The other day, my mother posted this watercolor she dashed off on Facebook, along with this line from Thomas Keneally:
“Summer now seemed to have lasted mere days, all its chances quickly squandered.”
Truer words were never spoken. Have we really reached the end of sandal season, of clambakes, of rioja and tapas at the outside table, of honest sweat on our brows, long sunsets, slow grilling and the AC running all day?
Where did summer go.
That is the this I hate most about Comic-Con. By the time June rolls around, you are just starting to get in a state about planning. July is gone, fwsh, like that, and August is either recovering or a few days in the mountains and then…it’s all over. I never even got to wear all my summer dresses. I had this one pair of cute sandals I meant to take to the cobbler to get fixed and now I never did and I won’t even have a chance to wear them. Blast it all!
As you may have noticed, things have been a but moribund at Stately Beat Manor this week. It’s the end of August, and it’s the very last chance to kind of relax a little, maybe read a book, sit outside, catch a ballgame, drink a slurpee…while August has two of the biggest shows of the year in the Toronto Fan Expo and Wizard World Chicago, it’s still relatively relaxed period for many folks.
But all that is about to change. In a few weeks it’s Baltimore, then SPX, then Brooklyn Book Festival, and DICE and the Lakes and Thought Bubble and NYCC and MIX and CAD and this and that and whoa….anyway….trying to catch up on all our Con News before you head out to the Cape for some clams.
§ You know I never linked to this Paul Pope piece clearing up some comments he made on a panel at San Diego that were broadcast around the internet. In fact I never linked to the original comments because they came under my “need to know more” policy. Anyway, it turns out that that whole conversation that Paul Pope had about DC being for 45-year-old men and not kids was held eight years ago. Of course, everyone ran it like it was said yesterday because, well, let’s be honest, it FEELS like it was said yesterday. DC Comics hasn’t exactly been heavily pushing its kids comics line. but the New 52 was an attempt to bring in new readers who were older than 21 but younger than 45…and it kinda worked. Anyway, a new Paul Pope interview is always a good thing.
§ In general, I don’t like that kind of “Gotcha” journalism where a quote is taken from an interview and an entire crusade formed around it. In the quiet time before Fall Con Season, many of these quotes have filled the water cooler talk of the internet, but I took a break from it.
§ Writer Daniel Way talks about his impending fatherhood (for the second time) and how sometimes being happy doesn’t make you want to write.
I’m at a very strange point in my life. I have to find a new motivation. I have to become comfortable with happiness. I have figure out how to nurture my career—which I love, dearly—with something other than anger or fear. That “something,” of course, is happiness. See? It’s strange.
§ Director Zack Snyder informs us that there was a reason for Man of Steel’s closing orgy of destruction.
“I wanted the movie to have a mythological feeling,” Snyder said. “In ancient mythology, mass deaths are used to symbolize disasters. In other countries like Greece and Japan, myths were recounted through the generations, partly to answer unanswerable questions about death and violence.”
M’kay.
§ Cartoonist Bill Morrison wrote to say his annual Bowling for Boobies fundraiser has some great perks this year. The fundraiser benefits the BUSTED Foundation which aids women who are suffering financial hardships due to medical expenses from breast cancer treatment. Go check out the perks.
§ Writer Blake Bell tells us us the second volume of his Bill Everett Archives is out from Fantagraphics:
Four Reasons To Purchase This Volume:
1) It features Bill Everett at his most refined. We finish off the Golden Age of Comics hero material, and then move right into his work done at the peak of his career, from the 1940s right until his passing in the 1970s.
2) Get a sampling of his pre-Code horror material published by Marvel in the early 1950s. This volume features SEVEN stories from 1950-52 of Everett at his horrific best!
3) The variety of the work. See Everett draw horror, romance, humour (on his super-rare Cracked Magazine material), adventure, war, western…and Bing Crosby! There’s lots of work here by Everett that I guarantee you’ve never seen before!
4) Almost 7000 words detailing Everett’s career, including never-before-seen quotes from Everett about working with Marvel Comics in its first days back in 1939-42!
§ Here is a Kickstarter which aims to bring some nerd fun to Erie, PA, a town currently undergoing some hard times. The effort was put together by a fellow named Sean McGrath and he calls it The GeekERIE. The event will include 24 Hour Comics Day, Nerd Nite, micropressing of local comics, miniatures painting workshops, creator appearances, and some original programming like the Horror Host movie nights. Sounds like a nice time that will perk up the day.
