, and Voice Work.  Its author, Suzanne Gargiulo, must be the world's foremost authority on the man who played Snidely Whiplash, Disney's Captain Hook, the master of The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, etc.  I have just ordered a copy at Amazon.Com and you can do likewise by clicking here.

Then, after you get it, visit Suzanne's site where she posts additions and corrections.  Suzanne's past research work on this delightful thespian has been so thorough and perceptive, we've got to have a copy.

A fine writer named Hillary Bader passed away yesterday after losing her battle with ovarian cancer.  I am not certain of her age — mid-forties, perhaps? — other than she went way too soon.  Her credits included the Batman Beyond and Superman animated programs, comic books based on those shows, various recent incarnations of Star Trek on TV and in bookstores, and the TV series, Xena: Warrior Princess.  I didn't know Hillary well but the few times we chatted, she seemed passionate about her work and dedicated to achieving even bigger and better things.  I'm sure she would have achieved them and am sorry to lose her and her wonderful imagination.

I don't think I have to mention this but some of the best comics being produced today — at least of the super-hero or adventure variety — aren't produced today.  They're the Archive Editions that DC is bringing out to reprint its old comics in fancy hardcover keeper volumes.  Yes, they're a little pricey.  Yes, some of the reproduction sometimes shows a bit too much retouching.  Yes, I sometimes write the forewords.

But they're still great to have — every one of them — and they're developing a following of fans who don't just collect them.  They lobby DC as to what the next ones should contain.  Spearheading this is a fellow named David Stepp whose website sports a list of all the Archives to date, plus news of what's upcoming.  He also runs periodic online surveys (one recently concluded) as to what DC should next bring forth, and they seem to have had some influence in those decisions.  Whoever said fans can't make an impact?

Just to clarify: My language seems to have confused a few folks.  Sergio and I are attending Mid-Ohio Con.  And Joe Simon has not won ownership of Captain America.  He has won the right to take his case to the next step.

Speaking of courtrooms: The Hallmark Channel has started filling many hours each day with old episodes of Perry Mason starring Raymond Burr as the world's greatest attorney.  The shows stand up well, thanks to strong performances and a nice parade of guest actors…though, like many older programs, it's jarring to see how cheap they now appear.  Most corners were cut, even to the extent of having Mr. Mason argue most of his cases (and win) in preliminary hearings, where there's only a judge.  That way, the producers didn't have to spring for twelve extras to fill a jury box.  In many episodes, the most interesting (and therefore, costly to film) story elements occur off-screen and get described by someone.  Still, like I said, they hold up, largely due to Mr. Burr.

You might want to set your VCR or TiVo, grab a few and see if you like them.  And you can find out absolutely everything you want to know about the series at this website, which is an online version of the definitive volume on the topic, The Perry Mason TV Show Book by Brian Kelleher and Diana Merrill.  (The Hallmark Channel, by the way, seems to be airing the shows in sequence.  They're currently about halfway through the first season.)

Not a good day for Marvel: Some time ago, Joe Simon lost the first round of his lawsuit to reclaim ownership of Captain America.  Today, even as Stan Lee was musing to the press that he might sue Marvel, the decision against Simon was reversed.  If you want to read the actual decision, you can download a PDF file of it here.  Basically, Simon was acting under the recent revisions to the copyright laws (fomented in large part by the late Sonny Bono) that give the creator of the work the right to reclaim a copyright at the point where it would originally have expired.

Marvel had argued three points against Simon's claim.  The first judge threw out two of them but found against Simon on the third.  An appellate court has now unanimously reversed the third point, so Joe's case can proceed and Marvel will have to come up with new arguments and/or refight the three on which they lost.  Or maybe they'll just offer Joe a huge sum of cash.  Or both.

Actually, no one knows precisely what this means in terms of the final disposition of the character and I'd be the last to claim I do.  But I can tell you that there have already been several other suits of this nature filed — some quietly settled, others ongoing.  And I can say with some certainty that if Joe prevails, and probably even if he doesn't, there will be a lot more.  In the sixties, The Avengers found Captain America frozen inside a massive iceberg.  Joe Simon's suit is just the tip of another, even larger one.