Allan Asherman has been around comics almost as long as I have, mostly as an editor, writer and archivist. He's a good guy as you'll presume from these thoughts he sent me about Bernie Wrightson. I thought they were deserving of a much wider readership than just me so, with Allan's permission…
This morning I saw on your site that Bernie Wrightson had died, and I wanted to share the following recollections with you.
One day during 1966 or 1967 I don't was visiting my friend Larry Ivie in Manhattan when he told me he had to meet some friends who were due to arrive in the city about now. Larry asked me to wait and he left, returning an hour or so later with Jeff and Weezie Jones who had traveled from Atlanta, and Bernie Wrightson, who had arrived from Baltimore.
Before long we were talking like we had known each other for years. Soon after that, Jeff and Weezie moved into an apartment building on West 79th Street, where Bernie also found an apartment, which he shared with Mike Kaluta. That building soon became the site of monthly gatherings of comics artists, writers and enthusiasts, all of whom were deeply interested in the history and state of the industry, and in science fiction, fantasy and adventure films as well.
The visitors at these meetings included Archie Goodwin and Anne Goodwin, Roy Krenkel, Gray Morrow, Al Williamson, Wally Wood, Vaughn Bode, Bill Stillwell, Al Weiss, Mary Skrenes and Steve Stiles, Jeff, Weezie, and me. Those evenings are among my happiest memories because of shared interests, thought-provoking discussions, and the fact that these were all good people.
Bernie was one if the most animated and interesting people I've ever met. When he drew he usually didn't use reference. He didn't need it. He'd start drawing a hand or a face, not roughing it in but pencilling it complete with veins, hair and wrinkles, always knowing how much to draw, how much to imply, and where the light was coming from. The figure would seem to fill itself in.
I once asked about how he approached drawing, and he answered that he already had the completed picture in his mind, which he likened to a slide projector. His memory was phenomenal. I was with him one evening watching The Bride of Frankenstein, and after the film ended he drew a specific downshot of actor Ernest Thesiger watching the Bride coming to life. The likeness and lighting was perfect.
Bernie was a wonderful person, always young and enthusiastic, always considerate and respectful of beauty, and an artist who could even make what was grotesque beautiful.
This morning, Jake Tapper interviewed Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price. Tapper quoted the Congressional Budget Office's estimate that 24 million people would lose their insurance because of the plan currently under consideration, then asked: ""Given the fact that the President promised insurance for everyone, how do you justify to the millions of voters who believed President Trump that there would be insurance for everyone when there clearly is not going to be?"
Price responded, "The President is committed to that, as am I. The fact of the matter is, this bill that's moving through Congress right now is simply the first step in this process."
Two things to say about this. One is that a lot of folks in Congress want that to be the final step in the process. People like Price have to express some outrage at that bill in order to get it modified, not act like it merely needs some commas moved and numbers tweaked a bit.
Second thing: All insurance is not created equal. Some of it costs too much for many people to afford. Some of it comes with deductibles so high, it's almost like having no insurance. Some of it doesn't cover much no matter how high the deductible.
It would be very easy for the Republicans to craft a plan that gave everyone insurance that was largely worthless. Or to give everyone the opportunity (i.e., "access to insurance") they couldn't possibly afford. I wish the discussion was about decent insurance for everyone.
I liked the 1991 animated feature of Beauty and the Beast and I really liked the 1994 Broadway adaptation. The new, live-action/CGI version, not so much…though I suppose if the earlier ones had not existed, I might be more favorably inclined. Scanning the reviews, I seem to be the only person who felt that the core of the story — Emma Watson as Belle — just about disappeared amidst the dazzling special effects, mood lighting and, at times, frenetic pace. Dan Stevens fared better as The Beast…but then that performance seemed more the creation of those who did the digital and make-up effects, along with the filters and enhancement of his voice.
Luke Evans was fine as Gaston but the whole, much-discussed gay subtext of Josh Gad's character felt to me arbitrary and not worth the fuss. In the comic book field, we have been through a period where a lot of writers and editors seemed to decide they needed someone in each book to be gay and they picked one almost at random. This felt random. LeFou seemed more interesting to me when his subservience to Gaston reeked of hypocrisy; when he was kissing up to a faux idol because he thought it might be profitable, not because he wanted to kiss him.
It may seem unfair to compare this version to the first…but this version only exists because of the first. We're expected to buy tickets to this version because of our affection for the original and to transfer some of that affection to this remake. How then can I not say that the first and even the second were more of a piece for me? As has been proven many times, it is possible to combine animated characters with humans in a way that makes you forget the separation. Either you buy that these humans and digitally-created beings are all interacting in the same world or not and in this case, I didn't experience that. The scenes with the wolves especially felt computer-generated to me.
What I saw, I should mention, was the 2-D version. That's because 3-D puts me to sleep — literally. Maybe in 3-D, the people and the cartoons feel like they're in the same plane of existence, There were also scenes where so much was happening on the screen — like the "Be Our Guest" number and the climactic fight — that I had trouble focusing on any of it. I would think that would be more of a problem in 3-D but maybe not.
Then again, there were moments and components I liked. Even though inorganic in his creation, The Beast was effective and the evolution of his character was believable. Kevin Kline was terrific as Belle's father…perhaps the most human element in the picture. And the ending, no matter how gimmicky its presentation, is always a real eye-moistener. But I wanted to like more than just some scenes and it all felt too long and artificially-flavored for me. Maybe you'll have a better time of it.
The very popular comic artist and illustrator Bernie Wrightson passed away yesterday after a long battle with brain cancer. His beloved wife Liz has posted a much better obit over at his website than I could possibly write so I'll just share a few memories of the man.
Her piece says his first professional work appeared in House of Mystery #179 in 1968. I remember seeing him first in The Spectre #9 which came out the same month. That story carried no credit or signature and several folks in our comic book club were convinced it was by Frank Frazetta who was, of course, Bernie's hero. First time I met Bernie, I told him that and he said it was the greatest compliment he could have received.
Actually, his early work looked Frazetta-inspired but not interchangeable. And within a few years, Bernie had developed his own, unique style which recalled not only Frazetta, but Graham Ingels and other veterans of EC Comics, as well as plenty of non-comic illustrators. It wasn't long before that the elements of it that were pure Wrightson were turning up in the works of others. By the time he and Len Wein created Swamp Thing and produced the early issues, he was a major force in his field. That was just three years after he got into that field.
My other memories of him are just of hanging around at conventions, sitting in the bar at night, talking endlessly about this and that. As a person, he was like his artwork: Impossible to dislike. And pretty darned humble. The first hundred times he was asked for his autograph, he seemed genuinely surprised and flattered.
It was so sad that he was unable to draw in the last few years, and sadder yet to lose such a good man. I suppose we can take some comfort that his work — especially those issues of Swamp Thing — will be reprinted over and over again in years to come…but obviously, that's not enough. Not nearly enough. He was 68 years old.
Just a few articles for your weekend reading pleasure — and believe me, reading this stuff is not a pleasure…
Despite furious back-pedaling by his staff and even Republican leaders in Congress saying there's no "there" there, Trump is standing behind his feeble-sourced claim that Obama had him wiretapped. Well, of course. Trump says "I'm sorry" and "I was wrong" about as often as I say, "Hey, lemme have some more of that delicious candy corn!" Want to know how much truth there is to his assertion? Kevin Drum says there isn't much.
How much does Trump even know about the American Health Care Act which he is now pushing? Almost nothing, according to Ezra Klein but that may not be fair. Trump does seem to know that it's super and terrific and the best thing ever…but that's about it.
William Saletan writes about how the Trump Administration wants lots of investigations of their opponents and none of them. So they need two contradictory policies of what should be investigated. In other words, Trump can shoot someone in broad daylight on 5th Avenue but you can't.
John Cassidy notes how one of the big things that's been getting Donald Trump in trouble has been his own words coming back to haunt him and be used against him. The man got away with a lot of that during the campaign because that was a campaign when even your supporters will overlook a little warping of reality because, hey, you've gotta win, right? Most folks aren't as forgiving once you've won, plus now your words apply to the real world.
And in a related story, Caroline Framke writes about how Stephen Colbert has finally found a successful character to replace the old Stephen Colbert. He's transformed himself into Stephen Colbert and Stephen Colbert is now a successful talk show host.
Last night, I went to see Alton Brown's latest live show, which is called Eat Your Science. Mr. Brown is, as you probably know, a superstar of the Food Network and its sister station, the Cooking Channel. I enjoy watching reruns of his long-running series, Good Eats, although about all I really learn from them is that I am way too uneducated about food preparation to do it properly, nor is my kitchen up to the challenge. I watch him for the same reason some people watch sporting events or porn: It's fun to see others do things you will never do, especially if they do them well.
The guy is smart and he's really good at doing television…so when I had a chance to get tix to see him on stage, I thought it would be interesting to see just what it is he does there. It turns out that he puts on a darn fine show.
It was up at the massive (too big) Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Tonight's the second performance and then it's on to Fresno, Modesto, Davis, San Francisco and other parts to the north of us for one night apiece with the occasional day off along the way. Here's the schedule. Someone seems to have calculated the number of rabid Alton Brown fans in each city and figured they could fill a building for one night, except that in Los Angeles, they could fill it twice. Most of those present seemed to have every episode of Good Eats on DVD and love them so much, they'd rush to see him every time he comes around.
They loved every single thing he said or did, including his musical numbers, which I'll just say ever-so-politely aren't as skillful as his other skills. What he is really good at is just talking and interacting with the audience. I don't know why no one has ever given this guy a talk show because he's funny, he's smart and he's way better at ad-lib conversation than about about 90% of those who've ever had talk shows.
On stage, he discourses about food and cooking and related topics and he brings people up out of the audience to participate in demonstrations. The main one in the first act was about the drinking of alcohol — another thing I'll never do. A lady had to spin three wheels to select three liquids which his on-stage bartender would mix into a cocktail she had to drink. I think most in the house would have drank what Socrates drank if Alton Brown told them to do it. As I recall, she got stuck with bourbon, Jägermeister and bitters.
To give you some idea of my drinking experience, I've never tasted any of those and had never even heard of Jägermeister, whatever that is…but that's apparently a pretty ghastly combination, which is I'm sure what Brown was hoping for. To minimize the agony of swallowing this concoction, they brought out Liquid Nitrogen and went through the elaborate process of freezing her beverage into a Sno-Cone. This made it more palatable.
The second act was mostly about making popcorn which, since this is Alton Brown, had to be done by the most elaborate, expensive method the human mind could conceive. It involved what they said was the largest corn popper in the world…because no one but Alton Brown would build one that big. Here's a 30-second preview of the festivities…
I was impressed with how well Alton Brown pleased Alton Brown fans — that is meant with no sarcasm — and by the energy and industry in this tour. He must have a helluva crew to be able to tear all that equipment down and then get it and him to another city in time to set everything up there and do another show the next night. Just as an example, I note that he's in Spokane on March 29, Boise on March 30, Salt Lake City on March 31 and Denver on April 1. From Spokane to Boise is 367 miles. From Boise to Salt Lake City is 340 miles. And from Salt Lake City to Denver is 522 miles. That's not humanly possible but I'm sure they'll do it anyway.
Closing ovation aside, Brown got his biggest audience response of the night when he announced he's bringing Good Eats back soon. He got his second-biggest response (I think) when in discoursing about bacon, he found there was one woman in the audience who didn't like bacon and he ran out, hugged her and did some impromptu grief counseling about whatever traumatic event in her past life had taken her to such a cold, inhuman place in her soul. Third-biggest was probably when he answered questions from the audience near the end. You had to post them and a "selfie" on Twitter during intermission and I didn't. If I had, I would have asked him why the government bans food items containing Listeria but does nothing about the serving of cole slaw.
Oh — and at the top of the show, Brown took a photo of the audience from the stage and posted it directly to Twitter. Here it is and on the larger version, I've marked myself. The person next to me in the dark blue cap is my friend Amber…
Click above to enlarge the pic and find Amber and me.
Somewhere in there, perhaps seated next to Waldo, you might also be able to spot Chris Valada, the wonderful wife of Len Wein. Len had surgery recently and a day or two later, I went to see my friend of 47 years in the hospital. Chris told me he's been moved out of the hospital and to a rehab center where he's getting better and better. No offense to Mr. Brown but that was the best part of the evening for me, hearing that.
Friends and correspondents keep reminding me of a line I wrote once in a comic book. One character said to another something like, "You know what the trouble with you is? You've never realized that never admitting you're wrong isn't the same thing as always being right."
This whole thing with the allegation that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower is an example of how Donald Trump either doesn't get the difference or simply doesn't have the occasional moment of humility it takes to say, "I'm sorry, I was wrong." Instead, he's insisting that he has the evidence and will get around someday to disclosing it. In the meantime, he's probably pressuring those he can pressure to find something someplace (anything!) that at least justifies him making the charge.
When you're the frickin' President of the United States, you have the best access in the world to researchers and our nation's secrets. You shouldn't be relying on "Well, I read it someplace."
Some links…
Josh Marshall writes more about what I just wrote about. He says, "It is amazing, crazy that we've actually spent two weeks discussing this as a real issue. Now, because of this enabling, we have a bona-fide, if minor, international incident with the US's closest ally, the United Kingdom because the President's press secretary actually spread the accusation that the UK somehow conspired with President Obama to do this. That's nuts." Where did the Trump administration get its info that the United Kingdom had done this? Well, they heard someone on Fox News say it.
As Katy Waldman notes, one big reason why Trump's Muslim ban keeps getting overturned is that the law says you can't do that, so the only way they can institute a Muslim ban is to deny that it's really a Muslim ban. And the reason they can't do that is because Trump and his minions can't resist reassuring their followers that it's a Muslim ban.
Lastly for now: Daniel Larison thinks it's nuts to throw more money at the military while slashing aid programs. So do I and so do you.
And just how much is it costing us to have Mr. Trump living in the White House but commuting to Mar-a-Lago, and Mrs. Trump living in New York? Couldn't we spend a little of that money on feeding poor people in this country? Just a little?
One more post about health care: Prentice Hammond was the first of several readers to send me this link to an article by Matt Bai that explains things in terms of the Bizarro World.
Just in case anyone reading this doesn't know, the Bizarro World is from the continuity for the Superman comic books. It's a planet where yes means no, up is down, day is night, black is white and everything else is reversed. On the Bizarro World, Bizarro Donald Trump cares about everyone except himself. Bai sees Obamacare and the American Health Care Act as Bizarro versions of each other…and he may be on to something.
It must be tough to be a Trump supporter and to keep realizing his words don't mean much. He says there's evidence that Obama wiretapped him but he somehow hasn't gotten around to showing it to anyone even though the investigation he demanded is collapsing for lack of any evidence. It's just like all that proof he said he had that Obama wasn't born in Hawaii. Somehow, it never materialized. Somehow, he could never quite admit that anything he said wasn't true.
He just lets these things dribble away. He said that everyone was going to have the greatest health care and everyone would be covered and the government would pay for it…and now that's kind of backing away through his usual techniques of changing the subject, putting things off and redefining the words he said.
His minions have been out insisting that when he said he'd been "wiretapped," he didn't mean "wiretapped," though he still says he was and will prove it. One of these days. As long as he faces no journalist more insistent than Tucker Carlson, he can get away with it with a certain section of the population.
It still amuses me that deep down, Trump seems to think that the way to discredit opposition is to say that their business is in trouble. This morning, he kept referring to the "failing New York Times." No one should listen to them because their business is failing…except, of course, it's not. Here are some links…
Jonathan Chait writes of the battle between Trump and Paul Ryan to blame each other for plans going awry. He also notes that Trump could just arrange a big tax cut for the rich without going through all these efforts to gut Obamacare but it wouldn't be a permanent cut, which is what Ryan wants.
Trump's new proposed budget will be great for people in his income bracket; disastrous for those at lower levels…including folks in those levels who voted for Trump. This is according to Chauncey DeVega. The Trump voters who are about to see their health insurance go away or become beastly more expensive are probably starting to figure out that that's the kind of thing they voted for.
Fred Kaplan says that the wisest, most experienced members of Trump's cabinets are the ones no one there is listening to. Just about what you'd expect.
Lastly, if you read no other article about health care, read this one…but I'll warn you: It's long. Sarah Kliff and Ezra Klein lay out the lessons of Obamacare and how we got to where we are now. The lessons seem undeniable but Republicans don't seem to want to heed them because they don't lead to the desired result. That's why I don't think they can ever get to their desired result.
TV shows that bash Trump — like Colbert's, Meyers' and Maddow's — continue to enjoy increased ratings. Wonder if NBC has given any thought to reconfiguring Celebrity Apprentice as a show where the competitors' goal is not to make money but to bring down the current President of the United States. They could install Keith Olbermann as host and each week, he fires the person who's done the worst job of exposing Trump's ineptness and treachery. It would soar in the ratings and even Donald would like it because he still owns a piece of the program.
Folks keep asking me when I will complete and release my big, exhaustive, long-promised biography of Jack Kirby. The answer is soon, almost certainly next year. I have a very good excuse why I didn't have it out this year for the 100th anniversary of Jack's birth but I can't tell you what it is right now.
Most of you figured out that my previous "very good excuse" was that the Kirby family asked me not to publish it while there was ongoing litigation. Now that there isn't, there's a new "very good excuse" but I don't foresee it or anything else that might come along preventing me from getting it out next year. It will be very long.
In the meantime, the fine folks at Abrams ComicArts are issuing an updated edition of my 2008 book on Jack, Kirby: King of Comics. This edition is 16 pages longer (a new chapter and some artwork that wasn't in the first edition), with smaller pages and new, softer covers. Oh, yeah — and a few corrections. That's the new front cover above.
The Abrams website says it'll be out on August 1 but I'm assured there will be copies aplenty at Comic-Con International, which kicks off on July 20. It will of course be available from fine booksellers everywhere and even some of the crummy ones.
Hey, speaking of fine booksellers everywhere: For some reason, the Barnes & Noble website lists me as the author of a number of comics that were actually written by Mr. Kirby. In some cases, I wrote forewords or text pages for these books and I assume some computer grabbed my name off the inputted data instead of Jack's. Anyway, I've written to ask them to fix this. Too many people have gotten credit for Jack's work over the years and if you see that happen anywhere, get it fixed. Even if the credit's going to me.
Here's Kevin Drum with a theory as to why maybe Donald Trump did leak that tax return. And you know? It does kinda make sense, especially since whoever leaked it didn't leak all of it.
This is not to suggest there aren't other possibilities.
The leak of part of Donald Trump's 2005 tax return doesn't tell us that much. I mean, we all know that the tax codes in this country have been configured so that rich folks like him can avoid paying the same percentage of their incomes that a lot of non-rich people pay. It's only because of the Alternative Minimum Tax that Trump paid as much as he did and one of the primary goals of his administration is to do away with the A.M.T. If that had happened before '05, he would have paid something like 3-4%.
Kevin Drum does think that the tax return tells us this: That at least in that year, Donald Trump was a truly terrible businessman.
You know what does tell us a lot about the man? His response to the leak. The man who urged everyone to leak damaging information about his opponent is outraged that someone leaked something about him. Trump is, of course, always outraged about something and it's usually something like that…something he himself has done.
He also employed two of his favorite hollow insults. He called it "fake news" even though the White House confirmed it.
And of course, he attacked the success and fame of those who attacked him. I think he thinks the two worst possible things you can say about anyone is that they're not famous and their business is failing. The man who brought you Trump University and Trump Steaks and Trump Vodka and dozens of other Trump Failures tweeted that David Cay Johnston, the writer who leaked the form, was "a reporter who nobody ever heard of." (Well, the folks who give out Pulitzer Prizes have.)
Then a White House statement attacked Rachel Maddow's show, which broadcast the info. It said, "You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago."
Maddow's show, of course, has been doing great in the ratings lately, even before this.
I guess by "fake news," he may have meant that the story of how Johnston got the forms was fake…but it's not at all far-fetched. It's exactly how most leaks occur these days. And if Trump didn't leak the forms himself (as some suspect he did for some reason that makes no sense to me), then he has no idea how Johnston got them. But not knowing anything never stops this guy.
Our pal Stu's guest today is writer-producer Bob Illes, who could probably fill a dozen Stu's Shows, given all he's done. I picked the series Silver Spoons (which he Exec-Produced) to illustrate this plug but I could have illustrated it with pix from all the variety shows he and his partner Jim Stein wrote on (like Carol Burnett's or Dick Van Dyke's), or sitcoms like One Day at a Time or What's Happening? I think Stu's going to have Bob talk about producing shows with kid actors. Silver Spoons was one, Sister Sister was another and there was also City Guys. After the audio webcast, Stu will activate the Stu's Show Internet TV Channel for a video installment, continuing his interview with Bob and running a couple of unsold pilots from Mr. Illes' past. You can hear the audio at Stu's site and also find out how to stay tuned for the video.
Stu's Show can be heard live (almost) every Wednesday at that Stu's Show website and you can listen for free there and then. Webcasts start at 4 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM Eastern and other times in other climes. They run a minimum of two hours and sometimes go to three or beyond. Then shortly after a show concludes, it's available for downloading from the Archives on that site. Downloads are 99 cents each or you can go for the super-saver price: Buy three and get a fourth one free. But listen live and make sure you watch the video show that follows!
