Happy Birthday To Me

Funny, I don’t FEEL fifty.

When I was a kid in junior high and high school in the late Seventies I used to think that the year 2000 was SO far away. I couldn’t wait to move forward into the 21st Century….to turn sixteen…then eighteen…then twenty-one. Eventually, however, we entered the New Millennium and I turned into Jack Benny; I wanted to stop at age thirty-nine.

As a younger person did you ever look at a certain celebrities and think, “he’s old!” As a kid everybody is older than you, but some “look” older to you, right? And some never look their age. Jimmy Carter was 52 when he was elected US President in 1976. Tom Bosley was 47 when he started playing Howard Cunningham on TV’s “Happy Days” in 1974. And Julie Andrews was 29 when she won an Academy Award for “Mary Poppins” in 1964.

Speaking of age 29, traditionally that was the age of Superman, Batman, and Aquaman. DC Comics had announced that their heroes were in their late 20s because they didn’t want to break that psychological barrier of having them turn thirty. And when I turned 30, I actually stopped and realized, “Wow, I’m now older than Superman.”

Now I guess I’m as old (or nearly as old?) as Jonathan and Martha Kent, the foster parents of Superman! 

I always thought James Dean was young when he died at age 24. George Reeves, who portrayed Superman on TV, died when he was 45. Marilyn Monroe died too young at age 36. Robert Kennedy was murdered when he was 42. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was murdered when he was only 39 years old. Flo Ballard, one of the original Supremes, died at age 32.  Elvis died at age 42, but let’s face it, by that point his body was physically much older than that. Three years later John Lennon was murdered at age 40. Marvin Gaye was murdered when he was 44.

The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show Feb 9, 1964

And every time I surpassed these celebrities’ ages I thought, “Wow, I’m now older than (that celebrity) was when s/he died.”

 

Schwerner, Chaney, & Goodman, murdered June 21, 1964

Not to be maudlin, but is it natural to think about these things as you get older? Or am I just weird?

Closer to home, my paternal grand-mother died when my father was in high school. So she died relatively young. However, my paternal grand-father and maternal grand-parents all lived until they were quite old. My mother died last year at age 79, although my father is still alive at the same age. I’m the youngest of four kids, and my older brother and sisters are all still quite well. So it’s not like I’m exactly at Death’s door. I recently saw the movie “Annie Hall” and Woody Allen’s character went off on “fear of death” soliloquies twice in that film; his character was age 40. That isn’t me.

Shinkansen unveiled Oct 1, 1964!!

So here I am, looking at “the twilight” of my years. It’s been a great life, and hopefully I still have a lot more years of fun and friendship to enjoy. There are stories I want to tell, movies I want to watch, books I want to read, places I want to go. I realized years ago that I will never have the chance to do every single thing I wanted to do in or with my life. Don’t we all get *there*? But I relish every single day, and every experience, and I appreciate every one of you who are out there supporting me. Looking over my fifty years I don’t have any particular regrets. Although I’m reminded of the song “Jack & Diane” (Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone), I am also reminded that “it’s really been a wonderful life.”  I guess I’m pretty lucky to be able to balance that dichotomy.

If you’re reading this because you meant to (you’re not here by accident to read, say, a review of “The Deer Hunter”) then this is addressed to YOU: Your love and friendship has helped make my life worth living, and I appreciate you more than I can possibly say. Thank you for being there for part of my fifty years, and I look forward to many more adventures with you. Happy Birthday to Me gets a Thank You to You.

By the way, the reason I arbitrarily picked out Jimmy Carter, the late Tom Bosley, and Julie Andrews for my example above is because we all share the same birthday: today! 

Dr. MLK, Jr receiving Nobel Peace Prize Dec 10, 1964

TV 50 Years Ago

Was 1964 the greatest year in television history? Well, no. I'm not going to argue that. But I will suggest that it was pretty darn special. Take a look at the following shows that made their debuts in the fall of 1964 right around the same time I made *my* initial curtain call and tell me you don't recognize more than a few of these shows.

NEW in 1964:
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Bewitched
The Munsters
Daniel Boone
Jonny Quest
The Addams Family
Gomer Pyle
Gilligan's Island
Flipper
Underdog

And of course there are these shows which were not brand new that year but were still on the air with first-run episodes:
Wagon Train
My Favorite Martian
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
Bonanza
The Fugitive
The Red Skelton Show
The Alfred Hitchcock Show
Peyton Place
The Andy Griffith Show

The Lucy Show
Petticoat Junction
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Patty Duke Show
The Flintstones
The Donna Reed Show
My Three Sons
Perry Mason
Hazel
Rawhide
The Jack Benny Show
The Lawrence Welk Show
Outer Limits
Gunsmoke
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson

So...yeah...the fall of 1964 seems like it was a pretty good time. A bit on the black and white side, but Color TV was just around the corner...! 

Oh, Pretty Woman

Fifty years ago this week, the number one song in the United States was Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman."

When I was a freshman in college I got my first credit card. My father co-signed for it, and then told me to buy something relatively cheap with it and then pay it off on the first bill. That way I would start to create a good credit record. I bought the book The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits by Fred Bronson. And this is where I found out that the week I was born, Roy Orbison was at the top of the chart.The week before the Number One song had been "The House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals.

Here is the actual chart:
1. Oh, Pretty Woman
2. Bread & Butter by The Newbeats
3. House of the Rising Sun
4. (Little) GTO by Ronny & the Daytonas
5. Remember (Walkin' In The Sand) by The Shangri-Las

You can find all of these on youtube if you are interested. If you are a fan of music from this era you will recognize all of them. The point of this post, however, is that every time I hear "Oh, Pretty Woman" I think, "That Number One song is as old as I am!" (I think that about "House of the Rising Sun," too, but that song has less of a pop cultural carbon foot-print than Roy's classic does.)

So to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Roy Orbison's last number one song, here is "Oh, Pretty Woman" written by Roy Orbison and Bill Dees.  Hopefully from now on, every time you hear it you'll think of me....well, me and your own pretty woman.

Happy October First!

 Happy Birthday, James Whitmore! 

October 1, 1921

Happy Birthday, Tom Bosley!

October 1, 1927

Happy Birthday, President Jimmy Carter! 

October 1, 1924

Happy Birthday, Julie Andrews! 

October 1, 1935

Happy Birthday, Annie Leibovitz! 

October 1, 1949

Happy Birthday, me! 

October 1, 1964

Happy Birthday Walt Disney World!

October 1, 1971 

 I guess I'm in pretty good company. 

Hope everybody has a great day!

New York Comic Con 2012

So last week the wife and I drove to New Jersey so that I could go to the New York Comic-Con. It was held at the Javits Convention Center from Oct 11~14, but I only went on Friday, October 12.

We left our house in Columbus, OH at about 8 AM on Thursday. The plan was to drive through the rest of Ohio, then West Virginia, then Pennsylvania before getting into New Jersey. The whole trip was supposed to take us about eight hours.

However, a day or two before we left the wife mentioned that she would like to see Falling Water, the home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, which is nestled in the outskirts of Pittsburgh. We map-quested it and I went to the homepage and got specific directions. Then we called and made a reservation for 12:30 on Thursday. I figured we would take about half an hour to see it....it was a summer home, for goodness sakes. How long could it take?!

Well....LONG story short, it took a good two hours to do the whole experience. We got there before 12:30 but couldn't find a parking spot, so we missed our 12:30 "tour" and had to wait for an opening at the 12:45 one. Then the tour itself was one hour, no exceptions. In hindsight I'm glad we took the time, as it is a beautiful home and a beautiful spot. Still, at the time I was thinking, "Really? Can we not just move this along a bit more?!" :-) So although we left the house with plenty of time to spare, we ended up getting about 90 minutes behind. We didn't get to my buddy Brian's place in Maplewood NJ until about 8 PM that evening.

My original plan was to go to the convention on both Friday and Saturday. Then I waited too long to get tickets, so Saturday's show sold old and I could only go on Friday. Then when the wife said she wouldn't mind going, too, I went back to get her a ticket and they were sold out on Friday, too. I should have known this was a bad omen....

Brian works in The City so we got on the early train from NJ to NYC on Friday AM and parted ways at Penn Station.The wife and I walked down to Javits Center and traded in my bar-code receipt for an actual pass. However, (there will be a lot of those in this story) because my wife didn't have a pass, she wasn't allowed into the convention center AT ALL. Every other convention I've ever been to had an "open space" area like a lobby or something where people could meet. Not this time, not this place. It was cool and windy outside, but people could not wait inside if they didn't have a ticket. By this time my wife wanted to use the bathroom, so she had to take MY ticket and go inside (not into the convention itself, mind you) to use the facilities. Right off I was annoyed at the logistics. She also could not sit anywhere and watch people while I waited to get in. (It was 9 AM or so and the doors didn't open until 10 AM.) We lounged around outside for a while to figure out whee things were. When she walked off to start her day and I went inside. Not the best start to the day.

I should tell you that I was wearing a green AQUAMAN t-shirt underneath an orange long-sleeve shirt. I was not wearing a costume, but I was showing my fan-colors. I was cold outside, and warm inside. Another thing to be annoyed about. ;-) 

As soon as the wife walked off and I walked inside, I was shepherded like a member of the flock into a huge cavernous room. All of us Geeks were lined up to keep us in order while we waited for permission to Enter. I took this time to look over the program and try to find the artists I wanted to meet. The map of the facility was not clear to me because I was not familiar with the layout of the whole place and I hadn't been given any opportunity to familiarize myself with it! I figured I would find stuff, though, and I zoned out for the next 20 minutes or so.

At about 10:30 my line was finally allowed "up" and by this point the doors had been thrown open to the outsiders, too. So as I walked back upstairs from the basement cavern they had us in I realized that I could have stayed outside with the wife and actually gotten in earlier if I had NOT entered earlier~! Mentally kicking myself for this I followed the other sheep people into the convention. Not recognizing anything from the program's map, I asked somebody "Where's Artists' Alley?" It turns out that it was a separate part of the building, and I could have lined up on THAT side if anybody had guided me there, or if I had known to ask. Grrrr.....! Half an hour wasted?!?!

Artist Alley was WAAAAY the hell on the other side of this crowd. :-(

Okay, so this is when the story actually begins to get good (finally, right?). I got to Artists Alley and immediately met up with my buddy Rob Kelly, he of Ace Kilroy and The Aquaman Shrine fame.  He wished me luck in tracking down the creators I wanted to meet, and we parted ways for a few hours. I made a mental note to buy one of his cool t-shirts of Ace fighting a dark lagoon creature with the caption "Kilroy Was Here!" on it. It was SWELL!! (Of course, I forgot to actually buy one. Oops!)

I walked around to try to find all of the creators I wanted to meet. Several were not even present yet, but I found their tables. I met the current creators of AQUAMAN, penciller Ivan Reis and inker Joe Prado,  but they asked me to wait until 12 Noon when they were going to do autographs together near the front of the hall. We chatted a little, and I teased Joe about wearing a Hawkman t-shirt instead of Aquaman. He said he had left his Aquaman t-shirt at home in Brazil. I told them that I would be back later. There was a steady stream of people asking for sketches and other drawings, so I was happy to see that they were busy.

Then I met up with Joe Staton. He signed my GREEN LANTERN, AVENGERS, and JLA covers and we chatted about how his "Dick Tracy" syndicate also owns "Annie," which is being produced on Broadway right now. He gave me some "Annie" bookmarks to take back to my Gahana Theatre troupe because we are doing "Annie" in February. I wish I had some of my JUSTICE SOCIETY comics, but they are all back in Japan. I actually told him that, and he was mildly amused by it. (I had them shipped to me when I lived there, and then I did not get them shipped back when I moved back...!) 

I also met up with Rich Buckler, who was sitting near to Joe Staton. He was charging for his autographs, so instead of getting him to sign all six or so JLA and TEEN TITANS comics I had brought, I picked out one of each. Rich Buckler is very famous as one of the post-Jack Kirby FANTASTIC FOUR artists and also as the co-creator of Marvel's Deathlok. But at DC he mostly did covers and ALL-STAR SQUADRON, which I kept with my JUSTICE SOCIETY comics in Japan. Oh, well!

I walked around again and found that George Perez' line was not so long. When I asked, it turned out that he was giving out numbers, so I gladly took one (#44). When I found out that he was only on #18, I left again.

By this time Bill Sienkewicz was at his table, so I got in line to meet him. I asked him to sign the elegant  LEGION cover shown below and his only AQUAMAN work, a story where he inked the wonderful Jim Aparo's pencils. We chatted about how much fun it was for him to work with Jim Aparo, who was one of his idols. Sienkewicz (pronounced sin-kev-itz) is best-known as the Marvel artist on MOON KNIGHT and YOUNG MUTANTS, so it surprised him to see some of his rarer non-Marvel work. He was a nice guy, and I asked him to stop by The Aquaman Shrine to talk about his work with Jim Aparo. Hopefully he will.

Walking around still waiting for other artists to appear, for my Perez number to be reached, or for it to be noon so I could get Ivan Reis and Joe Prado's autographs, I happened across David Finch's table. David Finch is one of the current BATMAN artists, but he was well known for doing various Marvel work (I want to say THE HULK, but I don't know for sure). He also did a lot of the BRIGHTEST DAY covers from a year ago, and I had brought two with me just in case I met him. He seemed nice as he signed them while chatting about his new JLA assignment and how much he likes how these BRIGHTEST DAY characters have turned out, especially AQUAMAN.

 

By this point, Ramona Fradon had arrived. She was definitely one of the reasons I was there, so I was very happy to see her. She was the artist on AQUAMAN during the early Silver Age, when he had a back-up series in books like ADVENTURE and WORLD's FINEST. Then she was the artist on SUPER FRIENDS during the mid-70s. I had brought most (not all!) of my SUPER FRIENDS issues to her for her to sign, which she pleasantly obliged me.

She also had the following 6 x 6 drawing for sale, so I picked it up. I had commissioned a drawing from her recently and got a wonderful pose of Aquaman drawn ala "The Thinker." I told her that work had been me, and she seemed to remember the piece I was talking about. I told her I loved it, but also liked this more "fun-loving" drawing. There was also a wonderful Aquaman-Aqualad drawing with them petting a dolphin that I loved. It was a little bigger than this one and cost $65, which was out of my allotted budget. :-(

As she was signing she would say things like, "Oh, I remember this issue" or "Oh, this was a fun story to do..." and I tried to get some of the behind-the-scene stories. I was having a great time! I had a few issues signed by then-editor Larry Hama, who I had met in Baltimore. We talked about him a little bit (how he had loved working with her) and then I mentioned that I was actually from Ohio. So she looked at me and asked, "So, what's going on in Ohio? Is the state going to go Democratic or Republican?" Oops! I always hate talking politics with celebrities/artists/creators because I don't want to offend them. I also don't want to know if someone I really like is a radical! So I hemmed and hawed a bit. I told the truth, which is that the state really does seem to be split basically fifty-fifty. I said that I had friends on both sides, but that I believed that Ohio would probably just barely go for President Obama. She then came-out as a Democrat, saying that she was scared that Governor Romney would take away Social Security and Medicare etc. She is about 85 years old and an artist, so I guess I could have guessed she was a Democrat...! We talked a little bit about the politics of this great land (she is from NY) and then she was at the end of my stack. She had reached the SF issue shown above, #40, and I laughed as she started to sign it. "Oh, I brought that one especially, because I had a letter printed in it. Funny story, the letter was about another one of your covers that didn't have Aquaman on it. I was writing to ask if you could try to get Aquaman on all the covers." Then she showed some interest, and I showed her the cover I was talking about (#35, below). Then she actually opened up the issue and read my letter! I was a bit embarrassed by this point, but she looked up and told me that the writer was also the guy in charge of the letter column, and he would never print any letters that praised the art; he only printed letters about the stories, or if they criticized the art. She went on about how he was a bit difficult to work with, even though she liked the book and thought she did some of her best work on the series. I told her for sure it was my favorite book for years, and that her work was awesome. I just always wanted Aquaman on the covers. :-) She laughed, and I left, totally forgetting all the hassles I had faced to get to this point. I was happy.

(For your reading pleasure, here is a copy of the letter I wrote back in 1980 that was printed in #40 about issue #35. By the way, the editor got my address wrong. I lived in UNIVERSITY City, not UNION.) (And I stand by my opinion: Aquaman COULD have fit if the rest of the team had been drawn a tad smaller. ;-) ) 

I walked around again, but two guys were still not here. It was still not noon, so I figured I might as well wait at George Perez' table again. Even though my number was still high, if nobody else showed up I would get to go, right? 

So I got in line behind 29, 30, 33, and 34. I figured this was pretty good chance of getting to see one of my favorites. After about half an hour, a couple who had both taken numbers got to go forward. When the husband moved forward and started talking to George, the wife turned to me and handed me her ticket. That was #34. I was now going to be next....! I, in turn, handed off my number (#44) to the guy next to me. However (again?), as we were waiting, more *earlier* numbered people kept showing up. So I kept getting bumped as 21, 18, and 26 all showed up. :-(  So close, and yet so far...!!

As I was waiting I noticed that the other main table in this area was being set up. When I asked I found out that the AQUAMAN artists, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, were going to be signing *here* at noon. So I was at the right spot after all! I went and got in line to wait for them, knowing I was not losing my George Perez spot. (In fact, from where I was I could see that he was still doing sketches for the people I had left behind.) After about ten minutes waiting I got to move forward. Joe and Ivan were signing together to benefit HERO INITIATIVE, one of my favorite charities. They were signing for a donation to the cause (to help support retired or in-need creators with health or other budgetary problems). Because Ivan was the penciller and the more famous one, he was also doing sketches. So I went up to Joe first and he remembered me. We chatted about how good they were on the book (they are moving over to JUSTICE LEAGUE in the next few months). He was a genuinely nice guy. He then told Ivan that I only wanted books signed and not a sketch, so the uber-popular Ivan Reis stopped the sketch he was doing to sign my books for me!  

You might notice that there are three signatures on this cover. Joe Prado signed at the bottom, Ivan Reis signed at the top, and Rod Reis signed in-between them. Rod Reis is the incredibly talented colorist on AQUAMAN. After I got Ivan and Joe to sign, and after I met George Perez, I went to Rod's table and asked him to also sign them. He is doing some incredible color effects on the book, especially in the underwater scenes. These comics (this "zero" issue in particular) and the Ramona Fradon original scanned above are my new treasures. :-)

Now what can I say; how can I express the feeling of going back to George Perez' table and asking the guy standing at the front of the line, "what's your number?" and showing him that mine was lower than his! When George Perez looked up and asked "Who's next?" and I said, "I'm #34" nobody stopped me from being next. It was my turn!!! :-) 

However (haha), by this point I only had $20 left in my wallet! I didn't have enough to get an original sketch for $40. He didn't have any Aquaman drawings among his prints. So I showed him the books I brought and asked him if I could get him to sign them. One of them was a very rare, independently published fanzine of his from 1979. The others were TEEN TITANS, JLA, and AVENGERS. He said sure and signed them off without any complaints. I didn't ask if I had to, but I dropped my last $20 into his "tip jar" and thanked him for being so great for so long. He thanked me for the money and then my experience with George Perez was over. If I *ever* meet him again, I will get a sketch. It's my new goal. :-)

This scan is for you,  Greg and Shag(g)!

I checked in with Rob one last time and told him about my day. He was beginning to do well; he ended up selling out all of his ACE KILROY collections, so huge CONGRATS to him for that. I told him I was going to try to see my remaining Aqua-guys. If they weren't there, then I would give up on them and move on to the "Main Convention Hall." True to my word, I went by Erik Larsen's table and this time he was there! I asked him to sign two of my AQUAMAN comics, one of which I had also gotten Bill Sienkewicz to sign. Erik Larsen had been the writer and the cover artist of this series, so it was cool to meet him. He is more famously known as the creator of The Savage Dragon.He laughed that nobody had liked his version of AQUAMAN, but now the character was doing very well.

 

I never did see the living legend, Carmine Infantino. He was not in Artist Alley, and when I went to the main exhibition hall I didn't see him there, either. He was not listed on any maps, and I forgot to ask where his booth/table would have been.

The Main Hall was even more crowded then the photo taken above. WALLS of people, and I was there with a back-pack full of comics. I walked around the whole place just to look at things and see what was what. There was a lot more video game type stuff than I thought there would be. A lot of zombies and anime and other non-comic book stuff. The celebrities were stationed somewhere else and I didn't even think to look for them, as I had no money to get any autographs by this point. I think I would have liked to have met Carrie Fisher, though.

I ran into my friend John from Baltimore and we went to Broadway Deli for lunch. He was talking about how NYCC compared to other conventions he has been to, and I decided that Baltimore was more my style. I really had a good time there. Now that I have been to NYCC, I don't think I want to go back. Too many people, and too expensive! I mentioned Dragon Con or Chicago as possibilities in the new year....we'll see.

The last part of my day was shopping. I wanted to get t-shirts for my buddy's kids; I ended up getting a cool "muggle" t-shirt for his daughter and a cool STAR WARS shirt for his son. I also bought toddler t-shirts for two of my work friends' kids (Flash and Superman, respectively). Then I ended my day at Neal Adams' booth. I had met him at Baltimore and again at Columbus, and reminded him of that. I picked up two JLA prints for two friends but didn't see the Captain America I had seen before. My buddy was a big Cap fan and I wanted to get him that. If I bought three prints I got a better deal than if I bought two, so I specifically asked for something with Captain America on it. This made his wife start digging through boxes to find the Cap prints she swore were there somewhere. This allowed me more time to chat with Neal Adams, so...win-win!! :-) I ended up getting this rare product signed and personalized. I was out of money, but I was happy. 

The wife called almost at the same time I was about to call her; we met up outside and headed back up towards Penn Station. I called Brian but he needed to stay at the office a bit longer, so Yuko and I went to Macy's and walked around for her to take pictures of the Empire State Building and other various NYC things. A few minutes after 5 PM Brian arrived and we got on the train back to NJ.

One last story about the NYCC. On the train back to New Jersey we rode with someone looking very much like this:

 

I was feeling pretty good about myself and I figured they were in the same high spirits as me, so I said, "Excuse me, may I ask you what you are supposed to be?" It turns out that he is a Brony. Bronies are male fans of My Little Pony, and this character is evidently one of the ponies. I have never seen the show, and I couldn't find anything on YouTube that wasn't a parody. But it was kind of fun to chat with him and his geeky friends as an end to our exciting day.

Brian, Yuko, and I then went out to dinner at a place in Maplewood, NJ and had a normal evening among normal adults. :-)

Saturday we spent with Brian and Virginia and their kids. We went to the beach board-walk at Asbury Park and then hung out at home making cookies. Sunday we got up early and got out on the road. With no problems we got home at about 5:30 PM. Another exciting weekend in the books. My birthday celebrations were finally over. :-)  

Columbus Wizard World 2012

Oops! I forgot to write up about my experiences at this year's Wizard World Comic Con! Sorry!!


So the last week of September I took two days off from work to volunteer at the Con. Last year I volunteered for a day and a half and heard later that only volunteers who work on the *last day* get any free stuff (aka "swag"). So this year I decided to do the whole thing: prep work on Thursday and Friday, and then actual work on both Saturday and Sunday, too. I wanted some prizes for my hard work! ;-)

This year's show was supposed to feature William Shatner, but for some reason he was replaced by Patrick Stewart. Also Val Kilmer, Dean Cain, and John DeLancie ("Q" from ST:Next Generation) were the celebrities I recognized. There were another half-dozen celebrities that I did NOT recognize, but I'll get to them in a minute. On Thursday there was very little to do prep-wise; we toured the areas, got the lay of the land, filled in the required paperwork, and helped unpack certain things. Last year we had been stuck in a small hall kind of out of the way; this year we were back in one of the Grand Halls, and right away I felt we were going to have more fun in this open and inviting space than we had last year. Friday was more of the same prep-wise; we had to stuff catalogs and pamphlets into "gift bags" and just in general get things ready for the 5 PM opening. I'm never sure how these things happen, but as we got closer to the Opening Time I was assigned to the front gate. I was directed to help artists and exhibitors if they had problems, but to keep the paying customers out until it was officially open. So this is how it happened that I got to meet and chat with one of my all-time favorite artists, Mr. Neal Adams.

Keep in mind that the Wizard World staff people are not, by definition, from Columbus. I think they are from New York, or Chicago, or even Texas. They aren't local. So often I would be standing there listening to directions or whatever and somebody else would walk up and ask, "Where is the Hilton?!" or "How do I get back to the loading dock?" I made myself useful by being able to answer these types of questions with no fuss. That might be one of the reasons I was positioned at the front. I was also obviously not a Shrinking Violet or unable to handle myself in various situations, and I also did what I was told. All of those things might have something to do with how I was assigned over the weekend. So...anyway, I'm standing there helping people in various ways when I see a familiar face walk up to me. I met Neal Adams at the Baltimore Comic Con so I knew what he looked like. (He had signed my Aquaman, shown above.) I was beaming as I said, "Welcome to Columbus!" He introduced himself to me and I said, "I know who you are, Mr. Adams. I met you in Baltimore, and now I'm happy to have you in my home town." He said, "Next time we need to meet in MY hometown, New York." So I said, "I am planning on going this year. If I do I will stop by your booth." He had some registration questions, so I directed him to the staff so that he could take care of them. But I had talked to one of my idols! I was pretty happy. 

On Saturday I showed up early, knowing the day would be hectic right from the beginning. I was at the front gate again controlling traffic until right after we opened, when the staff asked me to work at the Eliza Dushku booth. The what? It turns out she is an actress who was in BRING IT ON, SOUL SURVIVOR, JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKES BACK, and several other things I've never heard of. Oh, and she was on BUFFY, I think. So it was my job to stand at her area and do crowd control. Believe it or not, this was quite a job as many many people wanted to see her, and she was only there on Saturday so everybody had to get in line to see her then. The line snaked around and into Dean Cain's area, so we constantly had to be moving people or asking them to move on. Plus photography was forbidden, so we had to say, "This is a No Photo area, please" and ask people to stop. All during the day as I was working I also got to watch how Dean Cain was interacting with his fans, which was fun. I wanted to go over and get a picture signed but his prices were a bit too high for me...Now, of course, I wish I had...

I was originally scheduled to do Face Painting on Sunday (Kids' Day) so I thought that watching Dean Cain (not in a stalker-ish way!) would be the highlight of this year's work. Uh...no. Turns out it wasn't. :-)

Sunday I went in late because I hadn't actually walked around yet on any "off time." So in my civilian guise I walked the floor and went shopping. Unfortunately, some of the things I had seen while volunteering earlier were no longer available....like the Black Manta lead figurine I had seen, and the Neal Adams Aquaman/JLA print I had wanted. I did buy an Alfred E. Neumann MAD Aquaman action figure. And I bought a t-shirt from my buddy Terry Huddleston and some nifty JLA art by Alan Schell (shown below).

Then I was ready to put my Volunteer t-shirt back on and get back to work. As soon as I walked up to the volunteer coordinators, they asked me what I was supposed to be doing; I told them I was scheduled for face painting. They told me to forget that and to go see the guys at the Patrick Stewart area because they needed me. So...off I went! I then spent the next three hours or so at the Patrick Stewart area! My job was to keep people organized before he showed up, then to help keep the line moving after he *did* show up, and to answer questions about what his schedule was when he went away again. I'm not gonna lie; this was pretty cool!

When he finally did show up I was standing less than four feet from where he was sitting. I could hear how nice he was to his fans, as he spoke in that awesome baritone voice. One young lady came and talked to him about Shakespeare; she brought a copy of one of his plays for Mr. Stewart to sign. He had her *recite* some of the lines and did a quick coaching bit with her! I know that made her day!! When there was a lull in the line some guy walked by and shouted out that he thought Patrick Stewart had been hilarious in an episode of FRASIER. They chatted, and when he walked off I was emboldened to say, "I saw you the other day on Jon Stewart's DAILY SHOW, and I thought that was pretty funny, too." He then talked TO ME: "Yes, that was a blast to do. Those guys are fun to work with." So here I am, having expected to spend my day face painting with kids, spending my day with Patrick Stewart!! I was quite happy, I gotta say.

His manager came by at around 2 PM and they got ready to go. I pulled out a copy of the programming one-sheet and asked him if he wouldn't mind signing it. I pointed out my last name Burbage is the same as  Shakespeare's buddy Richard Burbage. He smiled, looked at my name tag, and then signed my program. He walked off to catch an airplane a few minutes later. John de Lancie was at the nearby table, so it was easy to ask him to sign my program, too. As the convention was winding down I would have liked to get Dean Cain's autograph, too, but by the time I got over to his table he was gone. In fact, by that time most of the other volunteers were going around getting their volunteer t-shirt signed by artists and celebrities. There was a huge line around The Boondock Saints tables, and so I was actually working while most of the other volunteers were "off." That's okay, though, because I have never seen BOONDOCK SAINTS and had never heard of any of the actors. The staff guys were telling me I *had* to see the movie, so I have added it to my list of movies to see. It's easy to not be impressed with celebrities when you have no idea who they are, haha!

 

 After all the clean-up when the celebrities were gone and things were over, we got our pick of a few cool things. I got a t-shirt that says COMIC CON on it, plus a few toys. But the feeling of fun while representing my city is what was really great. Next year I'll have to go to more of the off-site events like the Costume Contest and the drinking. Fun weekend, and a great way to start my Birthday Week.

Great Brad Paisley Concert!

In honor of the awesome Brad Paisley concert I went to last week I am posting one of my favorite Brad Paisley songs here.

I don't really go to concerts. I have been to, like, five in my entire life. I just don't do them. But I have really started liking Brad Paisley over the past few years. When I heard back in May that he was coming to Columbus in October right around my birthday, I bought tickets for me and a buddy as joint birthday presents. I've been looking forward to it ever since.

Well....last week my Columbus Blue Jackets sales rep who I will call "Russell" called me up and chatted about the hockey lock-out. I told him that I would just wait and see and probably get my cancelled games replaced after (when?) games actually start up. (I don't have a full season.) Then as we were ending our conversation he asked in passing whether I liked country music. I said, "some." He said that if I wanted to, I could come down to the arena for two free Brad Paisley tickets and watch the concert from the Blue Jackets Suite.

Uh....

YES!!!!

So my buddy and I took those tickets, two more buddies took the other two tickets, and we all headed downtown after work. The idea was to switch out so we could all enjoy the suite. However....once we all got in the room, my Sales Rep didn't kick us out, so we all stayed.

So believe me when I say the concert was awesome. The songs were awesome. The view was awesome. The friends were awesome. Extra Special Guest Carrie Underwood was awesome.

I had a great time.

Viva Brad Paisley!!!

At our show ALCOHOL was his encore and last song. He brought out The Band Perry and Scotty McCreery, who had opened for him. This version is from 2010 or earlier, on THE LETTERMAN SHOW. It's a bit slower version than usual.

NYCC Pre-Visit Post

This weekend the wife and I are going to be in New York and New Jersey. I am treating myself to the biggest convention on the East Coast as my last Birthday present for this year. :-) We are driving up on Thursday and staying with friends. On Friday we are going to the New York Comic-Con. We were going to see some hockey while we were there, too, but never mind that....!
At the Convention Yuko hopes to take all sorts of photos and I hope to see the following people:

current AQUAMAN creative team:

Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Rod Reis, and Geoff Johns

former AQUAMAN creators: 

Ramona Fradon

Erik Larsen

Bill Sienkiewicz (sp?)

Peter David

Neal Adams

former JLA creators: 

George Perez

Rich Buckler

Joe Staton

Living Legend  

Carmine Infantino

That's the plan....all those people and their autographs and/or sketches in 8 hours? Haha! The plan is to visit Fradon, Perez, and Infantino for sure. They are older OR they never come out this far West. So they will be visited first. The current AQUAMAN team should be swamped with fans, but all in the same general area so I should be able to get them, too. The others? Hit-and-miss. I will bring comics for all of them to sign just in case I get to be at the right table at the right time. :-) Wish me luck!

I'll be back on Sunday and probably write about my experiences sometime after that.

Happy Birthday, Julie Andrews!

Here's a clip from 1964 (my birth-year) of my birthday buddy Julie Andrews (we share the same day, October 1). So this clip is 48 39 years old...again! :-) 

 

Happy Birthday, Julie Andrews! 

Julie Andrews on The Andy Williams Show

featuring the Osmonds

November 30, 1964

 

Happy Birthday To Me!

On the occasion of my 48th birthday I am presenting you my cyber-reader a list of 48 facts about me. I wonder how many of these you knew?

1. I was born in Normal, Illinois. "I left Normal as a one year old and never looked back."

2. I was born with a leg-muscle condition. I had to wear special orthopedic shoes and braces for about a year until I started walking.

3. I was born in The Year of The Dragon. 

4. I'm the second son and fourth of four kids; "the baby."

5. I share my birthday with Julie Andrews, Jimmy Carter, the late Tom Bosley, and my friends Vivian and Diane. Go, Libras! 

6. "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison was the Number One song in the USA the week I was born.

7. Although I lived in Illinois and Boston as a child, the only place I remember is St. Louis. I consider myself a Missourian.

8. My blood type is A-. My parents used to joke that if I had tried a *little* harder I would have been A+


9. I'm told I nearly drowned in a Holiday Inn pool when I was about 1 1/2 years old.

10. I did not go to kindergarten.

11. I distinctly remember reading a book by myself when I was six years old, sitting on the curb in front of my house.

12. "Jesus Christ Superstar" is the first movie I remember going to. My parents took the whole family when it came out. I remember thinking that the actor who portrayed Judas was really dead and that the other actors didn't care.


13. I had a huge crush on Batgirl and Robin when I was a kid. I would have been fine if Batman hadn't shown up at all.

14. I nearly got sick the first time I saw "The Poseidon Adventure." My father had to take me out to the lobby and explain to me that it was all make-believe. (I would have been about 8 years old at the time.)


15. My father used to take whichever of us kids wanted to go with him to see old James Bond double-features and drive-ins. Sean Connery is still my favorite Bond.

16. The first comic book I remember reading is JUSTICE LEAGUE #112 (July 1974). Thank you, Brian Falconer!

17. The first music I remember recognizing were oldies. "American Graffitti" was popular and my sister had the LP. She listened to it all the time.

18. I have no idea why, but I knew Aquaman was my favorite super-hero as soon as I encountered him, in comics and in THE SUPER FRIENDS.

19. I used to make linoleum prints. There is still an illustration hanging in my parents' house that I did as a child.

20. The TV-movie "Helter Skelter" scared the hell out of me in 1976. To this day, Charles Manson is my main boogeyman, and the threat of being in the wrong place at the wrong time haunts me.

21. The last "family road trip" I took as a kid was the summer of 1976 when we drove cross-country from St. Louis to Vermont. It was fantastic.

22. I wrote and drew my own series of comic-books and super-hero prose stories called "The Animal League of Earth" for approximately six years. The last regular issue was #80, followed by a 150-page Annual  (#6) in June, 1982.

23. I won a comic-book design contest for DC's TEEN TITANS in 1977. My design was used as the letter column header until the comic book was cancelled.

24. I flew to California by myself in 1978 to visit a friend who had recently moved there. I asked my parents if I could go if I saved for the ticket, and they naively said yes. I saved my allowance and my baby-sitting money and they allowed me to go.


25. I was on the junior high yearbook staff for about a week. I didn't understand the adviser's instructions or like her demeanor, so I walked away from the position after only two meetings. I am in the staff photo in the actual yearbook, though.

26. I studied Russian for four years in junior high school. At the time, I had dreams of going to the Moscow Olympics in 1980. I can still sing a Russian children's song.

27. The first live musical I ever saw was "Lil' Abner," a high school production that my sister was in. 

28. My friend Susan Dreyer and I were the only two sophomores admitted to the high school newspaper staff that year. So we were the only two seniors to have been on the staff all three years. I ended up as Editor-In-Chief.

29. I have had several letters printed in various comic books.

30. The first professional play I ever saw was "Deathtrap." It's still one of my favorites. 

31. I was on the Stage Crew for various productions in high school, including the Spring Musicals "Hello, Dolly!" and "Grease."

32. I made my acting debut in the high school Senior Play, "Mrs. McThing." I played Cookie, the Chef. It was more than 25 years before I acted again.

33. I was going to study to be a writer or journalist before I won a free trip to Japan the summer of 1983.

34. "Hiroshima" were the first Japanese kanji I learned. It's still one of my favorite words.



35. I started to drink coffee while I was in Hiroshima. Everywhere I went people thought all Americans drank it, so they always ordered it for me. I had no language skills to stop them, so I acquired a taste for it out of necessity.

36. I started to drink Bloody Marys in college because the ingredients were cheap to buy, the drink itself went down easy, and because vodka didn't have an odor.

37. I missed the opportunity to be in the movie "Purple Rain." An open casting call for extras was announced while I was living outside Minneapolis, but my friends and I didn't want to take the time to go to First Ave where they were filming.

38. I was a college exchange student in Sendai, Miyagi for one year. The recent tsunami disaster hit very close to home, literally.   

39. All through college I was going to double-major in English and Japan Studies. However, as graduation loomed my JS professor didn't like my thesis and told me to re-vise it. By that time I already had my Miyazaki job lined up, so I settled for a single major instead of doing the extra work.

39. I got my job in Miyazaki because I promised my advisor who arranged it that I would stay at least two years. I ended up staying fourteen.    

40. I got married when I was 25 years old.

41. I promised my future father-in-law that if he allowed me to marry his daughter I would change my last name to his and never leave Japan. (This is why our daughter has Yuko's legal last name.)

42. If Anna had been a boy her name would have been Kent, which is my middle name.

43. I was a correspondent for WIZARD's TOYFARE magazine for almost a year. I reported from Japan on the Pokemon phenomena.

44. Yuko got ovarian cancer while she was pregnant with our second child.

45. I left Japan because my bosses did not want to increase the scope of our town's international work. When my immediate boss at the Board of Education was promoted to Superintendent, I quit. His previous job had been in Agriculture.

46. My favorite beers are Asahi Super-Dry, Heineken, and Corona. Because I grew up in Anheuser-Busch country, I turn down all Bud products unless I have absolutely no choice.

47. I could survive on eating just pizza, curry rice, and burritos.

48. So far I've visited 30 States and 3 foreign countries. I definitely want to visit Korea, Russia, and the UK, as well as Alaska and Hawai'i.

Aquaman Header at the Aquaman Shrine

One of my more recent honors has been that my buddy Rob Kelly over at The Aquaman Shrine used a piece of my art as his monthly header.

This year is the 70th anniversary of Aquaman's published debut (MORE FUN COMICS #73, Nov 1941) and to help celebrate this, Rob decided to open up the header on his popular blog to his (and Aquaman's) artistic fans. Because my birthday is October 1, I asked him to "reserve" that month for me. If I could come up with something good enough, I would be able to claim bragging rights and get a heck of a birthday present.

Well, I failed and I didn't get anything good enough to him.

Just kidding! THAT would have made a boring post!

Helping to celebrate Aquaman's birthday, I originally wanted to have seven different Aquamen; however, his history doesn't really break down that easily, AND there have been *quite* a few different versions of the character. Also, I came upon the idea of "aping" the various artistic styles of his artists. So although these all look different, they are all actually by me...and no tracing, either. Note: I *really* wanted to include a version of the Craig Hamilton "camouflage" Aquaman, but it was very very difficult trying to copy Craig's style. Eventually I just gave up. :-( 

Here is the header in all its glory:

From left: Aquaman in his debut by Paul Norris, Filmation cartoon Aquaman, Aqualad by Ramona Fradon, Mera & Aquaman getting married by Nick Cardy, Hanna-Barbara Super Friends Aquaman, Jim Aparo Aquaman, Jim Calafiore hooked Aquaman, Butch Guice Sword of Aquaman, Brave & Bold Aquaman, and current (!) Ivan Reis Aquaman.   

And now, for the purists, here is the actual original! You'll notice right away that it is not as elongated (great word!) as it ended up being. Although I used an 11 x 17 sheet of paper, I also ended up filling the entire page! (oops!) Rob said that he liked it, but he couldn't use it because it wasn't long enough without having to crop out, say, Aqualad and Brave & Bold Aquaman (bottom left and right, respectively). So I went back to it and re-arranged it to what it turned out to be...but not before coloring it, of course!

I really like the white background. I also liked how I chose different greens and oranges for the different versions, too. I kinda like how it turned out! :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AQUAMAN...and happy birthday to me, too. And thanks, Rob, for helping give myself a great birthday present I'll never forget. :-)