I’ve only worn a costume at a science-fiction or comic-book convention once. (Unless you count that time a friend of mine and I absconded with another friend’s Mister Miracle costume and wandered Madison Square Garden in the early morning until we were stopped by the police … but that’s a story for another day.)

The year was 1975. (At least I think it was 1975. But maybe you can help me out with that.) There was a panel at Phil Seuling’s July 4th weekend New York Comic Con on comics as art or how comics can get better, and the panelists were (if I’m remembering correctly) Jim Starlin, Howard Chaykin, maybe Al Milgrom, and … I forget who else.

When the audience filed in for the panel, I was standing on a chair near the back of the room looking as you see me in the photo below taken by Bruce Mittelman. That’s a double-handed broadsword hanging under my right arm, and a bunny in my hands that I occasionally impaled on the end of it. My make-up? Done by none other than (boy, I sure hope I’m not misremembering this) Jim Starlin.

After their initial statements and a little bit of discussion, once the panel was opened for questions, a stooge stood up and asked, “What about the Silver Surfer?,” whining and pleading for the hero to get his own comic. At that point, my job was to step down from the chair, grab the plant by the collar, and pull him kicking and screaming from the room. After which the discussion was supposed to continue on its lofty plane.

And that bit of theater was, as far as I can remember, the only time I ever wore a costume at a convention.

And now … here’s how you can help me.

Anyone out there have a copy of the program for the 1975 Seuling Con so I can see who was actually on that panel, as opposed to who I merely remember as having been on that panel? (It’s not part of the program book itself, which I still have, so it must have been printed on a separate flier.)

Who knows? I might even discover that this all took place at a Creation con instead!

Anyone?

The Horror Writers Association today announced the nominees for the 2009 Stoker Awards, and I’m extremely happy to say that my novella, The Hunger of Empty Vessels, has made the final ballot in the category of Superior Achievement in Long Fiction.

Since so many people have already posted the entire ballot, I’ll save pixels by sending you elsewhere for the complete list of categories.

But here are the four finalists in mine:

Dreaming Robot Monster by Mort Castle (MIGHTY UNCLEAN)
The Hunger of Empty Vessels by Scott Edelman (Bad Moon Books)
The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)
Doc Good’s Traveling Show by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)

Note that whatever happens, there’s already a clear winner here—Bad Moon Books, which published three of the four finalists.

As much as I’m pleased to be on a ballot with three very worthy writers, I must admit that there’s one who pleases me more than the rest—Gene O’Neill, with whom I attended Clarion in 1979. If you’d told us back then that this would happen down the road someday, I don’t think either one of us would have believed you. (more…)

Not only do I want to wish Johnny Hart and Gahan Wilson each a happy birthday—but apparently my wall does, too!

As I read on various comics-related sites of the shared birthdays (though not shared birth years) of the two men, I realized that there was a party going on for them right here in my office.

Hanging over the door is this B.C. strip which originally ran June 26, 1973, and which Hart gave me either that year or the year after. We met at the annual Reuben Awards weekend run by the National Cartoonist Society where I had been a guest of Bill Kresse. Hart sent me this strip a few weeks later.

He didn’t know me save from our brief conversation, yet I don’t believe he could have given me a B.C. installment better suited to my personality had he known me for years. Give it a few clicks to bring it to a readable size and those who know me will see what I mean.

Unfortunately, Hart passed in 2007. Had he lived, he would have been 79 today.

Luckily, Gahan Wilson is still with us. He turned 80 today. (more…)

A story at boingboing the other day sent me to the site of artist Glennray Tutor, who’s responsible for the image below. What’s remarkable is that Tutor is not, as you at first might think, a photographic artist. That isn’t a photo of marbles resting on an open comic-book page. Rather, it’s a painting. All of it. And whatever you think of photorealism as a school of painting, it’s still an amazing feat.

And unlike Roy Lichtenstein (whom my wife eviscerates here at one of her blogs), Tutor isn’t trying to pass off someone else’s work as his own. That is, unlike Lichtenstein, whose works might be mistaken for being merely comics-inspired rather than a theft from specific panels by specific artists, with Tutor it’s clear that there’s existing source material.

So—what about that source material?

Based on the lettering across the top of the splash page, this was from an issue of Heart Throbs. (For other similar paintings, click on the link to the artist’s site above.

According to the Grand Comics Database, there were 46 issues of that title published by Quality Comics from August 1949 through December 1956, and 100 issues published by DC from April/May 1957 through October 1972. Since I don’t have the time or energy to go page by page online through 146 TOCs, can anyone recognize the story and spare me?

I guess I could always e-mail the artist and ask. But where would be the fun in that?

I shouldn’t be awake this early. Why am I awake this early? Because I just had a dream argument with Bill Maher, one that riled me up so much I couldn’t get right back to sleep.

Actually, I had two dreams last night that are too detailed to tweet , though after the first one I was able to fall asleep immediately.

In the first dream, I am Doctor Who, the David Tennant Doctor Who. I am battling with The Master in a rotting seaside resort. The place has really gone to seed. Boarded-up businesses, graffiti and trash everywhere, abandoned newspapers blowing by. And it’s deserted. There are no other people to be seen anywhere. We’re the only ones there as we fight on.

Eventually, there comes a point at which I know he has the upper hand. He somehow has obtained the ability to destroy the planet, and will do so unless I surrender, so I allow myself to be captured for the good of the Earth. In fact, I’m actually about to let him kill me, because if I do so, he’ll let the Earth live. For some reason, I believe that he’ll keep his word. Not sure why. As he escorts me through the empty town toward my doom, I talk of all the things I’ve seen in the universe that I will miss, saying goodbye to them one by one.

That bores The Master, and he kills me mid-sentence with no warning. But at least the Earth is saved, and I am happy as I die. (more…)

I learned this week that master anthologist and perspicacious editor Stephen Jones has accepted a story of mine for an upcoming project of his, Zombie Apocalypse, which you can read more about here.

And I learned today that there’ll be two different cover treatments for the book. On the left is the cover to the UK edition, which will be brought out by Constable & Robinson. On the right is the cover to the U.S. edition, which will be published by Running Press.

Each has its charms. If zombies can be said to have charms. Which I think that they do.

In other zombie news, my upcoming collection What Will Come After received its first review today, in which three of the stories are called “must reads,” and the book as a whole is given “4 out of 5 stars.”

Nice way to start off!

Maybe I’m morbid, but my favorite minutes of Oscar night are probably when the In Memoriam montage screens. It brings back memories of those we’ve lost, those we will never forget, those we feel could not possibly ever be forgotten. With a few tiny snippets, whole lives, entire careers, come flooding back in my memory.

Here, for example, is what the Academy put together last year:

We’ll never forget them, right? Audiences 50 years from now will of course still remember Charlton Heston and Paul Newman! Well, don’t be so sure.

Take a look at this list of the dead published in The 1955 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures. Off the top of your head, without doing an online search, how many of these notables can you place?

I could only confidently remember five, and a couple of those I wasn’t entirely sure why. I’m now going to hold myself open for public humiliation by letting you know exactly which ones. (more…)

Back before I abandoned the comic-book business, I wrote many short stories for the horror mags put out by DC Comics, including House of Mystery, House of Secrets, The Unexpected, and Secrets of Haunted House. (And even some for the science fiction and war titles, such as Time Warp and Weird War Tales.) This being Valentine’s Day, I thought I share a horrific romance with you.

The story below, “To Master a Mummy,” was published in House of Secrets #154, the October/November 1978 issue. I had a second spooky story in that issue, “The Knight in the Gilded Cage,” drawn by the magnificent Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, but alas … no romance.

This story was pencilled by Charles Nicholas and inked by Romeo Tanghal. But that doesn’t really tell the whole story. Because three different artists have used the pseudonym of Charles Nicholas over the years. I’m fairly certain, however, that the artist who drew my story was this one, not this one. And most definitely not this one.

But none of that minutiae has to do with Valentine’s Day, so—Happy Valentine’s Day.

And may your romances not end up as horrifically as this one!

(more…)

In 1978, Marvel had plans to create a short promotional movie to sing its own praises. Why? And to whom? Was it meant for advertisers? Possible Licensees? Hollywood studios to which the company was pitching its characters?

Who knows? All I can say for sure is that a seven-page script was created titled “The Marvel Age of Comics: 15 Minute History in Film,” one that explained how, starting in 1961, Stan Lee changed everything. The film was meant to be narrated by Stan himself, who can be seen in sketch form on the first page of the script below.

The artist for that six-panel intro? None other than Stan’s baby brother Larry Lieber, who also happened to script the introductory appearances of both Iron Man and Thor.

There’s plenty of interesting info here, especially when Stan explains the creation of two of Marvel’s most important properties. (more…)

In order to track down exactly when I’d interviewed Steve Gerber, I pulled out my back issues of the Marvel Comics fan magazine FOOM, and you know what happens once I pull out old magazines. I can’t resist reading them.

Among the many intriguing things I found was this blurb in the “Department of Infoomation” of FOOM #10, the June 1975 issue, which explained a bit more about the Scarecrow comic that never was, filling in some of the blanks about the Don Perlin splash page I’d forgotten I’d even owned.

It’s also the only place I’ve ever seen a third issue mentioned. Wonder what I’d meant by “supernatural turns super-hero”?

I’m guessing Ruben Yandoc was meant to have drawn the story meant to be introduced by that Perlin splash I’d found. Did Yandoc ever draw it? Did I ever even plot it?

I don’t think so, but I honestly can’t remember for sure. When I walked away from comics, and disposed of most of my collection, I think I suppressed many of my memories at the same time. For all I know, there could be a typed plot in a box in the basement. If I ever find one, I’ll certainly share it here for what few Scarecrow fans there are out there.

That blurb at the top will be of interest to Gerber and Omega fans. What kind of a vague tease is that? Was Marvel being deliberately coy, or did we truly not know what Steve had planned?

Yet another mystery in an unending string of Marvel mysteries …