As you may know, I am one of the editors of Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, a series from Fantagraphics reprinting my favorite of all newspaper strips. We are close to sending Volume 6 off to press for release later this year but we have a problem. We are missing good copies of four of Walt Kelly's Sunday Pogo comics, all from 1959. We need to find someone who has either the original artwork to them or printed images from the newspapers.
The dates are August 2, August 23, October 4 and November 1. From '59. And we need either the tall 4-tiered versions or the complete 3-tiered versions. If you have them, please get in touch with me. You will be rewarded in some way.
Most of us are aware of first-year Congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who seems to upset a lot of Republicans partly because of things she says and partly — it seems to me — because they're being said by someone who is female and Puerto Rican. She certainly enraged a lot of them when she recently referred to the detention facilities for immigrants as "concentration camps" — and maybe, since we associate that term with Nazis, it's too inflammatory. Okay. I might agree with that.
But then, as Jonathan Chait points out, the folks criticizing Ocasio-Cortez seem able to ignore or dismiss any inflammatory thing Donald Trump says. Doesn't matter how nasty or inaccurate it is, that's just Donald. That's the way he is. Don't take that stuff he says seriously. As Chait writes…
What is interesting is the way conservatives have used the largely rhetorical nature of Trump's fascistic politics as a defense. Trump can call the media "enemies of the people" all day long, and we should shrug because it's just words. Fascist rhetoric is meaningless, but anti-fascist rhetoric is an outrageous slander. What reasonable case is there to hold the president of the United States to the lowest standard of any public official?
There's a current kerfuffle — to use a word I've never used before in this blog in the 18 years, 6 months and 2 days of its existence — about Joe Biden and some positions he's taken to not bruise the tender feelings of segregationists. If you want to know what it's about, this will tell you.
But of course, what it's really about is that Joe Biden is the front-runner and there are a number of polls out that indicate he's the guy to knock Donald Trump outta office and send him back to Howard Stern's show to resume bragging about women he's abused. And I'll bet he would if you could somehow arrange for the election to be held…oh, maybe sometime between now and Comic-Con 2019.
It won't be. I'll be relieved if Trump doesn't try to delay it from being held in November, 2020.
When you're the front-runner, everyone is gunning for you — Republicans getting an early start at hammering the guy they have to beat, Democrats who see you as the guy they have to shove aside in order to get the nomination.
One reason I don't think it's a "given" that Biden will be the nominee is that it's something like 390 days until the nominee will be selected. Can any human being endure 390 days of being the front-runner? I'm skeptical. Hillary C. was the presumptive nominee for a long time in 2008 and again in 2016. The first time, people got weary enough of her to nominate someone else instead. The second time, they didn't but the battle to beat Bernie Sanders left her bruised and a bit less electable. And she only had to be a bit more electable to be elected.
We're going to hear every possibly-disqualifying thing there is about Biden, including many that may actually be true…and we'll hear a lot of them from Democrats who are desperate to beat Trump before we hear them from Republicans — although Trump is, of course, already starting, using pretty much the same rhetoric I would use if I was running against someone for Hall Monitor in the second grade.
The lesson I would draw from all of this is that it's damned rough to be the front-runner for more than a year and that things can come out of nowhere. Two weeks ago, no one was talking about Biden speaking at Strom Thurmond's funeral. Two weeks from now, someone may be claiming Biden shot a man in Yuma just to watch him die. At some point, they'll probably even start attacking his current positions on the issues.
It's terrible that he — or any aspirant to the Presidency — has to put up with this for 390+ days…but we have to, as well. The way I'm going to cope with it is to not presume that anyone is the likely nominee until the podium is being erected at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That's where they're holding the Democratic Convention. That's where they're picking the nominee for real. And that's where the real battle will start.
Joe Maneely was a superb comic book artist who was pretty much the "star" of the line of comics that Martin Goodman published and Stan Lee edited in the late fifties. This was the line that soon morphed into what we now know as the Marvel Comics Group. Maneely was not around to see it morph, however. On June 7, 1958, he stumbled or somehow fell to his death between the cars of a fast-moving commuter train. He was 32 years old. Here's a question about him that Johnny Achziger just sent me…
Here's a purely speculative question I've occasionally pondered over. Joe Maneely was a terrific artist and did a lot of stuff for Stan in the '50's. My question is, if Joe had lived through the '60's how do you think the Marvel Universe would have been different? I can certainly see him doing Thor, maybe something like Agents of SHIELD. Do you think he would have been a superstar like Kirby and Ditko?
Johnny did not originate this question. It's a discussion topic about once a year somewhere on Facebook or some comic forum. I even tackled it before on this blog back in 2007. But I've had some new thoughts about it so here's my new, improved answer, starting with the easy part of it…
The Easy Part of It: I think Maneely would have been a superstar in comics no matter where he worked or what he worked on. He was very good and very versatile.
Joe Maneely
Beyond that, it gets a bit tougher. At the time of his death, Maneely was drawing for Stan Lee, who loved his work…but Maneely was also beginning to get work from DC. Atlas/Marvel (whatever you want to call Stan's company) was then a very shaky enterprise. No one would have been too surprised if they'd just closed down as so many other companies did around then. Several folks I interviewed who were around then believed Goodman did decide to discontinue his comic book line — several times. He'd decide on Monday to get out and then change his mind on Wednesday.
He also paid low rates. DC paid way better and was on solid ground.
My speculation is that Maneely would have become a full-time freelancer for DC. He had a wife, young daughters and a lot of expenses due to a new house he'd just purchased. I also think he'd have fit in well at DC — way better than either Kirby or Ditko would have. The DC editors and production folks had some pretty firm ideas of how a DC book should look and some of them spent the sixties dismissing what Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko did for Marvel as quite inferior to anything seen in a DC title.
But Maneely drew the way DC liked its artists to draw. I think they would have found more and more work for him and soon, he would not be working for Stan anymore. Why would any man, who presumably wanted to do right by his family, have stuck with a company that paid less and which might be outta business any day? George Klein was doing some inking for Marvel up until the moment when he was able to get steady work inking Superman for DC, whereupon he fled.
So Maneely would not have been around Marvel during the years that Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, The Avengers, The X-Men (etc.) were launched. Later on, when Marvel was not on the verge of closure and was paying about the same as DC, he might have come back as John Romita Sr. and Gene Colan and a few others did. At that point, he might have been assigned to any book in the place. He could have drawn just about any one of them.
If he had for some reason been at Marvel in the early sixties when they started creating super-hero books, I'm sure he'd have been tapped for them. What he would have done is hard to say because I don't know the answer to this question: Was he one of those artists, like Kirby or Ditko, who could not only draw but contribute mightily to the writing? Some very fine comic artists couldn't do that.
If Maneely was really good at coming up with new ideas for stories and characters, and at fleshing out whatever plots and concepts Stan Lee came up with, then "Stan and Joe" might have created some of the early Marvel super-heroes. I've very certain though that he would not have worked on the first issues of the strips we know; he would not have been the co-creator of Fantastic Four or Thor or Spider-Man or any of those.
Why? Because he was not Jack Kirby, nor was he Steve Ditko. I don't believe Stan Lee came up with any of those wholly on his own and then selected an artist from his stable to draw his creations. Even Stan only claimed that some of the time.
If Maneely wasn't great at plotting and new concepts, he still would have had a place at Marvel but one more like Don Heck or Dick Ayers. I'm not talking here about quality of artwork — just his usefulness to Stan as an artist. In writing about those early days, one must keep in mind that Stan had a hard time finding good artists to work for the money that Goodman paid. He certainly wouldn't have not kept a guy who drew as well as Maneely around.
So that's my speculation. If you have your own, fine. No one can ever prove us right or wrong except, of course, that yours is wrong and mine is right. Or vice-versa.
The Orlando Sentinel, which is most definitely not a Democratic newspaper, is already out with its endorsement for the next presidential election: Not Donald Trump.
And here are the Voctave folks with another a cappella rendition of a Disney classic tune. One does suspect that they recorded this song, edited and mixed it to their satisfaction and then went back into a recording studio (possibly the same one) and lip-synced it for this video…but we don't mind, do we?
And now, through the miracle of modern air travel, I'm coming to you from my computer chair at home, 2,504 miles from where I was sitting when I wrote the previous post. American Airlines did what they were supposed to do.
The first flight sat on the runway for twenty minutes before taking off but still managed to get me to my interim destination only three minutes late. I had enough time (but not too much of it) to get to the gate where the connecting flight left from. By the way: I don't know why I'm mentioning it but Ron Perlman was on that flight. I guess that's of interest to those of you who track his every move.
I liked driving in North Carolina — roads that were never empty but never so crowded as to impede one's ability to drive at 15 miles over the speed limit. I did not like the humidity but I think I complained about it less than any local I heard mention it. The whole thing was a little rough but I'm very glad I went to see my dear friend Betty.
And that's about it for now. I'll tell you all about the Andy Griffith Museum in the next few days and about some of the panels we had at Heroes Con. I gotta go unpack and collapse, not necessarily in that order.
I'm sitting here at Gate 45 at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, NC. This is a great airport. I'd use it for all my future airport needs but I suppose I'd have to move to Greensboro to make that work. Doesn't sound practical, does it?
Due to some careless oversight on their part, American Airlines actually had my reservation. Someone's getting fired for this.
My flight is scheduled to take off at 12:50 but it's been delayed…to 12:56. I asked why and a nice lady told me it was because of "mandatory crew turnaround time." When the crew is finished for the day, there's a specified amount of time they must have off before they can be sent out on another flight. I guess that extra six minutes of nap time makes a big difference.
So why has American Airlines been canceling flights faster than a TV network axing shows I worked on? A reader of this site named Craig (just Craig) just sent me what seems like a sound explanation…
American Airlines recently sued the TWU-IAM, the union representing their mechanics. AA claimed the union has staged an illegal work slowdown that has led to 650 unnecessary flight cancellations and over 1,500 unnecessary maintenance delays. All told, 125,000 customers have been affected.
Sounds right to me…and no, I'm not mad at the union. They might be being unreasonable but so might Management. I don't know enough about the situation to say. It could even be both at fault. What I do know is that my plane is about to board early. Blog to you later.
I spent much of today…well, it started with having to straighten out another mess caused by American Airlines. Having failed in their mission to prevent Sergio Aragonés and me from getting to North Carolina, they decided to try and stop him from getting home. That got solved and as I write this, he is indeed home. I can't wait to see how they're going to try and stop me tomorrow.
I drove from Charlotte (where Heroes Con took place) to Mt. Airy, which is where I'm writing this now. I spent most of the day with my former neighbor, Betty Lynn, who has known me since I was 1.5 years old.
Betty had an amazing career as an actress — on stage, on radio, in movies and on television. She did so many things and doesn't seem to mind that 99 out of 100 people she meets just want to talk about her years as Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show.
Some years ago, Betty retired to Mt. Airy, the city Andy G. grew up in, the city on which Mayberry was loosely based. Since life always imitates art imitating life, the city has taken on some of the show's landmarks and has become Mecca for lovers of the program. They flock there and especially to this place…
I drove Betty over so she could show it to me and we got, of course, the royal treatment. I took a lot of pics inside and you'll see them on this site before long.
Betty is — this is not a secret — 92 years old and she often needs a wheelchair. I was pushing her from my rental car towards the museum when a visiting family approached and asked, pretty please, if Betty would allow a photo of her and the two young girls in the family. Of course she would. She was so nice to those people, answering their questions and appreciating their love of the show. Ron Howard comes to Mt. Airy every few years but him aside, she's the only actor from the series you'll ever catch there…and therefore, kind of the by-default spokesperson for all who appeared on it. That family went home with some lovely memories.
Betty and I spent our time together plowing through our own lovely memories from the decades when we lived next door to each other…and also there was all that catching-up on what's happened to us since. It's been quite a while. I'm so glad I made this trip to see her again and remind her how much I love her.
I intend to come back…and she wants me to bring Amber next time. Of course, that will depend on American Airlines because I can't come back if I can't get home. If they screw up my ticket tomorrow, I may just stay here and get the room next to Betty's at the Assisted Living Home. I'll bet you she's still a great neighbor.
The battle over abortion may be back and bigger than ever in the coming months. Ed Kilgore has prepared a nice explainer about just what that battle is all about. Personally, I think a lot of it is not about the well-being of women or the children they birth, and is mainly about who's running the country and setting the social order.
I may be wrong but it seemed like at one point, the end of the line to meet Sergio and to get him to sign something was somewhere in South Carolina. It was at the very least in some other Zip Code. I don't think he got to leave his table and see some of the convention so this post is for him…
Sergio, you missed wandering the halls and seeing a high percentage of tables not manned by dealers selling books but by other artists and writers selling and signing their wares. I can't recall another convention where the "Artists Alley" part so dwarfed the "Sell Comics" part. If you were there to fill in your collection, there was plenty of the latter. But if you mainly wanted to meet creators and get them to write their names on their creations, you'd come to the right place.
I really enjoyed roaming the premises talking with folks I knew, by reputation if not by prior contact. Among them were Klaus Janson, Steve Saffel, Kevin Nowlan, Tom Grummett, Andy Hirsch, Neal Adams, Colleen Doran, Athena Finger, Keith Tucker, Jerry Ordway, Mike Royer, Billy Tucci, Charles Vess, Joe Giella, Craig Yoe, John Beatty, Steve Rowe and I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of people…like, say, Don Rosa. That's Don and me in the photo below and I was a lot happier throughout my time at Heroes Con than I appear to be in the picture.
I guess I judge conventions largely on their mood. The mood at Heroes Con seemed very, very pleasant and friendly, making it a great place to spend two days. Ringmaster Shelton Drum and his staff do a great job of making not just folks like you and me feel welcome, Sergio. Seemed to me that everyone who walked in the door felt welcome. And like you, I really enjoyed that barbecue last night at Shelton's store.
Lastly and speaking of food: I learned that the on-the-bone chicken at Bojangles Fried Chicken is really, really good and the Chicken Tenders, coated with too much batter and spice, are not. This will be handy to know any time I am in North Carolina because the state seems to have more Bojangles than people. But it's been a great trip, making me very sorry we missed the first day of it. Maybe next time…
Andrew Sullivan discusses Donald Trump's skill at lying. I wonder what percentage of his flock really and truly thinks he is an honorable man and what percentage thinks, "Yeah, he lies. But I'll tell pollsters I trust him because he's going to give me the America I want and whoever the Democrats put up won't."
There may even be a percentage in there that really and truly admires the lying or rationalizes, "That's what you have to do today to win." Winning is all-important in America today, especially Trump's America. Of the many insults he hurls at anyone who doesn't support him, "loser" is the most frequent.
For what little anything I think may be worth, I don't think Nancy Pelosi is against impeachment. I think she has a game plan that will lead up to it at the proper moment…and Trump knows that.
It was Day One for Sergio and me but Day Two for Heroes Con, a fun-crammed gathering here in Charlotte, N.C., the city I may have to call home for my remaining days on this planet. That's if the airlines of America continue to conspire to keep me off their planes. Seems like a nice place but I do have that cat to feed back in Southern California. She might mind.
(Don't worry. Someone is feeding her in my absence. They just might not be willing to do it forever.)
Heroes Con is different from a lot of comic conventions in that it's about comics…and nothing else. The featured guests are not movie stars or TV stars. They're folks who do comic books. That means that to be there is to be surrounded by people who love and/or create comic books, which always makes for a happy crowd…and boy, was it a big one today.
Photo by Phil Geiger
I was scheduled to host panels all day but I passed one over to someone else so I could tend to some of the things I was unable to do yesterday. On the first one I did do, I got to interview three of the best inkers of comic books of all time. They are, left to right in the above photo, John Beatty, Mike Royer and Klaus Janson. The fourth guy is Your Obedient Blogger. I'll write more about this panel when I'm not on the laptop here but it was nice to chat with three fellows who not only do what they do well but are able to explain why they do it the way they do.
The rest of the day? Signing stuff, seeing old friends and making some new ones…three other panels…and a nice man brought me a lunch of Bojangles fried chicken which you can't find in states where you can usually find me. The Bojangles website says North Carolina has 315 stores which strikes me as damned selfish. You'd think they could spare one for Los Angeles, preferably within walking distance of my house.
