Grant Morrison (or How I Gave Up Eating Fast Food 20 Years Ago)

I've just finished watching the animated All-Star Superman movie again, ostensibly to write-up a review for Unseen Films. This is the animated feature that, as of the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle this past March, artist Frank Quitely hadn't seen yet, even though it's based on a book that he drew the artwork for. It's a terrific story, one that focuses on the power of good, and the power of love. It also hinges on a terrific ability to tell a story, and that's where Grant Morrison, the writer of the book the animated film is based on, comes in.

Back in 1989, I was working at a little comic book store in an indoor flea market-type mall in Flushing, New York, just one subway stop from Shea Stadium, home of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. I would see all of the different comics that would come in each week, and was forming friendships with many of the customers that would come in. This was helpful in both directions, as I would recommend titles for people to read based on what they were already purchasing, and I would hear tales of approval from them about books they were enthralled by that I had yet to sample. Although I can't grab any names out of thin air, I can still picture the faces of some people who, all at roughly the same time, were suggesting that I start reading Doom Patrol and Animal Man, both of which were being written by Morrison.

Upon finally picking up an issue of both titles, I soon became so enamored with them that I searched out all of the previous issues of both series that he had written, which thankfully wasn't a lot. I came onto Doom Patrol somewhere around #29 or so, and the first issue he wrote was #19. He had started Animal Man roughly a year earlier than Doom Patrol, and was unfortunately nearing the end of what became his 26 issue run by the time I'd started around #19. To this day though, I still think his first four issue arc on Doom Patrol, and his entire 26 issue run on Animal Man (issues 1 thru 26 comprised one giant story), are some of the best stories I've ever read.

Now we move ahead a little bit to the Spring of 1992. By now I was working at a different comic book store (surprise...) in lower Manhattan, just a block or so east of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Morrison had by this time already become one of my very favorite writers. I was a regular attendee at local comic books conventions, and there was a pretty good sized one twice a year at a hotel right across the street from Madison Square Garden, home of the National Hockey League's New York Rangers, in the heart of New York City. There were many luminaries from the comic book world that would make appearances at these shows, talking, signing, and sketching for the weekend. It was at these shows that I first struck up acquaintances with people such as Mike Mignola, Mike Zeck, Paul Chadwick, and others.

There was one slight difference between Morrison and the regular guests at these shows. Many of the bigger comic book creators lived in and around the New York City area, so their attendance was no more than a long car ride, or a fairly short plane trip, away. Morrison was a resident of Scotland, so the likelihood of him being at one of these shows was fairly slim (although Dave McKean, a lifelong resident of England, was flown in for one in 1990 or so, just after the publication of the Batman: Arkham Asylum graphic novel, which was authored by Morrison, so there was hope.).

The same company that ran the large twice-yearly NYC shows also put on a smaller monthly show at a more intimate hotel venue in Manhattan, and usually had one guest at each of these. Sometimes a big name, sometimes a smaller one, but there would always be one. Lo and behold, for one of these small satellite shows, the one and only guest was going to be...Grant Morrison! I was in my interviewing phase at the time, with articles recently published about Mignola and Chadwick for the terrific trade magazine Amazing Heroes. I instantly started jotting down questions that I wanted to ask Morrison. Now, seeing as how Amazing Heroes had just ceased publication (my interview with Chadwick was the cover story of the final issue of the magazine's 12 year run), I wasn't sure where, or if, this would ever appear, but I wasn't concerned with that. I was much more interested in getting inside the head of the creative genius that had already made such a huge impact on me.

I made plans to meet up at the show with a customer from the store who was a friend of mine. I lost touch with him after I left the store in late 1992, but I can picture him clear as day as I write this, and I remember his name was Allen, and he was of Polish descent with an appropriate surname to back up his heritage. As I mentioned, I'd made friends with quite a number of regular patrons of the stores I'd worked at, which was kind of easy when you could tell right away, based on what books people were buying, who you might have a little something in common with. Too damn bad the audience was pretty much 100% guys then...the only cute girls that ever made their way into places like that at the time clung desperately and nervously to the arms of the guys who had dragged them there, for fear of catching some sort of contagious nerd disease.

The show was to be on a Saturday, and I was tremendously looking forward to it. I think I even saw Allen in the store on Friday, and he being a big Morrison fan as well, was also eagerly anticipating the chance to meet him. I forget exactly when during the day I had lunch, but I remember distinctly what it was and where I got it. To paraphrase a terrific joke by the late great comedian Richard Jeni (he was NOT talking about an airline that had wronged him at the time, I've just changed the punchline to NOT talk about a certain fast food chain); I don't want to embarrass the company by naming them, that wouldn't be proper...let's just say it rhymes with Soy Sodgers...

I don't know what was wrong with the bacon double cheeseburger I had from that establishment, or exactly when it started to let me know that something was wrong with it, but something wrong there was. I was probably already turning colors by the time I got home from work that evening, and wound up forcibly ejecting everything from my system in a northerly direction. Unfortunately, this didn't happen one-and-done. That would have been fine. No, whatever I had decided it wanted to do a full purge of my insides, and pretty much every hour on the hour, for the next 10 or 12, I found myself running to the bathroom. There was nothing left to give after the third or fourth trip, but my body didn't know or care by that point.

Needless to say, sleep was not anything I made friends with that evening, so by the time morning rolled around, I was exhausted. Nonetheless, I was still determined to go back into Manhattan, because when was I going to get another chance to see Morrison? I was 20 years old, young, thin, and in pretty decent shape. As I started to make motions to sit up, my mother came in my room, and with ONE FINGER thwarted my departure plans by saying something along the lines of "You're not going anywhere" as she gently shoved me in the chest with that single digit...and completely flattened me back into my bed. I'd never felt so defeated and crushed...and she was right, which was probably the worst part. I instantly vowed to never eat fast food again, and nearly 20 years later I've stuck to it, as the number of meals I've consumed from places like that since then can be counted on one hand...and I'd still have some fingers left over.

When next I saw Allen at the store, he told me he figured something drastic had happened, as he knew there was no way I'd miss something like this. Remember kids, this is pre-cell phone era, when the only text we knew was the print you'd see in a book. What's worse, Allen also told me I could have done a feature length interview, as I basically would have had Morrison all to myself. Attendance was minimal at the show, and practically no one knew, or cared, who Morrison was. Allen said he talked with him for quite a bit, and had mentioned to him to be prepared to be interviewed when I showed up. I instantly felt sick to my stomach again when he told me this, but at least this time there would be no projectile vomiting.

Fast forward 16 years, to early 2008. I'm now living in the deserts of the American Southwest, I've been a postman for over 13 years, and I rarely if ever set foot inside a comic book shop anymore, as my collecting tastes have gravitated towards trade paperbacks and original art, which are more easily purchased online. I do travel to different locations around the country to go to comic book conventions however, as I still like to meet artists and writers whose work I enjoy, and it gives me an excuse to see parts of this land I haven't explored yet. And a break from work is always a nice thing too. I haven't been back to NYC in about a year at this point, and with my father not travelling, the only time I see him is when I go there. I know there is a huge comic book show coming to NYC in April 2008, and have pretty much made up my mind that I will build a trip back home around that...and then Grant Morrison is announced as a guest, and I probably bought my plane tickets the same day I found that out.

Not everything Morrison has written has been gold to me. There have been things that I feel missed completely, things I've read that I was rather ambivalent about, and some things I didn't even bother getting or reading at all. But there have been plenty of things that have been published in the interim that have been wonderful, and eye-opening, and amazing, and the initial impact of those early stories has never been lost either. In fact, those first Doom Patrol issues, and in particular the ENTIRE Animal Man arc, have only achieved even greater esteem in my eyes over the ensuing years and re-reads. And I've been introduced to a host of artists due to their collaborating with him, particular favorites being Quitely and Duncan Fegredo.

The convention ran Friday thru Sunday, and while there were plenty of people there that I was happy to see (Neal Adams, Chris Claremont, J.M. DeMatteis, Fegredo, Rick Leonardi, Mignola, and many others), my biggest thrill was going to come from meeting Morrison. Stopping by the big booth that DC Comics had set up on the show floor of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (the largest convention center in NYC, which is saying something), my friend DB (from Unseen Films) and I found a signing schedule. Seeing that Morrison was due to be at the DC booth within the hour, I decided to take no chances. I inquired as to whether a line had formed for him yet, and upon hearing the answer was no, I told them there was one now. Since this was a Friday, and still very early on during the show weekend, there wasn't quite the throng of people that there could be (and WOULD be, as Saturday rolled around). By the time Morrison arrived, there was a bit of a line behind me, but not enough to force him to rush thru each person that was there. Which was good, because I wanted to talk.

By this point in time, Morrison had become something of a rock star in the comic world, with stories ABOUT him being nearly as legendary as the stories he wrote. Thankfully, this hadn't turned him into a snob, and he was extremely personable, more than willing to chat, and gave thoughtful answers to the questions I threw at him. We briefly discussed Bill Hicks, drugs, writing, ambition, and I even had the chance to tell him (in a much more concise version than this) how I'd waited 16 years to meet him. Although I can't remember for certain, I'm fairly sure he said he hoped it was worth it, in his thick Scottish brogue.

Thankfully, that wasn't the end. Since this was a 3 day show, I was going to be sure to be in his line each of the following 2 days as well. However, there was a panel centered around him fairly early on Saturday afternoon, and both DB and I wanted to be in the audience for that. There was a terrific scripted introduction (consisting entirely of Morrison quotes culled from interviews with him) read by the moderator over a slide show of images from Morrison-penned comics, as well as photos and drawings of the man. When he entered to a thunderous ovation from the packed room, he instantly threw the floor open to questions from the audience, and the remaining 45 minutes or so was him answering mostly intelligent queries from knowledgeable fans. Most of the questions I really wanted to ask I'd either already gotten to the day before, or someone at the panel asked something similar enough that I was perfectly content to just sit there and take it all in. Weeks later I was able to download an audio version of the panel from DC's own website, and I'll listen to it occasionally on the iPod while delivering letters and magazines in the mailroom of the big apartment complex on my route.

There was to be another autograph session at the DC booth later in the afternoon, but seeing how this was an extremely crowded Saturday (I believe the NYC Fire Marshal was threatening to close off parts of the convention venue if the crowds weren't better controlled), a line started forming for Morrison well in advance of the signing time. By the time I made it to the line, with more than an hour and a half to spare, it already wrapped clear around the DC booth, easily 100 people strong. DB went and saw another hour-long panel on something he was interested in, and still had time to find me on line before the signing had even begun. The line did actually move though once Morrison showed up, and this time they put a limit on the number of items to be signed, due to the volume of people. Made waiting for a little bit on Friday seem like an even better idea in hindsight.

Part of the reason for the reasonably quick movement of the line, DB and I were to discover as we got towards the front, was that for the most part, no one was bothering to talk to Morrison. Since the line snaked behind the table before it came around towards where he was seated, as soon as we cleared the partition, I was going to talk with him. As for what to talk about, well, that was decided as soon as we could see under the table from behind, where there sat a leather bag with the face of legendary British comic book writer Alan Moore apparently painted on it. As Morrison signed away for someone a half-dozen people in front of us, I asked what the deal with the bag was. He immediately turned to me and, with a big smile on his face, said something to the effect of "Someone GAVE me this! Can you believe it? What am I supposed to do with something like that?" And that started that conversation.

I should also mention that although he is a comic book rock star, he maintains the image of a fashion icon. He's what ZZ Top would describe as "a sharp dressed man", always appearing in full suit and tie, and definitely the expensive kind. He also has the same hair style as myself, that of the dome-shaved-with-a-straight-razor look (and probably for the same reasons that I do it too...).

We chatted for a bit, I got a few things signed, got to express my appreciation for his work, and repeated the process again on Sunday, when it had calmed down quite a bit as far as the crowd was concerned. I eventually made it back to Las Vegas, put the books back on the shelves, placed the artwork back in the frames and hung it back on the walls, and that was that. At the same giant comic book convention in New York in October 2010, I saw footage from a documentary about him that finally came out at the end of 2010, and I even wrote a review of it for Unseen Films this past May. But it's nice to know that I was able to meet and talk with the man, and I (as well as my body free of fast food toxins) am grateful for that.

Addendum (July 17, 2011): A Twitter-friend posted this blog about his very recent meeting with Morrison in Glasgow, Scotland. Worth reading as well. Good one, Colin!


Blog Post Soundtrack; Crunt, Alice In Chains, Nirvana (live), Elvis Costello, Primus, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Metallica (live), John Lee Hooker, Mr. Bungle, The Police, Tricky, The White Stripes (live covering Brendan Benson), Stevie Ray Vaughan (live), Mitch Hedberg, Danzig, The Doors (live), Cab Calloway, Pearl Jam (live covering Fugazi & The Talking Heads), Richard Pryor, Rollins Band, The Dropkick Murphys (live, brilliantly mixing an AC/DC cover into the middle of one of their own songs), Eric Clapton (live), Yawning Man, X, The Kinks, Spike Jones, Brant Bjork, Queens Of The Stone Age, Soundgarden, Medeski Martin & Wood (live), Bjork, (hed) pe (covering Black Sabbath), Shootyz Groove, Richard Jeni, Pink Floyd, Chuck Jones, Ike & Tina Turner, Nick Oliveri, Deep Purple (live), Clutch (live), Muddy Waters, David Bowie, Zero Mostel & Michael Hordern & Jack Gilford & Phil Silvers from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Voivod, Red Hot Chili Peppers (live), Benny Goodman, Mr. Bungle, Kyuss (covering Black Sabbath), Prong, Black Flag, Slayer, Mike Patton, Jamiroquai, Audioslave, Oysterhead, Reel Big Fish, The Ramones, The Misfits (live), Minutemen, The Mars Volta, The Smiths, The Black Keys

Mike Mignola Before (And After) Hellboy

As I've mentioned many times over the course of this blog, I'm a fan of the comic book art form. Over the nearly 30 years that I've been in it, my tastes have evolved, as has how I enjoy the hobby. I can't even remember the last time I bought what one thinks of as a "comic book". I stick with collected editions, known as trade paperbacks, which group several issues that comprise one storyline or theme together into one you-can-actually-put-it-on-a-bookshelf book. And even within that parameter, I only buy books by certain creators. I've never really cared about one character or another, I'm just interested in good writers and artists. Within the confines of the story, of course I'll care about the characters, but that's because of the high level of the writing and storytelling due to the quality of the creators. And one of those high quality creators is Mike Mignola.

I was first introduced to the artwork of Mignola way back in around 1985. A schoolmate of mine named Steve Moy, also a comic book fan, encouraged me to check out books he'd drawn. And, as I am wont to do, I'm going to go off on a slight tangent here, as Moy was a good friend for around a decade or so. All thru junior high and high school we would go to each other's houses, read comics, watch movies, play baseball, and just hang out and have a good time. I met him thru another school friend who I still keep in contact with to this day, and comics was one of the things we all had in common. Moy used to bear a striking resemblance to Bruce Lee, particularly from his Game Of Death film. Somewhere along the way, I lost touch with him, as he went to college in Syracuse, New York, a good 250 miles away from Whitestone, where I lived. I think I'd heard something about him living in Seattle at one point. A quick Google search reveals way too many people with that name, and seeing as how I'm not on Facebook, we're not going that route either. Regardless, he was a good friend, made even more so by opening me up to the world of Mignola.

At the time, Mignola was an up-and-coming penciler in the comic book world. He definitely had a unique style, one which the word "quirky" would be very appropriate for. He's never gone for anything even remotely resembling photo-realism; from day one, he was always more concerned with the use of light and shadow and composition over pretty figures. His ability to establish a mood and advance the story with his pictures was always paramount in his work. He would even use his light-and-shadow talents to disguise the fact that he wasn't the greatest artist in the world, as he always struggled drawing hands and feet, and would often shroud them in mist or cloak them in darkness to avoid having to actually render them. You stick with what works.

There was something about his style that I almost instantly gravitated to. I liked the boxiness of his figures, the mysteriousness that his pages seemed to portray, and I really enjoyed the overall look of his work. His work was SO different that it demanded your attention. He was definitely a polarizing force, as you either loved or hated his art. There was no way to be indifferent about it. He was working on the Incredible Hulk in that summer of 1985, and then went over to a book called Alpha Flight. Even though he only lasted on that book for 3 issues, he made an impression on a 14-year-old me. I started to notice him here and there on other things, mostly superhero titles. At the time, there really wasn't much of a choice as to subject matter, as Marvel & DC, the 2 big comic book publishing companies, had well over 90% of the market, and practically their entire output consisted of superhero books. Thankfully, the narrow field of choice was just about to break wide open in the comic book world.

Thru sheer persistence, or force of will, or from just being able to produce pages in a timely manner, plus a healthy dose of actual talent, Mignola started to get higher profile projects to work on. He would fill-in on many titles in the Marvel Universe, doing one issue of a title when the regular wasn't going to be able to meet the deadline, or just to give the regular a break, allowing them either a vacation or a chance to catch up. He would also do many covers at Marvel. Over at DC, he was getting more regular interior work to do. He did a Superman mini-series that filled in some backstory of his home planet of Krypton, and a very highly publicized 4 issue bookshelf format comic called Cosmic Odyssey that starred all the major players in the DC Universe. He also did the covers for 4 issues of Batman's regular series when they were doing a story in which the at-the-time Robin's fate would be decided by the readership. Depending on which 1-900 phone number you called, you were voting for Jason Todd to survive a severe beating by The Joker, or succumb to his injuries and die. It was a marketing ploy that succeeded to immense proportions. When that book came out in late 1988, it made national news. The book sold out instantly everywhere, as all the press it received had ordinary citizens, ones who hadn't bought or even looked at a comic book in years, if ever, coming in to try and get a copy of the book. Although Mignola didn't draw the interiors, the mere fact that he did the covers on such a phenomenal selling book obviously helped his career a great deal.

Then, in the summer of 1989, 2 major projects that Mignola drew were published. For Marvel, he had done a hardcover graphic novel starring Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom, involving the hero and the villain teaming up in an effort to rescue Doom's mother. A beautiful book, it was definitely a project suited for Mignola, as he got to draw demons and monsters and other denizens of Hell, something that he always wanted to do. Over at DC, he did a bookshelf comic starring Batman in an alternate universe in which he was in London investigating the Jack The Ripper murders at the time they were occurring. Gotham By Gaslight, the title of the Batman/Jack The Ripper book, is another terrific use of Mignola's talents, as the foggy and shadowy London nights were perfect for his drawing style, and seeing as this was one of DC's flagship characters, it really helped to solidify him on the artistic map. Remember, 1989 was the summer of the Bat, as the Tim Burton, Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson Batman film was about to debut. Mignola was much happier with these projects as well, because he had been starting to get known as a superhero guy, and he realized this was a category he did not want to be pigeonholed into.

He then branched out a bit more with subject matter. While he did a Wolverine bookshelf comic, and continued to draw many covers for Marvel and DC, those things paid the bills while he drew the smaller profile projects that he REALLY wanted to draw, like a little Swamp Thing story with a then-relatively-unknown writer named Neil Gaiman, a 4 issue adaptation of Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser characters with Howard Chaykin, a Hellraiser story set in the universe of Clive Barker, and a massive Ironwolf hardcover graphic novel that Chaykin himself had approached Mignola about doing. And even the Wolverine book involved him in The Savage Land, where dinosaurs still existed, so he got to draw monsters there, too. The cover, owned by a Comic Art Fans friend, is also his best Frank Frazetta homage, an artistic hero of Mignola's (and basically everyone who's ever been an artist or art fan).

I can't remember if it was the summer of 1989, or January of 1990, but I really don't feel like digging thru boxes looking for some evidence to pinpoint it...and frankly, it isn't that important anyway. What does matter is that at one of those 2 times, I went into Manhattan to attend a comic book convention at which Mignola was going to be a guest. This was only the second or third big show that I had gone to, and I'd seen at the others that some artists would do sketches for people for a fee. I knew that I wanted to get something from Mignola, in addition to just being able to meet him, talk with him, and have him sign some of the books of his that I had. As I stood at his table waiting my turn, he was finishing a piece for someone else, and it was a drawing of the aforementioned 2 Dr.'s. I was so taken at just how cool it looked that when it came my turn, I said something to the effect of "Can I get one of those?" And so began a relationship that got to the point that he recognized me at shows, as he would be a guest at one in New York every 6 months, and I of course would be there as well. I wound up getting 3 sketches over those years, but the best part was just getting to hang around his table and talk with him about art, the comic world, and his origins.

As a directly related aside, I've always enjoyed finding out about the creative process as much, if not more, than the actual creations. If I really like a movie, I want the 3 disc DVD with the bazillion extras that gives all the behind the scenes stuff, and the commentary tracks, and the making-of features, and so on. And the same goes for the comic book creators I admire. The ones whose work I really enjoy, who've done work that has had an impact on me, are the ones who I go out and seek the trade publications that have interviews with them. And as I would talk more and more with Mignola at these conventions, I realized that no one had ever published an interview with him, and that in talking with him at show after show, I was practically conducting one. Hmmmmm...

So at the NYC show in June of 1991, I broached the topic of doing an interview with him. What I find amazing, to this day, is that here was this dopey long-haired 19 year-old kid, with no affiliation with any publication, and no real writing experience to speak of, asking Mignola to be the subject of an interview...and he said yes! I'm shaking my head as I write this. Now, I can't remember if I had contacted Fantagraphics (publishers of the comic book news and interview magazine Amazing Heroes) first, or if I'd gotten Mignola to agree to the interview first, but all of a sudden it was all set up, and the interview was a go! I got a list of questions and topics ready to discuss with him, and left early from my summer job in Long Island one sunny day in July to make my way down to his apartment in Greenwich Village. I took a small camera with me as well, so when I arrived at his apartment, we just chatted for a while as he toured me around the dwelling, and I took some pictures of him in his studio.

After a bit of this, we made our way to the nearby Slaughtered Lamb pub to conduct the interview proper. Over a great burger that Mignola paid for (thanks, Mike!), we sat and talked about his life, career, his art, and where he wanted to go with it. A couple hours or so later, I was making my way back home to Queens to begin the task of transcribing the tapes, and then editing the conversation down to the most interesting material that would fit in the space that I had been allotted for the issue, which was to be published just 3 months later! The final piece got mailed off to Seattle, home of Fantagraphics (remember kids, this is the dark ages before the internet was as commonplace as horrendous reality TV shows), and I went back to my life.

Needless to say, it was quite a thrill that October to actually get the published version in my hands. It's still something I'm rather proud of (obviously, if you've read this far...), and while it unfortunately didn't lead to a journalism career (not that I really wanted one), it's still something I can hang my hat on.

Not long after the publication of Amazing Heroes #196, he moved away to the West Coast, and then the conventions in New York disappeared as well. I finally saw him again in I believe 1994, and he told me that a picture I took for my interview with him had just been used in an interview with him in Fantagraphics other, more sophisticated publication about comics, The Comics Journal. I didn't even know he'd been interviewed for it, so I got a copy and yup, there was a now several-years-old picture of Mignola in his at-the-time studio that I'd taken accompanying a new interview with him. Frankly, it didn't really bother me...I just wanted to read the interview.

By this time, Mignola had done enough working with Marvel and DC on properties that they owned, and he struck out on his own with a little creation of his called Hellboy. All he'd ever really wanted to do was draw monsters, so in coming up with his own creation, he could set it in his own universe, where anything he wanted to happen could, and anything he wanted to appear could, and he could put all of these things in any setting he wanted. He had made his own kingdom, so he obviously had the keys to it. Aside from a scripting assist from John Byrne on the first mini-series, Mignola has written the Hellboy comics himself. The Hellboy stories were published thru a company called Dark Horse Comics, who from day one in 1986 have been completely creator-friendly, allowing the artists and writers to retain the rights to their properties. They has gone on to be such a success that it has afforded him the opportunity to do nothing but that for the rest of his life. It has birthed its own universe, with the agency that Hellboy works for, The Bureau For Paranormal Research And Defense (B.P.R.D.), having many series of its own published, written and drawn by people of Mignola's choosing (sometimes written by Mignola himself), and all under his supervision...but he trusts them enough to let them do their thing.

Hellboy even went on to become so successful as to spawn 2 feature films directed by Guillermo del Toro. To go back on the Mignola history a bit, his first involvement with Hollywood involved Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula film that was released in November of 1992. Mignola was the artist of Topps' Comics adaptation of the film, and Coppola's son Roman was a big comic book fan. When Francis decided that he wanted to change the look of certain set pieces, Roman suggested to him that he bring Mignola in to do some of the design work. I remember Mignola telling me a story of one of the most surreal days of his life. He was invited by Francis to come view a rough cut of the Dracula film at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. Mignola was living in San Francisco at the time, so it was a short drive up to Marin County where Lucas lives. Mignola, expecting this to be a screening for dozens of people, was stunned to discover that the entire audience would consist of him, Coppola, and Lucas. But that began his involvement in the film world.

He then went on to be a concept artist on the 2002 film Blade 2. There is some slight irony here, as Blade was based on a Marvel Comics' character. The director was del Toro, who is also a huge fan of comics in general, and Mignola in particular. While working on the film, the idea of making a Hellboy picture brewed between the 2, and it culminated in April of 2004 with the release of the first Hellboy motion picture, with Ron Perlman starring as the big red guy. A second film was released in July 2008, also helmed by del Toro, with Mignola along fully involved in all phases of production for both pictures. He even makes a brief cameo in the first film along with del Toro. And yes, there is an ultra-deluxe 3 disc DVD of the first Hellboy movie, which, of course, I have...

With the disappearance of a regular big comic book convention in New York City in the mid-1990's, I pretty much stopped seeing comic book professionals for quite some time. Other interests took over my time as well. It wasn't until after I moved out here to Las Vegas in March of 2000 that I started branching out my traveling. I now had more time and money, and the combination afforded me more opportunities. After touring some friends back to NYC in May of 2005, and spending hardly any time seeing my parents, I realized I needed to remedy that. I saw there was going to be a big comic book con in NYC that fall, so I decided to fly in, spend some time at that, and just hang out with my folks at home as well. I had such a good time at the comic book show that I started to look at going to other ones on my half of the country as well, and it was at one in Phoenix, Arizona in January 2007 that I was finally able to see Mignola again. It had been nearly 13 years since I'd last seen him, I wondered if there was any way I could get him to remember me? I realized I'd just bring the pictures of him I'd taken lo those many years ago, when we both were of the long-haired variety. By this time, we were both of the shaved-head variety, I suspect him for the same reasons as me.

Upon arriving at my hotel that was right next to the convention center in Mesa, Arizona (a suburb just southeast of downtown Phoenix), I pretty much went right over to the show. There was a small line at Mignola's table, so I got on, and upon getting to the front, dropped the pictures in front of both him and his wife Christine, and pretty much got a pair of dropped jaws, which made me very happy. Mignola looked up, we shook hands, and started catching up. I spent quite a lot of time at their table at that show, and the 3 of us talked about everything under the sun, including their daughter Katie, who didn't exist the last time I'd seen him. He even showed me copies of the pencils of the first issue of the at-the-time upcoming Hellboy series Darkness Calls. This was to be the first major Hellboy book not drawn by Mignola, as the art chores were to be handled by Duncan Fegredo. I first remember seeing Fegredo do a Kid Eternity series with Grant Morrison, but these Hellboy pages were a completely different style. Mignola said Fegredo was terrific, and only getting better with each issue. I was so impressed that I eventually bought a page from the first issue, which had Fegredo himself exclaim "Ugh! Those stairs!" when I met him in New York City the following April (yup, got to see the folks again, too). I also chatted with Christine about the fact that my parents now live in the same town in Long Island, New York that she grew up in. Small world.

Before I left the next afternoon, he was also nice enough to draw a sketch for me. He was doing free head sketches at the show, as he does at many of his convention appearances, and nearly everyone was asking for Hellboy, so much so that he wasn't even looking at the paper as he was drawing it anymore. In my never ending quest to not be just another cog in the machine, and to retain SOME sort of uniqueness, I asked him if he'd draw a sketch of Fafhrd, especially since a trade paperback collecting the original bookshelf comics was finally just about to come out. He obliged, but actually asked for reference, because it had been so long since he'd drawn the character. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Fast forward to October of 2009, and I'm poking around on an online auction site, and lo and behold, I come across a very interesting piece of original artwork by Mignola. It was the title page to the previously mentioned Ironwolf graphic novel that he was just finishing when I'd actually done the interview with him. This particular piece has a nice double meaning for me. In addition to being something he was working on at the time, it was also based on a piece of reference material. Turns out, the same piece of reference material was also the inspiration for the drawing of the wolf's head that adorns the banner outside of The Slaughtered Lamb pub in Greenwich Village. What better reminder of a terrific day in my life than to have that actual page hanging on the walls of my home.

I've now seen Mike & Christine at several shows since then, most recently in Seattle this past March. It's always a pleasure to run into them, chat for a few minutes, and Mignola is always nice enough to sign whatever books of his I bring. And as a final point of irony, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Although he moved from that address a few years before the publication of any Hellboy comics, when I conducted the interview with him, he was living at 666 Greenwich Street. You can't make this stuff up.


Blog Post Soundtrack; The Doors (live), Louis Jordan, Mike Patton, Patti Smith, Pearl Jam (live), Metallica (live), Republica, Galactic, The Dickies, Beck, Sex Pistols, James Brown, Bad Radio, Sugarcubes, Florence & The Machine, Joe Walsh, The White Stripes, The Black Keys (nice juxtaposition), Mr. Bungle (live), Andy Breckman, Discharge, Van Morrison, Nuclear Assault, Bjork, The Ventures, Down, John Lee Hooker, Primus, The Company Band, Led Zeppelin, Bo Diddley, Faith No More (live), Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Ray Vaughan (live), Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Cantrell, Fu Manchu (live), Clutch (live), Louis Armstrong, At The Drive-In, Slayer, Unida, Tool (live), Brant Bjork, The Dandy Warhols, KoRn, Portishead, Queens Of The Stone Age (live), Voivod, Orange Goblin, Hermano, Deftones, Pantera

You'd Never Guess Why I'm Writing About Seattle This Time

The hardest part about writing this blog of late is deciding which of the many unfinished travel stories I should work on. If I remember correctly, I was in the middle of telling tales about going to New York, Florida, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Jose, and had also teased that I'd gone to San Francisco right after my San Diego day trip (a travel story that might actually be, perish the thought, finished). So I shall now roll a 6-sided die to determine which of the recent journeys will be the lucky lottery winner in today's "I actually have some time and am gonna do some writing" sweepstakes...

...and just in case you think I'm kidding about this, i just went to my Simpson's Monopoly board game, pulled out a die, and rolled a 4, which means we head back to Seattle!

After talking with Frank Quitely for about 25 minutes or so in the hallway outside where his panel was going to be at the comic book convention, it came time to actually go in. The moderator came up while Quitely and I were talking outside, introduced himself, and asked if there was any way Quitely wanted this handled. I chimed in with, "Just don't ask him about the animated Superman film based on his work, because he hasn't seen it yet."

The panel itself was fairly interesting, as it was completely devoted to Quitely. This was just going to be 45 minutes or so with him sitting at a dais, along with the moderator, and a room full of people interested in hearing what an artist they admire has to say about things. After 15 or 20 minutes of interview-style questioning between Quitely and the moderator, the floor was opened to questions from the audience. Since most of what I'd really wanted to know I'd already ascertained from talking with him before, I was perfectly happy to just sit there and let other audience members step up to the microphone and fire questions away. I did get quite a good chuckle when, invariably, the second audience question was what Quitely thought about the animated Superman film...

After the panel let out, I wandered the show floor a bit to kill some time until Quitely's next signing session that evening. I got a meal at the small food court in the convention room, and wound up sharing a table and chatting with a nice young woman dressed as Batman villain Poison Ivy. A male friend of her's came over while we were eating, which wouldn't normally be worth mentioning except that he was fully dressed as another of Batman's nemeses, The Joker. Things like this aren't uncommon at events like this, but when you stop and examine it from an outside perspective, it just seems a tad bit odd...

After dinner I got on to the line for the evening Quitely signing session. Upon getting up to him, we briefly talked some more while he signed a few books he'd done the artwork for that I'd brought with me, and then I was back off to the hotel. It had been a rather productive day, but a long one, and I'd spent maybe 15 minutes in the hotel since arriving earlier that day. When I made it up to the room, I posted a couple things on Twitter about seeing Quitely, and mentioned something he'd said about a project he was contributing to for Mike Allred's Madman character. Just a few minutes later I got a reply from Allred himself on Twitter, wanting to know more about what Quitely had said. We had a brief Twitter conversation, and even in the middle of it, I found it interesting that I had managed to get to "see" another comic book creator I admire at this convention, even though this particular one was not actually in attendance. After a nice walk thru a biting wind to get some supplies from a local convenience store, I returned to the room, soaked in a nice hot tub for close to an hour, then passed out watching some TV. Party animal.

I slept in on Saturday morning, something I rarely, if ever, get to do when I'm home. Even on my days off I've always got something to do, so I tend to get up not much later than I would if I was going to work. That's what's nice about these trips. I've got things to attend during the day, and seeing as how I've been to Seattle many times before, I wasn't filled with a burning desire to wander the streets for hours beforehand. I did get up early enough to make my way to the gym at the top of the hotel, as it afforded a beautiful view of downtown Seattle on a gorgeous sunny morning. After taking pictures from up there for a while, and just standing and enjoying the view, it was time to head over to the show.

I brought a couple more books over to go see Quitely again, because A) who knows when I'll ever see him again, seeing as he lives in Scotland, and hasn't been in this country since 2002, and B) it was nice to be able to briefly converse with him a little more. I really enjoy his work, and have an even greater deal of respect for him after talking with him for the time that I did. This kind of connection is the reason I go to these events. I really enjoy meeting and talking with the people whose work I admire and enjoy, and pulling a signed book off of my shelves always sparks a nice memory of those times.

My next objective was to go see a couple more people who hadn't been there on Friday, but would be there on Saturday. Another of the artist's with a vision I appreciate is a man named David Mack. While he has done some very notable work on Marvel's Daredevil character, it his own creation, Kabuki, which really shows off his artistic abilities. While he has expanded the bounds of what would normally be allowed in terms of form and content in Daredevil, it is still a high-profile product from a high-profile company, and there is still an editorial rein. On Kabuki, it's pretty much a full-on experiment in re-inventing storytelling. Mack, who I also follow on Twitter, is someone who I always seek out when I know he's at a show that I'll be at, as he always has new and interesting things to look check out at his table. He brings an extensive amount of his originals to look thru, as well as a complete selection of books he's done, and every time I see him, there's at least one new book. He is also an incredibly personable guy, very friendly and easy to talk with, and quite generous with what he is selling. He will also do sketches at shows for very reasonable fees. But I actually had another reason for talking with him this show, and that was to ask a couple questions about his DVD, The Alchemy Of Art: David Mack. It's a great DVD, and I wanted to talk with him about it for a piece I was writing on it for Unseen Films. The DVD is well worth having if you're a fan of art at all, let alone Mack's work specifically.

More to come on this story...eventually...


Blog Post Soundtrack; The Misfits, Foo Fighters (live), Pearl Jam, Elvis Presley, Fear Factory, The Who, The Ruts, Neil Young & Pearl Jam, M.O.D., Eagles Of Death Metal, The Buzzcocks, Moloko, Aerosmith, Metallica (live), AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Tom Jones w/The Pretenders (covering an Iggy Pop song...can you believe it?!?), Mr. Bungle (live), P.J. Harvey, Sublime, Bo Diddley, Anthrax & Public Enemy, Public Image Ltd., MC5, The Strokes, The Police (live)

The Travelogue Stops In Seattle

This weekend was a quick in-and-out jaunt up to a favorite city of mine, Seattle, Washington. This marked my 5th visit to the area, my first being in the summer of 2001. It's a great place to walk around, and I've managed to have excellent weather nearly every time. Even when I have been there during some rain, it's never been more than a drizzle or light showers. I'm fairly certain I wouldn't want to live there, however. Not because of the rain, but because it can be kinda cloudy and grey there...a lot...so much so that it would be rather depressing on a daily basis. It makes for vibrant, lush countryside; the Pacific Northwest area of the country has some amazing forests, and the rain is vital for that. But to be in a city day-in and day-out with grey skies over grey buildings, um, no, thanks. I'm too much a creature of sunlight. I'm not a tanning person at all; I actually cover up as much as possible when I'm working, because skin cancer is a definite hazard of my job, especially out here in the deserts of the American Southwest. But I just love natural light. When I'm home during the day, I've got blinds wide open to let as much light in as possible. I only keep the ones covered that would let the sun stream in directly...the electric bill is high enough trying to keep the house cool in the summer.

So this visit to Seattle was strictly about attending the Emerald City Comicon. Last year my visit to the show was incorporated as part of a 10 day Pacific Northwest driving vacation which went on as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia. I spent 3 or 4 days in Seattle, wandering around, doing touristy things with my Mom, and only went to the convention 1 day. This year, I wasn't even originally planning on attending the event, until they announced Frank Quitely as one of the guests. Quitely is an artist who has worked often with Grant Morrison, one of my absolute favorite writers. Quitely is from, and lives in, Scotland, so his appearances in this country are quite rare. In talking with him at the show, he said he hadn't been to the United States since 2002. So when I had seen a while ago that he would be in Seattle, I looked into it, saw that it would be convenient enough for me to go, and the rest just became history.

Flying out of Las Vegas Friday morning, I landed in Sea-Tac airport a little before noon. I hadn't flown into Seattle since 2008, so this was the first time I was able to take Seattle's Light Rail train system from the airport straight into downtown. The cab ride I used to take for the same trip would run around 50 bucks or so with a tip. Light Rail? $2.50. Roughly the same amount of time, nice smooth ride, good views, and let me off about a block away from my hotel. Fantastic.

Through the convention website, I was able to get a nice hotel literally across the street from the convention center, so I really wasn't going to be doing much other than going back and forth from my room to the show. By the time I'd checked in and settled my stuff into my room, it was just after 2PM, which was when the show was to open on Friday, so I just threw a few of the books I'd brought with me into my backpack and headed downstairs. By the time I got over there the show was open for business and already humming with activity. I made a beeline for Quitely's table, only to discover that his line for signing had already been cut off. I realized this when I stumbled across the person wearing the "I Am The Last Person In Line" placard that convention staff gives out to certain people in line for particularly popular guests. I was a little stunned, as it was only about 2:30, but then I saw the sign at Quitely's table that said he'd only be signing from 2-3 and 7-8 on Friday, with the rest of the time allowing for him to be on panels and do sketches which were being commissioned from him at the show. Okay, change in plans...

So I decided to make my way over to go and see Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy. I've mentioned Mignola here before, as he is one of my favorite comic creators. I was such a big fan of his work a long time ago that I wound up interviewing him for Amazing Heroes back in 1991. I've followed his career for nearly a quarter century now, which makes us both older than we'd really care to admit (he just recently turned 50...he's got me beat by a little over a decade). He had a line, but I wasn't in any hurry, so I just got on to the end of that, with the trusty iPod and iPhone to occupy my time. Turns out, they really weren't all that necessary, as most folks just want to get things signed, and don't bother talking to the people whose work they enjoy. Except me, of course...

I cued my iPhone to a picture of me from my first driver's license way back in 1989, and was about to place that on the table in front of Mignola and his wife Christine to spark their memories of me, when Mike looked up, and without any prompting, recognized me on his own. No, it hasn't been since the interview that I've seen him. I've run into him at maybe a half-dozen shows across the country in the intervening years, and he still manages to remember me every time...but it still takes me by pleasant surprise every time when he does remember me. I showed them both the picture anyway, as I felt I owed it to Mike to show him an "embarrassing" picture of me, since one of the last times I'd seen him, I'd presented his wife with a bunch of pictures of him from around the time of the interview. We both were of the long-haired-hippie variety in 1991...and we both are of the smooth, shiny, chrome-dome now. Yeah, we all got a chuckle out of it, and talked for a couple minutes, but I don't wanna monopolize time when there's other people waiting to get stuff signed, so I headed off, knowing I'd see them again over the weekend.

Wandering around the show floor, I made my way over to the Image Comics booth, where Erik Larsen was going to be set-up. I'm not a big fan of Larsen's work, but I respect his work ethic, and thru his Twitter account, I respect his opinions. He has been the writer and artist of his creation, Savage Dragon, for about 20 years now, managing to put out an issue practically without fail every month in that time span. In addition to that, he also works on other Image projects, as well as being one of the chief officers of the company. I just wanted to let him know I was one of his Twitter followers, thank him for having and expressing opinions, and to pick up a copy of his new Herculian book, which was a collection of non-Savage Dragon odds and ends he'd recently put together. He'd mentioned how much fun he'd had putting this together on Twitter, so I figured the least I could do to thank him for his Twitter entertainment was to get a copy of this for myself. Read it in the hotel that night, and the fun definitely shines thru, even in the main story, which had some serious overtones to it.

The main story is of particular note as it was originally produced as a "24 Hour Comic", which means that the entire 24 page story was written and drawn over a single 24 hour period. This was started back in 1990 by Scott McCloud and Steve Bissette, and has grown to have it's own annual day. Larsen took a recent 24 hour comic of his, had it colored, and made it the first half of his Herculian book, with some other shorts and strips filling the second half. A 24 hour comic is a tremendous achievement, and if you don't think so, try coming even close to doing one yourself. It normally takes 2 artists a full month to render a 22 page comic that a third creator has written. There is quite an amount of work that goes into creating a single page of a comic, let alone entire books, and further on month after month. There is definitely a real strong and admirable work ethic involved in consistently producing a monthly comic book.

Around this time I made my way over to where Kevin MaGuire was seated. MaGuire is another favorite artist of mine, having rendered many issues of Justice League from the late 1980's and early 1990's that struck a chord with me. His speciality was, and is, his remarkable ability to capture a tremendous array of expressions on faces. He has always been able to draw characters with a smirk, or a frown, or a raised eyebrow, or a come-hither look, or whatever emotion or expression you could think of, better than just about anyone in the business, and do the full gamut of emotions equally well. Again, something that you would think would be easy to do, but believe me, it isn't.

After speaking with Maguire and Rosemary Cheetham, the colorist on his current book Tanga, I started to wander back to the hotel...only to suddenly realize it was about 4:30, and the panel focusing on Quitely was due to start at 5. I'd been thinking about getting some food, but now knew I was actually a little pressed for time, so I made a quick trip back to the hotel, grabbed only the books I had for Quitely, and headed back over to the convention center. As I was entering the building, I sensed someone was approaching behind me, so I stopped and held the door open as I normally would...

...and turned to see that it was Quitely himself I was holding the door open for. To quote John Cusack's Martin Blank character from Grosse Pointe Blank, "Dumb fuckin' luck!" I instantly told him that he was the reason I was heading into the building at that moment, and since we were obviously heading for the same place, hoped he wouldn't mind if I tagged along. He was fine with that, so we started chatting. I got the chance to tell him he was the reason for my attending the show at all this year, to which he was flattered. He talked about how he sits in his house working on this stuff, and since he doesn't do many conventions at all, let alone in the US, he's never really quite sure how well received the work is. Then he'll sit at his table at this Seattle show and see his line cut-off because so many people want to meet him, and he's a little taken aback.

As we made our way up the escalators, we exchanged introductions. Frank Quitely is just a pen name, but he's used it for so long that he answers to it as well as his real name. Amongst his friends, he's Vin, but I'll keep referring to him as Quitely for the sake of this piece. We talked about various subjects, including his most well-known creative partner, Morrison, and about drugs, since Morrison makes no secret of being a taker of many mind-expanding substances. That then led to the subject of Bill Hicks and George Carlin, and to my surprise, Quitely had never heard of Carlin. Thinking about it later, I realized that Hicks, while being huge in the UK and relatively unknown here in the the US, was exactly the opposite of Carlin, who was huge here and never really toured, or caught on, outside of the States. He was interested to learn more about him however, since I'd mentioned him in the same breath with Hicks.

We then made our way to the room where he was supposed to be fronting his panel, and as it was still occupied with the current talk, we stood in the hallway and continued chatting. I asked him about the recent animated adaptation of the wonderful All-Star Superman book that he and Morrison had put together, and he responded by sheepishly telling me he hadn't seen it yet. He hadn't been invited to the premiere, and hadn't even been given a copy of it (which DC staff at the show were trying to rectify immediately). I had just gotten the Blu-Ray the day before, put a digital copy of it on my iPod, and watched it earlier that morning on the flight up to Seattle. So I cued it up, and had Quitely watching some of it on my iPod there in the hallway, which I found somewhat surreal.

Around this time someone else finally recognized him, and asked him if he would't mind signing a book. He obliged, and I said to him I hadn't done that for fear of bringing a crowd around him (which is true...I had things I wanted him to sign, but if I brought them out there in the hallway, the moths would have all been attracted to the flame, and I was much more enjoying just talking with the man). He said he didn't mind, so I opened up my portfolio and showed him the 3 original pages of his that I own. Upon looking at the page of his I have from Batman & Robin (again written by Morrison), I asked him about the change they made to the piece. The published version has a very different graveyard to the one on the original piece, and even he wasn't really sure as to why they had him do a re-worked version, but they did. He also told me that he made the changes digitally, which explained why there was no patch that came with the original penciled page that I'd bought.

He also signed the 2 pages that I have from the All-Star Superman series, and I told him that the unfortunate thing about that was they were both from a scene that was cut from the animated movie. Since the film only ran 76 minutes, a lot of things had to be cut from the 12 issues that Morrison and Quitely had produced. He commented that he didn't know why they just didn't make it a series, and do the whole thing, but oh well.

As usual, this entry is taking on a life of it's own, and with plenty more to tell, I'll save that for another time...


Blog Post Soundtrack; The Police, Pennywise, Pantera, Desert Sessions, The Strokes (live), Kool & The Gang, Soundgarden, Muddy Waters, Metallica (live), The Mars Volta, ZZ Top, Deep Purple (live), Björk, Pearl Jam (live), Lily Allen, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Queens Of The Stone Age (live), King Missile, Hater, The Blues Brothers (live), The Clash, Oysterhead, Slayer, Social Distortion, Scatterbrain, Eagles Of Death Metal (live), Judas Priest (live), Jimi Hendrix, Monty Python, Santana, Infectious Grooves, Lenny White, Fugazi, The Marx Brothers

Perfume & Cigarettes...And Batman, Neal Adams, And My Grandmother

Certain things are massive memory triggers for me. Smells are one of the better ones. I can be walking along somewhere, and catch a whiff of a certain perfume, and instantly be transported back to times when certain females were in my life. And regardless of how those relationships may have ended, the smell always manages to put a smile on my face. There was one particular woman who always had an interesting mix of perfume and cigarettes around her, and the intriguing aroma never failed to make me happy. Being a non-smoker as I am, that may seem odd, but her particular perfume, mixed with her cigarettes, always did a number on me.

But there are other memory stimulants as well, sight being possibly the biggest. I can look at a ticket stub from an event I went to 30 years ago and be instantly transported back to what transpired that evening, and the surrounding events as well. I can look at a book I own, or a poster or piece of artwork on my walls, that has a signature by one of the writers or artists that worked on it, and instantly be thrown back in time to the setting where I got to meet that person, and be able to remember the conversation I got to have with someone whose work I admire.

Much like Pavlov's Dogs, however, there is one specific conditioned reflex I have that happened again earlier this evening. Having gotten out of work around dusk, I was witness to the last remnants of what must have been an amazing sunset, for the few remaining cotton-candy-colored whisps of clouds only hinted at what had just been. Still, there was enough to enjoy for a bit. Driving off to do an errand before heading home, in turning east I was greeted by a very large, bright, and full moon. As wonderful as that was, it got even better when one of the cloud whisps that had been so recently rose-colored now acted as a bit of a shroud, only partially obscuring the view of the glowing ball in the sky. And this is where the conditioned response kicks in every time.

Whenever I see a full moon partially blocked by some clouds, I am instantly reminded of an incredibly iconic image of Batman. It is a full page splash from Batman issue 251, cover dated September, 1973, that features Batman sprinting across a beach at night, in pursuit of his arch-enemy The Joker. It's an issue written by a classic Batman writer, Denny O'Neil, but the artwork is by perhaps one of the greatest artists ever to grace the Dark Knight with his talents, Neal Adams. Adams is a revolutionary, a pioneer, a true visionary in the field of comic books. His work in the late 1960's thru the mid-1970's stands as some of the greatest the field has ever produced, and he was so far ahead of his time that much of that work could be published today, roughly 40 years later, and still look fresh and contemporary. His design work, his layouts, his choice of camera angles, and his flat-out drawing are all superb. In an art form that had been starting to get stagnant, his work was truly innovative, and it aspired to a higher level of quality as it turned the comic book world on its ear, and challenged it by saying "we can be better!" Living legend is NOT hyperbole in this instance.

While not old enough to know any of this at the time, I've apparently been a fan of Adams' work since long before I knew who he was. I would have been just about 2 years old when Batman 251 hit the newsstands, and while I DID start reading at an early age, no, it wasn't THAT early. How I was introduced to Adams' work however, I can remember clear as day. I don't recall the specifics of how or why this particular item was acquired, but I have a very vivid memory of standing in the kitchen of my grandmother's house while her and her daughter (my mom) opened what seemed like a half-scale paint can for me. The can was the container that held 81 pieces of a jigsaw puzzle featuring the Adams-penned image of Batman running along that beach. I had no idea of Neal Adams, or probably even comic books, at that point. I'm not even sure how old I was when they got me this puzzle, but I would venture to guess I was around 5...maybe younger. I'm sure it was bought for me because of watching cartoons with Batman, or maybe re-runs of the TV show that starred Adam West. But that's beside the point.

I do remember standing there in my grandmother's kitchen, with the 5 or 6 inch square brownish tiles with the half-inch or so of grout between each one. Since Grandma lived in the next town over from us, we would go visit her every Sunday. Sometimes Vlad (a nickname I've bestowed upon my father in the last dozen years or so...a story for another blog entry...) would go with us, sometimes not, but Mom and I would make the trip every week without fail. Frequently I would sneak off into said kitchen while the two ladies would talk, and I would open, and leave open, every bright yellow cabinet door and drawer in what can only be described as the crude beginnings of my career as a practical jokester. The image of my grandmother coming in and putting her hands on her hips in what I realize now was mock exaspiration is burned indelibly into my somewhat twisted brain, and it's the joy I derive from reactions like that which continue to inspire my pranksterish behavior today.

I anxiously awaited the conclusion of this "opening ceremony" so I could get my hands on the treasure within. It was in a tin can, and although it had a plastic lid like on a tennis ball can, there was a piece of tin that sealed the can shut underneath. It didn't have a pop-top or pull-tab, so they must have used a manual can opener to unseal the can (this was the mid-1970's, before electric can openers had been invented...apparently...), and they were both concerned that I might cut myself on a slightly jagged edge they had left. After a little bit of masking tape had been carefully applied, I was finally able to get down to the business of assembling this gem. And lo and behold, a gem it was.

Over the years, I must have assembled and disassembled that puzzle dozens of times. The can was always a fixture in my room, and every once in a while I'd pull it off the shelf and piece together the costumed detective, and just stare at the scene, wondering what had transpired to make him be in such a state. I would also analyze the position of the Caped Crusader, as the camera angle chosen featured major foreshortening, making the hand on his forward outstretched arm as big as the thigh of his corresponding rear leg that was powerfully thrusting him ahead.

It would be many years before I learned that Adams was the artist responsible for the drawing that I had put together and taken apart many times. It would be an additional many years before I actually acquired a book that reprinted the issue in question. The final volume in a beautiful 3 volume set entitled Batman Illustrated By Neal Adams didn't come out until 2005. Each hardcover contains nearly 300 pages of, well, Batman, um, illustrated by, uh, Neal Adams. Kinda self-explnatory. Over the course of the 3 books, you see his style and technique improve and evolve. As it turns out, Batman 251 was one of the very last Batman stories Adams would draw. He was probably at the peak of his talents when he produced the issue in question, and in particular, that one single, striking, image.

I have been able to meet Adams numerous times over the years at shows, but it wasn't until into the 2000's that I was REALLY able to appreciate how much of a talented artist he is. I have met him enough times in recent years that all 3 of my Batman hardcovers have been signed by him, but perhaps more importantly, I one time brought a few pieces from that very puzzle to a show that he was at, and while assembling them, told him a very abbreviated version of this story. The puzzle was assembled one final time when I returned home to Las Vegas from that New York trip, framed, and has been hanging on a wall in my home ever since.

My grandmother died in 1995, just several months before I started my career as a mailman. She never got to see me become the reasonably successful and happy person I like to think I've become, but hopefully, somewhere, she knows I think of her whenever I see a partially cloud-covered full moon.

Hi Grandma, and thanks.

Blog Post Soundtrack; Foo Fighters, David Bowie, Motörhead, Sugarcubes, Probot, Eagles Of Death Metal (live), Pearl Jam (live), Leadbelly, Metallica (live), The White Stripes (live), Deftones, The Mars Volta, Kyuss (live), Nuclear Assault, Alice In Chains (live), Public Enemy, Fu Manchu, Guns N' Roses, Tom Lehrer (live), Queens Of The Stone Age (live), The Blues Brothers, Cheryl Wheeler, Lou Reed, John Lennon, Deep Purple (live), Simon & Garfunkel, The Doors (live), The Vandals, MC5, The 5,6,7,8's, Judas Priest, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mad Season, Tool