I got an email earlier today from Heritage Auctions touting its latest offerings, and the most interesting part of the message wasn’t the original art I could never afford, but an observation pointed out about a change made to the cover of Action #1 before the comic was released.

Here’s the published cover we all know.

But here’s the cover as it appeared in an ad in an earlier issue of Detective.

I wish I could find a better reproduction of the ad, but in any case—could you spot the difference? (more…)

Last week, I told you how my wife was selling her copies of Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Adventures #1 so that in the far-flung future, we won’t be reduced to eating cat food. But … what if your tastes run more to original art?

Then how about the wonderful Green Lantern page below, drawn by Gil Kane and Sid Greene, which not only features an encounter between the Silver and Golden Age incarnations of the character—but is signed by Martin Nodell, who created Green Lantern back in 1940!

The page was published in Green Lantern #61 (June 1968), and if you’d like it to be yours, head on over to Heritage Auctions.

Now that January is over, it’s time (as usual) to assemble my dream tweets and see whether they gain any meaning from rubbing up against each other in one spot. My guest stars this month included Willard Scott, the parents from The Wonder Years, Woody Allen, John Kessel, Rick Perry, Woozy Winks, Keanu Reeves, and maybe you.

Let’s see, shall we?

JANUARY 2011

I dreamt I was at Shopsins and saw Mark Evanier at the next table, who wanted to know if I was was in town to see the restored Godfather 31 Jan

I dreamt I headed home from an office, and when I got in the elevator, realized, “Hey! I’m barefoot!” So I ran back to my desk for my shoes. 31 Jan

I dreamt I slipped a computer box over my hand and my arm transformed into Thor’s hammer, which I pounded while declaring, “I’m not worthy!” 30 Jan

I dreamt the bus I rode on was taken hostage, which happened so often it came equipped with board games to play until ransom could be paid. 30 Jan

I dreamt I wandered city streets at 2:00 a.m. looking for a decent restaurant, and couldn’t get Yelp to work. Tech always fails me in dream. 30 Jan

I dreamt two friends returned from a midnight visit to Mexico scraped up and with torn clothing, and as they cleaned up, I was very jealous. 30 Jan

I dreamt that as I explained to Rick Perry where his campaign went wrong, he draped an arm on my shoulders and lectured me condescendingly. 29 Jan

I dreamt that after a hoop-skirted woman had to pull a gun on an evil mining boss, I was called in as a union organizer to shake things up. 29 Jan

I dreamt I was visiting friends in China when my brother tried to videochat with me via Google+, but as in all my dreams, technology failed. 29 Jan

I dreamt that as I interviewed Woody Allen at his parents’ apartment, I suddenly realized … Gee, it might be a good idea to record this. 28 Jan (more…)

Back in 2003, I was standing on the lawn of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, chatting with pals Bill Shunn and Bob Howe at that year’s I-Con, when we spotted a camera crew in the distance. As usual, the spotlight was on the most colorful attendees, the folks dressed up as stormtroopers or wearing chain mail.

Understand that I’ve got nothing against cosplayers—I’ve worn the occasional costume myself.

See?

It’s just that reporters always seem to focus on the outrageously dressed, and not to celebrate or explore (which would be a nice change once in a while), but in order to give their stories a “hey, look at these weirdos” slant. So as the three of us chatted, we tsk-tsked this mindset and bemoaned the fact that cameras never got pointed at those less flamboyantly garbed.

We turned away and got back to catching up in the sunshine, when about 15 minutes later, we found that the crew had moved along and was now pointing its cameras … at us! (more…)

Todd Klein recently posted a wonderful report about a visit to DC Comics in the ’60s, which included a floor plan of the company’s offices at 575 Lexington Avenue, and made me realize—Hey! I have a map of Marvel’s 575 Madison Avenue offices from the ’70s.

A map unseen for more than 35 years.

And mine was drawn by Mirthful Marie Severin!

I can’t say for sure exactly when this map was sketched, but it was obviously begun when Roy Thomas was still Editor-in-Chief (since his name is visibly crossed out), but finished before Len Wein resigned and ceded the position to Marv Wolfman, which to me places it somewhere between late 1974 and early 1975.

This map was created to figure out where to put all the warm bodies, and not as a guide to the famous cover Marie drew around a year later for FOOM #16 (December 1976). (more…)

Steve Skeates—the comics writer responsible for the first Marvel/DC crossover, one that not only took place in the final issues of two titles he wrote, but was also basically done without the powers that be at either company being aware of it—turned 69 today. (Consider yourself awarded a No Prize if you know which two comics those were without having to look it up.)

Happy birthday, Steve!

Steve was of a previous comics generation than me—hey, he co-created Hawk and Dove with Steve Ditko!—so we never got a chance to work together professionally, but I did score an autograph from him during my snotty kid with a sketchpad phase of fandom.

The drawing below was probably done at a convention in 1971, but if not then, surely no later than 1972.

Want to prove yourself really worthy of that No Prize? Then explain the relevance of that rather anxious-looking fish without looking it up!

… I hope it’s with the same timing as shown by this couple, whose death notice I spotted in today’s Washington Post.

Considering the fact I spotted a similar story exactly two days ago, I wonder whether the universe is sending me a message that when the time comes, it intends to fulfill my wishes, and neither of us will be lonely for long.

It would be nice to think so.

Robert Hegyes, who played Juan Epstein on the ’70s TV series Welcome Back, Kotter, died yesterday of a heart attack. I never knew Hegyes … but boy, did I know Epstein!

In fact, because I grew up in Brooklyn, I felt as if I knew all the Sweathogs. (Which, for those of you who never watched the show, was the name for the gang of kids in Kotter’s class at James Buchanan High School.) And I’ve got a feeling that one reason I was given the assignment of writing a couple of issues of the Welcome Back, Kotter comic for DC back in the late ’70s was because Joe Orlando thought I was a Sweathog.

Oh, I know that the two issues I wrote list Larry Hama as the editor, but as I recall, all of my interactions on the title were with Orlando. I can remember him laughing as we worked out the plot for Welcome Back, Kotter #9 because I was embarrassingly just as ignorant as Vinnie Barbarino would have been about certain historical events. (And no, I’m not going to tell you what they were.) I think that tickled Joe. (more…)

I was saddened to learn this evening of the death of Lister Matheson, whom I’d met in 1999 due to his role as director of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop when I was invited to be Guest Editor that summer. He died on January 19 of complications arising from a form of aplastic anemia. I remember him as warm, witty, and generating an aura of amusement at life and all its pleasures.

An online obituary described him thusly:

Lister was a natural host whose large heart, expansive soul, and mischievous sense of the silly and ridiculous endeared him to those who knew him and made strangers feel immediately welcome and appreciated. He was a gifted raconteur, actor, reader of poetry, singer of inspired and inane songs, and connoisseur of haggis and single malt Scotch. He lived a full life, travelled widely, and absorbed everything. He cherished his family and friends and was always the animating spirit around any crowded table, sharing good food, drink, and lively conversation. His family and a very large crowd of admiring friends shall miss him terribly.

Yes, I thought, reading that. Yes.

But time has a way of getting away from us, and I regret to say that the last time I saw Lister in the flesh was probably at the 2003 Worldcon in Toronto, where I snapped this photo of him with Amelia Beamer as we chatted in the hallway outside some riotous party.

Remember the line from Auntie Mame that “Life is a banquet and most poor bastards are starving to death”? Lister knew that. Oh, yes he did.

He will be missed.

Comic books made an appearance on Alcatraz Monday night, and luckily, they weren’t as difficult to identity as the one that showed up on that 1975 episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show. Jorge Garcia’s character, Dr. Diego “Doc” Soto, owns a comic book store, so I assumed we’d see comics as stage dressing in the background, but in the latest episode, a couple of issues had starring roles.

In the opening scene of the third episode, “Kit Nelson,” a child killer sneaks into a bedroom and spirits away one of two brothers … but not before we see what the kid must have fallen asleep reading.

I couldn’t quite make out the pictured hero or the logo, so at this point I had no idea whether this was a real-life comic or one supposedly created by Garcia’s character, who in addition to owning the shop, also happens to be a writer and artist. But later on, after the kid is [spoiler alert!] rescued, Garcia visits him and brings along some comics to cheer him up.

“I saw you were missing 12, 27, and 35,” says Garcia, to which the kid replies, “No way! This is awesome!”

And Garcia hands him this. (more…)