You would probably not have liked hanging out with me during these past 36 hours. That’s because I was so giddy about getting tickets to the Chicago restaurant Alinea that wherever my conversations with Irene headed, they always looped back to some aspect of the restaurant, whether it was the quest to get a table, the kind of food served there, or how thrilled I was to have actually scored tickets.

As I told you last month when I was first contemplating where’d I’d be eating during the Chicago Worldcon next month:

There are a few other gastronomical wonders I’m hoping for, such as the playground that is Alinea and the apparent perfection that is Next, but neither of those is a certainty. In fact, far from being locks, they may be impossibilities. But I can dream, can’t I?

Amazing, both of those dreams are going to come true!

The reason I’ve been so insufferable is this— (more…)

I know all about Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel’s 1975 letter putting a curse on the company that wouldn’t do right by him. After all, it wasn’t history to me, as I was on staff at Marvel Comics at the time, and we were all well aware of the letter that began—

It has been announced in show business trade papers that a multi-million dollar production based on the Superman comic strip is about to be produced. It has been stated that millions of dollars were paid to the owners of Superman, National Periodical Publications, Inc., for the right to use the famous comic book super-hero in the new movie. The script is by Mario Puzo, who wrote The Godfather and Earthquake. The film is to have a star-filled cast.

I, Jerry Siegel, the co-originator of Superman, put a curse on the Superman movie! I hope it super-bombs. I hope loyal Superman fans stay away from it in droves. I hope the whole world, becoming aware of the stench that surrounds Superman, will avoid the movie like a plague.

And ended—

WHAT AN INFERNAL, SICKENING SUPER-STENCH EMANATES FROM NATIONAL PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS, INC. We hope the public will never forget this when seeing the Superman character, or National Periodical comic books. Do not patronize Superman because of this injustice.

Amazing, huh? If you want to read the whole thing, you can find it here.

But what I never knew (which surprises me) is that there was also intriguing correspondence out there related to Bill Finger, the man responsible for most of what we like about Batman.

Thankfully, Marc Tyler Nobleman, author of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, has enlightened me about those letters and the scenario that spawned them. (more…)

According to a full-page map of the globe (well, half of it, anyway) in the December 19, 1914 issue of The Graphic, “a series of operations … have swept half the world clear of Germans,” “peace in the Pacific has been attained,” and “the commerce of all nations can proceed with safety throughout the vast expanses from the coasts of Mozambique to those of South America.”

Whew! Sure glad Vice-Admiral Sturdee took care of that!

Check out the battle details below.

Aren’t you glad Germany never gave the world any further trouble?

Bryan Voltaggio, the celebrity chef behind Volt, where Irene and I recently celebrated the 38th anniversary of the day we met, opened a new restaurant in Frederick, Maryland at the end of June—Family Meal, named after that meal eaten by restaurant staff before or after a shift. Unlike the tasting menu meals of Volt, Family Meal aims to serve comfort food. And since we were heading over to Maryland to run some errands and see our son, we decided to check it out before that new restaurant shine rubbed off.

After seeing some folks over at Yelp complain about long waits, most of which seemed to occur over dinner, I decided to check whether a reservation was needed for a Saturday lunch. When I called, I was told that they were recommended when possible, and that 25% of tables were set aside for reservations. So we made one for 11:45. We arrived a few minutes early, and were taken to our table immediately. (During the course of our meal, I never noticed more than one or two parties at a time waiting briefly, so there seemed no problem with long lines, at least not during lunch.)

Family Meal is housed in a former car dealership, and as you might expect, that means there’s plenty of parking.

But more important than that—there are crispy pig ears on the menu!

And when there are crispy pig ears on the menu, you eat crispy pig ears! (more…)

A few years ago, Irene and I visited Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, and while it was an amazing experience, I don’t remember our meals being anything like the spread shown in this image from the Christmas 1914 issue of The Graphic.

There’s no indication of exactly which “unimportant tomb” was being invaded for lunch.

Considering the dramatic surroundings, I don’t think I’d have had much of an appetite anyway. I’d have been much too awestruck to eat.

Guess these tourists had no sense of wonder.

I arrived home safely from Readercon this afternoon. Or perhaps I should say … I was delivered home safely.

If that distinction (and the photo above) confuses you, this should clear things up. And this will reveal the story so far.

But here are some further photos to let you see how much fun I had at Readercon. (more…)

It’s “This Season’s New Game”—but what is it?

While flipping through my 1914 bound volume of The Graphic—the same newspaper with those intricate aviation infographics and that ad with endorsements from now-forgotten celebrities—I came across an ad in the December 5th issue for a game called Joy-Ball, an ad which gives no indication of how the heck the game is played.

Oh, sure, it sounds like fun, because it promises—

Strokes like billiards.
Play like Fives.
Speed like Ping-Pong.
Score like tennis.

—but what the heck does that mean?

Any of you have ideas for how one would play the game based on the image above?

No amount of Internet searching on “Joy-Ball” or “John Jaques & Son” or “The Graphic” or “1914” or any combination thereof yields an answer, so it all falls to you.

Can any of my UK pals help a Yank out?

Biff!

I was recently contacted by Ruth Littner, a friend from SUNY Buffalo whom I haven’t seen or spoken to since the ’70s. (Ah, the wonders of Facebook!)

She said she was taking a writing workshop with Jonathan Maberry in which my name came up, and mentioned that she had a photo of me from those days. This stunned me, because I don’t remember ever posing for any, and the only pictures I have of myself from back then are but small head shots on my student IDs.

Better think twice before looking below. Once seen, it cannot be unseen. (more…)

ComicCon and Readercon are now over, and surprisingly, I still managed to have fun at the latter even with the sad conflict that kept me away from it while working the former.

How is that possible? I had a solution.

Check out the fun I had, as dear friends and colleagues did their best to help me forget I was missing my first Readercon ever.

Rose Fox

Thank you, committee, for providing me with a name badge! (more…)

I’ve taken restaurant advice from Man v. Food plenty of times. Last year, I took restaurant advice from Food Wars. But it wasn’t until Comic-Con 2012 that I ate at a restaurant I learned about from boingboing.

Slater’s 50/50 is known for its signature burger made of 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon, but what attracted my attention was the Burger of the Month for July (covered with astonishment by boingboing, The Huffington Post and a ton of other sites)—The ‘merica Burger!

Why were they all so aghast? Because The ‘merica Burger—as you can see from the sign below, which is hung between the restaurant’s restrooms—is composed of “100% ground bacon plus thick cut bacon, a sunny side up egg, our new ‘bacon island’ dressing all topped with bacon cheddar cheese.”

Yowza!

When I read the article, I wondered where the restaurant serving this limited-time burger was located, and after seeing it was in San Diego, I thought—Wait a minute! I’ll be in San Diego this month! So you know I had to try one. After all, when Kraze Burgers, a Korean hamburger chain, opened its first location in the U.S., I was there.

So late last night, once I was able to take a break from covering Comic-Con, I headed off to Slater’s 50/50 with frequent foodie adventurer Mike Willmoth at the wheel and his artist friend Franchesco riding shotgun. (more…)