The harmony group Voctave favors us with some tunes from Cinderella…

This came to me from a reader named Brian David Mannix…

I have never written you before either electronically or conventionally, but I am doing so now because I need to express my feelings about various DC Comics characters and it would really be wonderful if someone would "listen." I quit reading your website a year or two ago because it seemed like the only time you mentioned comics was when someone in the comics industry passed away and I got tired of you "dumping" on President Trump. I don't like a lot of things about our president either, but it just got kind of boring reading about how allegedly horrible he was/is.

I guess this isn't the best way to begin a missive in which I ask you for a favor, but those are my honest feelings. I am not trying to be rude or hurtful, just honest. We people with Asperger Syndrome are not known for our diplomacy or our empathy, but I am not attempting to "tell you off." I have typed several messages to the DC Comics' website contact feature, but have not yet heard back from anyone. I threatened to keep e-mailing them until I got a response, just like Marty Pasko did with "snail" mail back in the 70s, but I guess they weren't very impressed. The people in charge may be too young to even know who Marty Pasko is. I have read, I think in the late, lamented Amazing Heroes, that Mr. Pasko wrote DC so often with so many complaints of (hopefully constructive) criticism, that he came to be known as "Pesky Pasko."

I often joke that I am in a minority; I'm a comic-book fan; but even within that minority I'm in a minority, because most of my favorite comic-book characters are not superheroes. The DC Universe has many fascinating characters who are not superheroes (or supervillains)! And no, I do not mean non-powered but costumed characters like Batman. As far as I concerned, Batman and his ilk are superheroes or supervillains because they wear funny (stupid?) costumes.

One of the best comic-book stories I have ever read featured Slam Bradley in "The 'Too Many Cooks…' Caper." It was in the landmark 500th issue of Detective Comics which was published in late 1980. The story also starred Mysto, Jason Bard, Roy Raymond, Captain Compass, Pow Wow Smith, and The Human Target. In a better world, characters like that would be the stars of a comic-book named Detective Comics and not some freak in a Halloween costume.

How about a team-up between Captain Compass and the Sea Devils? And if the crybabies can't live without their precious superheroes, they could throw in Aquaman. I have a copy of the Showcase Presents black-and-white trade paperback that DC published a few years ago, and my least favorite feature in it is The Flash. I like that feature okay, but I would much rather read about firefighters, frogmen, animals, Lois Lane, and The Challengers of the Unknown, which were some of the other features in the first 20-odd issues of the original Showcase from the 1950s. I really am in a minority, am I not?

The community computer I am using to type this just told me that I have less than ten minutes before it shuts down, so I will close this e-missive for now. Thank you for listening!

Let you in on a secret, Brian. I think most folks who write comic books would much rather write about folks with no special powers. For one thing, you can write about human emotions and themes that relate to your own world more directly.  My own dreams and hopes and feelings would be quite different if I came from another planet and could bench-press a Chevrolet.

Secondly, stories would be easier and neater if we didn't have to keep coming up with menaces that could threaten people with superhuman abilities. When you're writing about characters with the power to save the universe, you have to keep coming up with storylines that threaten the destruction of the universe.

There's also the mix-and-match problem. I like a lot of Superman stories and I like a lot of Batman stories but I can't think of one story I ever really liked with both of them in major roles. Those just get too contrived because any villain who's powerful enough to give Superman a fight would be powerful enough to kill Batman in two seconds. Also, there's a wide discrepancy in the bravery of those two heroes. For Batman, facing down a band of armed gunmen is risking his life. For Superman, it's a yawn.

I don't think they go together but the readership loves to see them in the same comic. The readership also loves its superfolks. DC and Marvel will start doing more comics about characters like Slam Bradley when there's the slightest evidence people will buy them. At the moment, I don't believe there is.  It's not all that different from back in 1990 when someone at Marvel asked me to come up with a book that had not a single super-powered or costumed character in it.  You can read about that unhappy experience here.

Frankly, I think you're wasting your time lobbying DC or Marvel or any of the major publishers about this.  If you want to expend some energy on this cause, try going to your local comic book shop and ask them how they'd feel about ordering and promoting the kind of comic you want to see.  They'd probably order really low unless it was done by some superstar writer and artist.  Then ask them how many copies they'd order if that same superstar writer and artist did a new super-hero team or something full of monsters and the possible destruction of our Solar System.  If you can't convince the folks at your local comic shop, you probably can't convince someone at Marvel or DC.

And if you do convince them, please let me know.  I have several ideas for comics of the sort that I'd love to do.

Ducklings in a swimming pool…

• If someone went in and shot up a convention of armed security guards, Trump would tweet, "This wouldn't have happened it they'd had armed security guards there!"

You may not have noticed this but I have stopped linking to most crowd-funding efforts. I haven't totaled up the precise number but a number of the ones I've plugged here asking you to help fund a publication or film have never come out. As far as I can tell, those who accepted the crowd-funded funds had every good intention and still, long after the announced delivery dates, intend to get their publication published or film completed. And of course, some were finished as promised.

But some have not and I'm trying to decide whether I should stop linking to such efforts. While I do, I'm turning down all such requests so please — especially if you're a good friend — don't ask me.

This is different…first of all, because Mark Waid didn't ask me and secondly, because he's not promising to deliver a product. Mark — who as you know is a fine, popular comic book writer, is trying to deliver a sane, just ending to a lawsuit that could have ramifications for the entire comic book community. The money is definitely being spent just as he explains on his GoFundMe page. Read up on it and see if you want to support him. I sure did.

• Nice game-winning homer by Max Muncy. But I don't think he had that beard when the game started.

• They wouldn't have dared keep Vin Scully up this late.

• On the other hand, maybe I should go get some sleep. The Dodgers may need me to start tomorrow.

• I'm tuning in to watch the Dodgers playing the Red Sox. I find that baseball games don't really get interesting until you get past the seventeenth inning.

You'll love this. Last October 18, there was a retirement party for Caroll Spinney, who as we all know is ending his long run as Oscar and Big Bird on Sesame Street. A mob of past performers from that show turned out to serenade him.

This is a Facebook embed which means that in some browsers, you have to click on a little "X" to turn on the audio. And while you're clicking down there, you'll want to take this full-screen on your computer monitor.

• The trouble with Trump saying "We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony" is that the only way he could ever see that happening is for everyone to support Donald J. Trump and every single thing he does.

We have here an article and a video about one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles — a place known variously as Philippe the Original, Philippe's the Original or just Philippe's. In the video below, you'll see the owners using the three names interchangeably so I figure I can, too.

The article is from Eater L.A. It and the video both tell the legend about how its original owner, Philippe Mathieu, accidentally invented its signature item — the French Dip sandwich — by unintentionally dropping a French roll into a pan of drippings.

I am suspicious of these stories of how someone accidentally spilled molten chocolate on ice cream and invented the Hot Fudge Sundae; how someone accidentally dropped chopped meat on a roll and invented the Philly Steak Sandwich; how someone accidentally spilled mayonnaise on floor sweepings and invented cole slaw, etc. Couldn't someone have said, "Hey, I'll bet this sandwich would taste better if I dipped the roll in the pan drippings"? Why is it always an accident?

However they came to be, the sandwiches at Philippe's are great and they aren't great because of exotic spices or various ingredients used to enhance the meat. It's just good meat on a good roll with good pan drippings. The beef is the star and it's probably what you should try the first time you go there but I also love the lamb sandwich and the turkey. Read the article. Watch the video. Next time you're in downtown L.A. at the right hour, go eat a sandwich there. (For a time long before I was born, they were open 24 hours. Wish they still were. I'd go there at all hours.)

Oh — and you can find out more about the place and take a virtual tour at the Philippe's website. Here's the video…

So they've arrested a suspect in the "Let's mail a pipe bomb to someone Trump hates" movement. It turns out to be a guy who's a long-time registered Republican whose van is covered with pro-Trump stickers and signs. I haven't looked at any right-wing sites since I read this news but I'll bet there are already some insisting — with of course not a sliver of evidence — that this guy is a secret Democratic operative who was set up to appear to be a Trump supporter doing this. In the world today, anything that happens that you don't like is a False Flag and/or Fake News.

But you know what I think? I think we oughta all heed the cautionary words of Matt Taibbi who reminded us a day or so ago that acts of terrorism are often misreported at first. There's a history of the wrong person being accused and the facts later telling a somewhat different story. Cable news needs immediate tune-ins so they can't afford to be prudent and patient about this kind of thing. But we can.

James Arnold Taylor is one of the most in-demand voiceover actors working these days and one of his frequent gigs is as the voice of Fred Flintstone. In this video, he lets us peek in as he records a few lines for a commercial in his home studios. Back when Fred was voiced by Alan Reed or Henry Corden, those gents had to drive to a studio somewhere to record their lines and the director would usually be there, along with any other actors. These days, a lot of voice work is done this way in a home studio.

When I'm voice directing a whole show, I always try to gather the performers all in the same studio at the same time so they can see other and feel connected to each other and react to each other. It has been my experience that most actors prefer it that way…or would if there wasn't the possibility that in the time it takes to do one job that way, they could do five jobs the way James does the one in this video. Five jobs are almost always more lucrative than one job. But I'm talking here about longer episodes with more than a few lines. For a few lines, the way it's done here is fine…and often, the client prefers it this way so their director can do his or her job by phone and not have to fly to where the talent is.

James is a pro and as you'll see, he isn't hurrying to end this session so he can move on to something else. He's making sure the client has what they need. And finally, note also that he's doing most of Fred's gestures, throwing his whole body into the effort. It's not about the imitating. It's about acting…

Often on this blog, I plug the appearances of my pal Frank Ferrante, who tours America with his show in which he portrays Julius Henry Marx, otherwise known as Groucho. One reason I do this is that every time he appears somewhere, I get at least one message like this one from my pal Roger Stern, who is one of the better comic book writer-editors around…

Friday, October 5th, Carmela and I — and our friend Jeff Hetzel — piled into my car and drove for three and half hours to reach Fredonia, New York. There we sat in the front row of the Fredonia Opera House, where we enjoyed — most thoroughly — An Evening with Groucho. It was everything you said and more.

I knew from your past blog postings that Frank Ferrante would first come on stage as himself and start the show by talking about Mr. Marx. But watching him apply the greasepaint and transform into Groucho before my eyes was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

For the next couple of hours, he looked like Groucho, he talked and sang like Groucho, and he moved like Groucho in his prime. The height of the stage in the Opera House necessitated feats of Marxian acrobatics as he scrambled down — and back up again — for the half-dozen or so times he came down into the house to interact with the audience. (During the intermission, Carmela overheard one of the Fredonian college students seated in the row behind us say, "I'm exhausted just watching him do that!")

And the audience interaction was just part of the improvisation. Groucho — for he truly was Groucho at that point — had some amazing interactions with his pianist Alex Rybeck.

At one point, Groucho leapt onto the Baby Grand Piano that Alex was playing, and it turned out that someone had neglected to lock the piano's wheels. There ensued an hilarious tug-of-war with the piano between Groucho and Alex, that ended with the piano far to the back of the stage. Groucho then stood to one side and grinned to the audience, "Let's see how long it takes him to wrestle it back into place."

Another time, Groucho was finishing a lovely rendition of "Everyone Says I Love You," which was supposed to end with Alex blowing on a duck call. Except that Alex had inadvertently gotten the duck call turned around, so that nothing came out. Groucho stopped, looked at his accompanist and sighed, "There were just three times when you have to be funny." Then, as Alex looked at the duck call, Groucho continued, "It has only two ends. You had a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right." (When we spoke with Alex after the show, he confirmed that both bits had been unplanned.)

Let's see…there was comedy, singing, dancing, improvisation…oh, and something I hadn't expected, pathos. There was love and affection in his voice when Groucho talked about his brothers. There was a moment of regret, when he spoke of how he had never finished school. By the end of the evening, we truly felt as though we'd met Groucho Marx. He never dropped character until the very end, when, again as Frank, he related a story of meeting George Fenneman.

And meeting Frank afterwards was just as wonderful. He stuck around in the lobby to autograph programs and photos, and graciously posed for pictures until the last of the audience had gone home. We also had an opportunity to chat with Alex, who was equally gracious, and deeply touched that we wanted his autograph, as well as Frank's. We, of course, tendered our thanks to Frank for a great evening and told him that "Mark had sent us." Carmela asked Frank about what his workout routine must be, to which he replied, "I think you just saw it."

Anyway, we wanted to thank *you* for all of your previous stories about Frank, and links to his performances. Once again, sir, we are in your debt.

You most certainly are and we accept all major credit cards.

Hey, I should I mention that Frank does other things besides impersonate Groucho.  January 15 thru March 3 of next year, he'll be in Philadelphia at the historic Walnut Street Theater, directing and starring in a production of the Ken Ludwig farce, Comedy of Tenors. If you're not familiar with the play, it's kind of like Room Service if Room Service had been set in Paris in the thirties, with a lot of On the Twentieth Century thrown in. Get tickets here — and you might also note that Frank will be doing his Groucho show in that theater on February 25.

Then! For years now, when Frank hasn't been Grouchoing, he's been Caesaring. Caesar is another Ferrante characterization, most often seen as the host and star of Teatro ZinZanni. Those of you wondering what the heck Teatro ZinZanni is didn't read this description that appeared on this blog long ago…

Imagine a grand tent inside of which you find a swanky restaurant that serves a gourmet meal as a bevy of wonderful food servers and performers put on a show all around you. There are singers, dancers, comedians, acrobats in the style of (the comparison is unavoidable) Cirque du Soleil and artists whose skills are awesome but utterly unidentifiable. This all transpires not on a faraway stage but up close and personal. The aerial acts are practically over your head in the intimate theater. The dancers are sometimes performing not just near your table but actually on it, skillfully not stepping in the fine soup you have just been served.

This is a fine description but I need to explain more. It is sometimes difficult to tell where the attractive wait staff leaves off and the equally attractive cast takes over. Some of each serve you. Some of each entertain you. The performers roam about in character, chatting you up and entertaining you while you dine. That's when they aren't dancing…or hustling you up out of your seat to dance with them. The show is quite interactive…and did I mention the sensational live five-piece band? The compleat ZinZanni experience runs about three hours. They serve you the first course. They perform for a while. Then they serve you the second course and perform while you eat it…and so on. You leave quite well-fed and, of course, utterly entertained.

At the time I wrote that (10/30/10), there were two outlets of Teatro ZinZanni. There was the one in San Francisco (at which I had just had a great evening) and the one in Seattle. Since then, lease problems forced both to close for a time. The Seattle production reopens in a new location next week and if you want to know all about it, go to this page.

The San Francisco presence is awaiting the construction of its new home and is expected to reopen late next year. In the meantime though, a new branch of Teatro ZinZanni opens April 5 of next year in Chicago with its star/host Caesar, aka Frank! He'll be there for many months and I'm determined to get back there to see him and what I'm sure will be a wonderful show. Here's a link to the webpage for it but there isn't much there yet. Tickets will go on sale about a month from now.  It's one of those things you just have to experience.