Remember how I told you I’d only worn a costume to a convention once?

I’m going to have to amend that statement. Samuel Maronie, old pal and proprietor of the pop-culture blog Sam Maronie’s Entertainment Funhouse, mentioned over on Facebook that he had a photo of me in costume threatening legendary Marvel Comics inker Joe Sinnott with a broadsword—a moment in time of which I have no memory!

The strangest thing about not remembering this encounter? When he sent me a copy of the pic, I saw that I’d signed the thing in 1993! Which makes two things I no longer remember.

In any case, feast your eyes on this …

I was 19 years old. (more…)

Ever since Family Meal unveiled its Smith Island Roll on Twitter and Facebook New Year’s Eve eve, I’ve been wanting to drop in and try it. I even considered stopping by as we headed to Range, another Bryan Voltaggio restaurant, to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but that seemed a bit much, even for me.

Last night, though, on the way back from a dinner with Jay Lake, Jay’s Dad, Lisa Costello, and Peggy Rae and John Sapienza at which the company was superb but the food was merely adequate, I thought—now’s my chance.

Why the sense of urgency around a Smith Island Roll, Voltaggio’s tweaking of the official dessert of the state of Maryland, the Smith Island Cake?

During our second visit to Family Meal in August of 2012, just a month or so after the restaurant opened, I ordered a slice of Smith Island Cake, and it was a wonder. But then … it was gone, no longer on the menu during any of our subsequent visits to Family Meal. (more…)

We’ve all heard stories of comic book burnings from the ’40s and ’50s. We know these stories were more than merely apocryphal—but how many burnings actually took place?

Nicholas Yanes is trying to answer that question.

As part of his dissertation on the history of Mad Magazine and EC Comics, he’s been reviewing primary sources in search of accounts of those public protests, and has been able to find 16 documented cases.

But there were more, weren’t there? Or … do we just think there were more?

He’s put out a call in hopes that the Internet group mind can locate any others that exist. So if you have any info, reach out to him on Twitter or Facebook.

Because my seven-issue run on Captain Marvel will soon be reprinted as part of a Marvel Masterworks edition, I pulled out the original art I’d received for having written those issues. I don’t recall the full details of what share of the finished art the penciller and inker received, but I ended up with two pages per book. And sometimes the backs of those pages are as interesting as the fronts.

On the flip side of page 10 from issue #49—the first issue I wrote—is a rough pencil sketch of the villain The Cheetah.

I assume the sketch is by Al Milgrom, the penciller for that issue. Here’s what the character looks like inked and in color, as seen from his introduction on the cover of Captain Marvel #48, which is the previous issue. (more…)

As I told you earlier, I probably won’t get a chance to experience the new incarnation of Next due to a major life change … which means I’m counting on you to go and then let me know all about it.

Next released its latest video today, this one promoting “Chicago Steakhouse,” hoping to persuade us to check out its latest blink-or-you’ll miss-it menu. As you’ll see below, this time around it’s more about the mood than the food.

Next: Chicago Steak from next restaurant on Vimeo.

Sure wish I could be at that card table, though I don’t know that my bluffs would work on those guys.

Now where’d I put my double-breasted suit and that fedora?

I wanted to wish Flash Gordon a happy birthday today—after all, his first strip appeared in newspapers on January 7, 1934—but then I took a look at that first strip, which I don’t recall having seen before …

… and I winced. You might wince, too.

Yep. It all began with “howling blacks.” (more…)

You already know how I feel about artists who ransack the imaginations of others for profit, whether it’s Roy Lichtenstein’s clumsy appropriations, Mel Ramos’ $600,000 Green Lantern painting, or Sharon Moody’s anonymization of Jack Kirby. (Remember, though, that I’ve also told you I see nothing wrong with mashups, smashups, allusions, tributes, or homages.)

So it should come as no surprise that I’m horrified by the £3,554,500 ($5,684,356) Glenn Brown’s painting “Ornamental Despair (Painting for Ian Curtis)” sold for at auction.

Why? Well, doesn’t it seem a bit … familiar?

It should.

Because, save for a few minor tweaks, it’s nearly identical to the cover Chris Foss painted for a 1984 edition of Isaac Asimov’s The Stars Like Dust. (more…)

Another year has gone by, but more importantly, another month has gone by, and so I’m once more gathering together the dreams of a previous month to see whether poetry can be made by rubbing them together.

In December, I attempted to achieve Satori via a gumball machine, smuggled a Nerf ball up my nose, was eaten by zombies, visited my wife in a Mexican prison, and more.

Take a look below and see whether these dreams make any more sense grouped together like this than they did one day at a time.

DECEMBER 2013

I dreamt George Plimpton had gathered the members of my writers group and was teaching us an intricate dance we were to perform later.

 30 Dec

I dreamt I bought a pastry I’d never had before while wandering streets of a foreign country, hated it, but found nowhere to throw it out.

 29 Dec

I dreamt I was late for an already begun ukulele parade and was struggling into a uniform which included a medal the size of a dinner plate. 

29 Dec

I dreamt a goat was following me, and when I sat on a bench and cracked open my laptop, it pressed up against me and wouldn’t let me work.

 29 Dec

I dreamt my wife and I tried to cross a massive intersection — 16 lanes in each direction! — and got trapped in the middle dodging semis.

 28 Dec

I dreamt I wandered a mall with my mother, and she was moving so fast I couldn’t keep up with her. Which should have told me it was a dream. 

28 Dec

I dreamt I found a shop at the mall that was set up like a yard sale, selling old mags and comics. A child took my hand and wouldn’t let go.

 27 Dec

I dreamt my wife was in the hospital, and when she began vomiting, a nurse ushered me from the room because that was making her contagious.

 27 Dec

I dreamt I visited @Scalzi, was amused by his four toddlers. He showed me his Classics Illustrated collection while we waited for pancakes.

 27 Dec

I dreamt I was in a spooky funhouse, moving through the dark rooms in reverse, pushing past and annoying those who were doing it correctly.

 27 Dec (more…)

Though I visited Chicago for all three Next restaurant meals last year—The Hunt, Vegan, and Bocuse d’Or—I sadly have no plans to return in 2014. That has nothing to do with a lack of desire, but rather, a recognition that with my recent change in employment, some things had to go, and travel to Next, while resulting in lifetime peak meals, was one of those somethings—especially since we won’t be canceling our trips later this year to either Easter Island or the London Worldcon.

But that doesn’t mean I’m still not intensely interested in what Grant Achatz, Dave Beran, and Nick Kokonas have in store. The next Next menu—Chicago Steak—is currently being served to friends and family in advance of its debut to the public, and yesterday Achatz teased us by tweeting a pic of the menu.

First time serving actual food. FOH training night. @dcberan @mknorth @JTomaska pic.twitter.com/eyDJqZAg2R

— Grant Achatz (@Gachatz) January 4, 2014

He followed that today with a pic of the steaks as they’ll be presented to diners. (more…)

Since all the cool kids seem to be doing self-promotion this week, I might as well do it, too. So here are my awards-eligible stories that saw print in 2013. It was a light year for Scott Edelman fiction, with only two stories coming out.

“The Trembling Living Wire” appeared in Psycho-Mania! (note that the exclamation point is part of the anthology’s title), and is a contemporary horror story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Israfel.” It’s approximately 8,500 words long.

(more…)