Episode #118: MegaCon 2010: Day 3: Sunday Conversation With Dan Didio & The 2009 Project Fanboy Awards!

Note: This is the last of a series of blog posts about MegaCon, 2010, Day 2, but the audio podcast on MegaCon will be a single episode. I attended MegaCon, as I said in the Day 1 post, with Jeffrey Taylor O'Brien.

To see more of my photos from MegaCon 2010, click on the following link to go to my facebook MegaCon 2010 photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033083&id=1239968992&l=c6f45bc404.
To read Jeffrey Taylor's coverage of MegaCon go to:
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news/2010-news/2010-news-comic.php?topic=2010-news-comic/0313
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news/2010-news/2010-news-comic.php?topic=2010-news-comic/0314
To watch the Project Fanboy Awards Panel go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMIeP_S-JNA

To read my reviews of the titles I bought at MegaCon this year, as well as a list of the comics I had autographed at the con: http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/2010/03/issue-83-megacon-2010.html.

Sunday morning happened to be the day that Daylight Savings Time took effect, and I forgot all about it for the first time in a very long time. So Jeffrey Taylor O'Brien and I got to the Orange County Convention Center about an hour later than we planned. We hurried to the convention hall. I thought I could walk fast, but Jeffrey is atround six feet tall and has very long legs. Now I know how my wife and grown son feel when they try to keep up with me on a brisk walk.

We got there in plenty of time for the first of the two panels we planned to attend, Sunday Conversation With Dan Didio. It has been a tradition Dan has carried on at various comic book conventions druing his tenure at DC Comics. This was the first one I had attended in person, and I plan on going to it in the future if he continues it now as DC's co-publisher.

Dan began by mentioning that his first convention after joining DC Comics was WonderCon in San Francisco. There were 60 people in the audience of that panel, and he noticed that there were not any young comic book readwers in the audiance. Dan thought, at the time, that when these guys die off, there might not be another generation to take their place.

The first question from the audience was from a comic book fan who asked if All-Star comics would be collected before he died.

Dan talked about the new DC Entertainment, whose prupose was to find a concise message across variou media.

He then said that he can tell when a person first read comic books by asking what is their favorite era of a certain character. One of the things that DC needed to improve on was a consistent tone to a character, he said. He noted that the tendency of a lot of writers was that they wanted to be the last guy to write the character. Artists often want to alter a character's look to put their own stamp on it. Dan wanted to find a balance: let creators create but be consistent with a character. He gave Superman: Secret Origin and the upcoming War Of The Supermen as examples.

Didio then asked the audiendce for their favorite Justice League era, getting a variety of responses.

Another question was about more girl friendly comic books. Dan said that frankly, girl friendly superhero titles don't sell very well, citing Marvel's Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (of course he would cite the competition for tht kind of comparison). He said that he felt DC's Vertigo line was very female friendly, which crafted a variety of material with a female ambiance.

Another question was about age appropriate labeling, similar to Marvel. Dan said that DC was seriously looking at it.

Didio then talked about how character aging can be a problem. He gave Dick Grayson as an example (who it has been said he wanted to kill off). If Dick continues to age, eventually he'll be older than Bruce Wayne.

Another aspect that DC wants to work on, according to Dan, was big stories with character moments, that show how characters change through their experiences.

Someone in the audience mentioned Krypto, and Dan admitted he hated the Krypto/Atlas story in Superman, expecially the Alex Ross Krypto cover.

One of the most important changes at DC that Dan mentioned was that death would stop being a revolving door. Character deaths as a concept has been beaten to death, Dan noted, and has lost its value. On the same subject, Dan thought that the death of Roy Harper's daughter LeAnn was a resonant moment. Dan said that death in comics not done well won't stick, because even the creators won't believe it. Their first question, even before the readers, would be, "When do we bring Character X back?" He then mentioned that the first character killed after the dead is dead edict was Kid Devil of the Teen Titans. Dan noted that Bruce Wayne does not contradict that edict because he never was killed to begin with, and, he will be coming back soon.

Another comment from the audience was about the $1.00 first issues published by Vertigo. The person liked Vertigo's low price point for first issues and asked if that practice could be expanded to the regular DCU.

Dan Didio said that Geoff Johns job in the new DC Entertainment organization was to avoid conflicts with characters across various media. He gave the example of the Flash TV show. At the time in the Flash comic book, Wally West was The Flash, but on the show he was Barry Allen.

His last question to the audience: What would you do if you were DC's Editor-In-Chief? Jeffrey said that he would fire any creator who was late. Dan;s response was, "What would you do if Jim Lee wanted to do Justice League?" Jeffrey said that he would solicit it as soon as Lee had it done. (When it comes to being late, I guess Jim Lee's name would be the first to enter the conversation with All-Star Batman And Robin.) Among the answers were: to feature Batman's army of allies, bringing back the Batman Family and Superman Family titles. Dan said he has always had a rule, to leave the fanboy in the hall. It is hard, because he considers himself a fanboy at heart. Another response from the audience was to establish creative teams on titles for extended runs. Dan responded that he would as wee. It would make his job easier.

He also said that anthologies don't do well, because readers don't think the individual stories matter, he's found. Another thing Dan said he has noticed is that the opinions voiced on internet forums don't match sales firgures. Dan said that comic books are easier R & D than movies. One thing that comic book publishers need to stop doing is to give reasons not to read books. Publishers have to engage readers.

Dan felt that digital media will not hurt traditional comic book publisheing, because comic collectors still exist. Late titles is another issue Dan said need to be addressed. Comics need to be consistently good and consistently on time. Dan felt it's important for comic books to crossover into other media, including digital comics.

Dan ended the panel by saying that comic books should just tell good stories and make characters relevant.

Dan was a lot of fun, and a great way to end the convention. Jeffrey noted that Didio has a similar charisma as former President Clinton. Like him or hate him, hew was able to draw you in. During the panel it was evident that Dan could work the audience. He gave frank commnets, usually about past comic books, and deflect criticism on other topics. I hope he continues next year if he continues to come to MegaCon.

I had originally planned to go to another panel with LeVar Burton and Brent Spiner of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but I had to make a choice. I decided I wanted to chat with some of the other creators I had met. I chatted witth Derrick Fish, who does the new independent comic book The Wellkeepers. He and his girlfriend were very happy with the response to his title. They had almost sold out of copies of issues #0 & #1. Derridck had also drawn a lot of sketches. I also spoke with Billy Tucci.

Jeffrey and I met again for the Project Fanboy 2009 Awards Panel, where Jeffrey accepted the award for Favorite Comic Book Fan website for the Superman Homepage http://supermanhomepage.com/. That was the main reason Jeffrey came to MegaCon. To watch the entire awards panel go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMIeP_S-JNA. My only disappointment was that noone from DC Comics came to accept the award for Favorite Publisher. There were very few poeple in attendance, just a few people covering the panel for a comic book website, and the award winners. It would have been nice to see someone from DC there regardless. The whole panel seemed to last fifteen minutes. It's a small thing, but so is the comic book industry in the United States. A little effort goes a long way with comic book readers. I realize an executive with a large publisher like DC or Marvel can feel pulled in a million directions by the fans, but taking a few minutes for something like this would make what comic book fans were there feel as if noone is too small for a big publisher to care about. Otherwise it was an enjoyable panel. Jeffrey and I even got our pictures taken with a Lois Lane cosplayer.

As we were leaving the convention I took Jeffrey by Billy Tucci's table. After talking with Billy about his book Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion, Jeffrey became so interested in the story that he bought a copy to read on the flight home. He later said that he enjoyed the sotry very much.

That pretty much wrapped up MegaCon for Jeffrey and I. We went home to have him fix an excellent meatloaf for a delicious meal he prepared for my family. I drove Jeffrey to Orlando International Airport Monday morning and extended an offer to stay with us if he desires to come back next year.

I certainly plan to be back at Megaon every year from now on. In the future I'll apply for a media pass so that I can cover the convention for this podcast and blog, as well as My Pull List blog. By then I hope to have a digital recorder, so that you won't just hear my talk about the comic pros, you can hear me talk with them, which would be an improvement for this podcast. My wife has said she would attend one day, probably Saturday, to see all of the costumes. My son, if he's here, even wants to go back. So I hope next year will be a family affair at MegaCon.

Next Episode: World's Finest Comics #71: Superman And Batman, Together Again For The First Time!

Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #118: MegaCon 2010 Day 2: Part III!

Note: This is the fourth of a series of blog posts about MegaCon, 2010, Day 2, but the audio podcast on MegaCon will be a single episode. I attended MegaCon, as I said in the Day 1 post, with Jeffrey Taylor O'Brien. To read his coverage of MegaCon, click on the following links: http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7673
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7675
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7687.

To see more of my photos from MegaCon 2010, click on the following link to go to my MegaCon 2010 photo album at: http://facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033083&id=1239968992&1=c6f45bc404.
To read Jeffrey Taylor's coverage of MegaCon go to:
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news/2010-news/2010-news-comic.php?topic=2010-news-comic/0313http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news/2010-news/2010-news-comic.php?topic=2010-news-comic/0314http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7687

The final panel Jeffrey Taylor O'Brien and I attended on a very busy and crowded Saturday was the Writing Genre Comics Panel. The panelists were Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Marv Wolfman, Billy Tucci and Brian Pulido (who, if you're not familiar with his name, is the creator of Lady Death).

Jimmy Palmiotti made the opening comment, stating that he preferred writing for genres other than superheroes. He then said the rest of the panelists feel like kids, in regards to writing experience, next to Marv Wolfman.

Marv spoke next, about the criticism of the movie Avatar being a remake of the story of Pocahantas. He said that the stranger in a strange land story is one of the oldest archetypes of storytelling.

The first question from the audience was about the hardest, and conversely, the easiest genre for the panelists to write. Brian Pulido said that horror was the easiest because he understood its language. Superheroes were the hardest for him to comprehend. Billy Tucci said that the guy/girl story was the hardest The challenge was to make them interesting. Stories like the movie Reservoir Dogs were easy, character development through action. Marv Wolfman spoke along similar lines. He found romance stories the hardest to write while avoiding stupid cliches. To him, all romance stories are basically the same story. The best writer he found in the romance genre was Jerry Conway. Ironically, at the beginning of his writing career, Gerry's biggest weakness was writing characters. It took him three years of hard work to learn how to write character development well. Justin Gray said that every genre presents its own challenges. His biggest challenge was writing teen characters believably, and not goofy. He then gave a few story ponters: show, don't tell; don't overwrite; let the scene develop. Billy Tucci followed up on that point. He noted that golden and silver age comic books often had captions explaining what was shown in the panel, i.e. a character punching through a wall. Billy said that if an action is shown in the art, there's no need to narrate that action.

Marv Wolfman said that if he did not know the artist he would write defensively, then rewrite to match the art.

Jimmy Palmiotti repeated his earlier comment. He found any other genre than superheroes easier to write.

The panelists then gave a variety of writing tips. Justin Gray said that a good story has characters who are invested in other characters. He also warned the audience to not become hooked on who loves you or who hates you among your readers. You will lose your way creatively that way. Marv Wolfman gave an example of Justin's point. When DC announced that Marv and George Perez first began writing The New Teen Titans, they got a lot of hate mail when their team line-up was announced. The new team was too different from the original cast. Once the title began to be published, the hate mail turned to fan mail. Readers overwhelmingly loved the book. Jimmy Palmiotti pointed out that if you are getting hate mail, that means that people are reading your work, which means money in your pocket. He also said that the only power critics have over you is when you react to them. Marv Wolfman made a very important point, to listen to criticism when it points out mistakes. He also said to work to avoid cliches in well worn genres. The hardest part is to recognize it and get out of it. Billy Tucci said that if you suspect you're writing a cliche, you probably are. You have to find a way around it. Jimmy Palmiotti pointed out that a cliche can work as a quick introduction to a character. The trick is to expand on the character to grow out of the cliche. Justin Gray said to introduce characters in broad strokes, then flesh them out.

The next question was how to write established characters? Marv Wolfman probably made the most important comment on the topic. He said a writer should never dishonor previous versions done by other writers. Be honest with the character and build on previous work, don;t tear it down or ignore it. Every writer deserves the freedom to write a character as he sees it.

Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray were asked how they worked together as co-writers. They talk about a project at least three times a day, to flesh out the idea and build on each other's ideas. Who writes the story depends on who's busiest. They bounce the script back and forth. Sometimes their best stories come out of thier disagreements.

Next was a question about hou non-visual media affected their work. A unanimous answer from the panel was to read newspapers, and observe the world around them. Marv Wolfman suggested listening to snippets of conversation around you, to develop an ear for dialogue.

Jimmy Palmiotti pointed out that most prospective writers have one great idea they hang their hopes on to become a big success. He said that a writer doesn't need one great idea, he needs a million ideas. Brian Pulido noted that editors don't hire writers, they buy stories. Billy Tucci noted that if you are writing a comic book story about a historical event, if there are any participants still living, interview them if at all possible. It adds human experience to the story.

Jimmy had a question for Brian Pulido. He asked Brian where his interest in horror came from, because he's such a laid back guy. It didn't seem to be a match. Brian said that his mother liked dark material and exposed him to it at a young age.

Justin Gray suggested to the audience to be influenced by everything, even by things you don't like. Think about why you don't like something. Know you're audience. Billy Tucci followed up on that comment by suggesting that you should know who you're writing for. Justin also said to find a common thread that run through the culture you're writing for.

The next question was on how to write dialogue that feels real. Marv Wolfman pointed out htat dialogue in comic books is not real. The purpose of dialogue in comics is to convey information in a believable manner. Billy Tucci suggested writing dialogue tight, to the point. Marv pointed out that dialogue has a half-life of about five years. Language and slang changes over time.

I asked Jimmy Palmiotti about a point he had made on an earlier podcast interview. In that interview he had mentioned about hitting the dialogue beats. I asked him to elaborate. He ponted out that every line of dialogue needs to hit the mark to advance the dialogue. A comic book has only 22 pages to hit the story marks. Marv added that the story should advance the character and plot. If something stands out in the story, does it fit in the rest of the story? Don't be afraid to kill your "babies". If your favorite line or situation doesn't fit the rest of the story or strays from the story, it has to go.

Another question to Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray was about the difference between writing for a video game vs. comic books. They said that when writing for a video game, the story has to fit into the game. Marv pointed out that with video games, you have to write to fit the game design.

The final question was about which is better, writing out the story or letting it happen. Brian Pulido said that it's a combination. It's important to know where you're going, but don't be afraid to follow the lead if the story wants to take you in a different direction.

Jeffrey and I left soon after the panel. Instead of taking the same route home, we traveled on I-4 through downtown Orlando so that Jeffrey could see my comic book store. He works at one in California, an denjoyed visiting my store. I guess it's my fault he spent more money than he planned. Along with some back issues he also bought a plush Mr. Mxyzptlk figure. Then we went home to have some of the delicious leftovers from Friday night's dinner.

Next: MegaCon 2010 Day 3!

Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #118: MegaCon 2010 Day 2 Part II: The Nichelle Nichols Panel!

Note: This is the third of a series of blog posts about MegaCon, 2010, Day 2, but the audio podcast on MegaCon will be a single episode. I attended MegaCon, as I said in the Day 1 post, with Jeffrey Taylor O'Brien. To read his coverage of MegaCon, click on the following links:
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7673
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7675
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7687.

To see more of my photos from MegaCon 2010, click on the following link to go to my facebook MegaCon 2010 photo album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033083&id=1239968992&l=c6f45bc404.

Nichelle Nichols began the panel discussion by taking a question from the audience. The first question was an obvious one: What she thought of the new movie. Nichelle liked the new Star Trek movie a lot. She liked its energy, the tech, J. J. Abrams enthusiasm. He brought a vitality to the project that was carried through by the actors in their performances.

Nichelle then had the convention volunteer move the tables back from the edge of the stage so that she could sit on the corner of one of the tables, closer to the audience. Someone said, "You need a piano." Nichelle answered, "I don't need no piano." Everyone laughed and applauded, because we knew she was right.

The next question was how much she enjoyed roasting William Shatner. Nichelle replied that she had a lot of fun. She then gave a short history of the comedy "Roast:", which led her into talking about Gene Roddenberry's development of Star Trek.

Gene wanted to bring more of a sense of reality to TV, along with gender equality and diversity. Hollywood executives told him that America wasn't ready for racial equality, especially in the deep south. Maybe in 300 years, they told him. As Nichelle put it, Gene told them thank you and then wrote Star Trek. No studio would buy it until another TV pioneer, Lucille Ball, head of Desilu Studios, bought Star Trek. She really didn't know exactly what it was. She thought it was a kid's show similar to the then popular Lost In Space. After Star Trek went into production, Desilu was bought by Paramount Studios. As most Trek fans know, the first pilot, starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike, was rejected. A second pilot, starring the now familiar original cast, was picked up by NBC.

Of course, the show did not have smooth sailing with studio executives. They thought that Spock's ears made him look develish and would scare kids.

Gene had called Nichelle's agent, requesting she audition for Star Trek. Nichelle had just closed a singing engagement at a London supper club, and so her agent was unable to get in touch with her. She was very tired and had not had a vacation in a very long time. Her plans were to fly to Paris and go on a skiing vacation. In fact, she was considering bringing her son over from the United States and moving to Europe. When her agent finally got in contact with her and told her the news, Nichelle at first declined. she was tired and just wanted some time away from work.

After a brief argument, her agent told Nichelle to get to the airport, where she would find a trans-Atlantic ticket waiting for her. He made a deal: if she didn't get the part she could fly back to Europe and take her vacation; if she got the part she could repay him the cost of the ticket.

During the flight she was reading a book about African history titled Uhuru, which is Swahili for "freedom". Nichelle carried the book with her to the audition to read while she waited for her turn. When she got to the studio there were other actresses waiting to audition for the part also. They looked down their noses at Nichelle, who described her attire as a modern 1960's black woman. Nichelle was told to go on in, much to the other actresses' surprise.

Nichelle briefly discussed the book with the director. there were other people in the room also. Her audition consisted of reading some lines. The dialogue involved Kirk, McCoy and Spock. Nichelle read Spock's lines. She thought that was the role she was auditioning for, so Nichelle asked, "What kind of woman is she?" It was explained to her that her role as Communications Officer had not been written yet. Nichelle's next question was, "Could Spock be a woman?" the response was, "Leonard Nimoy wouldn't like it." After being given some basic information about Spock, she read the three pages of lines as if Spock was a woman.

Nichelle noticed Gene Roddenberry sitting in the back of the room. She asked him what he was doing there. Gene told her that he had a little bit to do with the TV show she was auditioning for. Nichelle informed the audience at the panel that Gene gave her her first television role in his TV show The Lieutenant. Nichelle also told the audience that at that point she didn't know that Gene had asked specifically for her. At the end of the audition Nichelle was asked to sit in the other room. Later, when the Director saw her still there, he asked her why she was still there. He informed her that she had the role when she left.

In the earliest episodes Nichelle wore the same color uniform as Captain Kirk, a color Nichelle described as "cat-puke green".

Over dinner, Gene and Nichelle discussed a name for her character. Nichelle wanted to name her after the title of the book she had been reading, but Gene thought Uhuru sounded too harsh. She then suggested Uhura, which had a softer sound. Gene liked it, and that's how Nichelle's character got her name.

But things didn't go smoothly for Nichelle after that. After production began, she received a call from her agent. The studio didn't want to honor her contract, and wanted to buy her out. Nichelle did not give any reasons for this decision, but I had to wonder if race didn't have something to do about it. Her agent then told her that Gene wanted her to trust him. that sent Nichelle's temper through the roof. Nichelle told the audience that was her ego talking. She eventually calmed down and agreed to trust Gene. As it turned out, Gene knew how to make the system work for him when he needed to. He had her report as a day player. Nichelle would often stay after regular filming hours to do pick-up shots, etc. With overtime, she wound up making more money than she would have under her original contract.

At the same time Nichelle had a small role as a nurse on the TV show Peyton Place, although only the back of her head was shown.

When studio executives saw the dailies and asked Gene what Nichelle was doing on the set, he told them she was a day player. They said that they thought he was going to add a little color to the set. And so Gene had Nichelle's uniform color changed from "cat-puke green" to the now familiar red.

Her next projects include returning to the TV show Heroes. Her storyline had been cut from a previous season, when it was determined that there were too many plots going on at the same time. Her plotline is returning. She is also involved with several movies, one as an Executive Producer.

A fan asked her what was her favorite episode from the original series was. Nichelle answered that it was anytime Uhurua got off the bridge. A specific favorite episode was The Trouble With Tribbles. She then talked about how she knew Star Trek would be cancelled after only one season, because every episode kept getting better and better.

Nichelle ended the panel sharing how Uhura got her first name. Writer Steve Whitfield wrote a fictional history of Star Trek and its back story, and gave her the Swahili name Niota - Star.

Next: MegaCon 2010 Day 2: Part III!

Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! at http://www.comicspodcasts.com/.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/. Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this podcast to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #118: MegaCon 2010 Day 2: Part I: The DC Nation Panel!

Note: This is the second of three blog posts about MegaCon, 2010, but the audio podcast on MegaCon will be a single episode. I attended MegaCon, as I said in the Day 1 post, with Jeffrey Taylor O'Brien. To read his coverage of MegaCon, click on the following links:
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news/2010-news/2010-news-comic.php?topic=2010-news-comic/0313
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news/2010-news/2010-news-comic.php?topic=2010-news-comic/0314
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7687

To see more of my photos from MegaCon 2010, click on the following link to go to my facebook MegaCon 2010 photo album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033083&id=1239968992&l=c6f45bc404.

Jeffrey and I got a little bit of a late start Saturday morning. We got to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida near the end of the Marvel panel, which I had originally wanted to attend. According to the MegaCon program, the sceduled panelists were Mike Choi, Sonia Oback, Casey Jones, Mike McKone, Greg Land, Paul Peltier, Nelson DeCastro and Dexter Vines. When we got to the panel, there were only three panelists, one of whom I would later learn was Grag Land, when I walked by his table.
Afterwards, Jeffrey and I went our separate ways in the convention hall. I went searching for a local comic book writer I had friended on facebook, who was in Artist Alley, Wayne Cordova. He is an associate pastor of Crosspoint Church in Spring Hill, Florida. He was at MegaCon to promote two comics, one of which was M.I.M.E.S. (Mobile Initiative for Muting Evil Syndicates). The artist, Harold Jennett, was not there. I bought a copy and Wayne autographed it. We had a nice conversation about comic books, podcasting , school and church. His wife coaches math teachers at a school around Spring Hill, and my wife is a secretary with the Exceptional Student Education department at our local school board. To learn more about M.I.M.E.S. go to http://mimescomic.com/.

Jeffrey and I met for the DC Nation panel, composed of Dan Didio, Jimmy Palmiotti, Ethan Van Sciver and Tony Bedard. As the discussion got started, Dan Didio invited a couple, dressed as Green Lantern and Black Canary, to join them on the panel. After receiving some congratulations from the audience about his promotion to co-publisher, Didio joked, "Everything you like about DC, give the credit to Jim Lee; everything you don't like about DC, I'm responsible." He then mentioned that this was his first DC Nation panel, and first comic book convention, since August of 2009.

Among the topics Didio mentioned was that Superman would be appearing in his regular titles soon. The breakout Batman characters of the past year was Red Robin /Tim Drake and Damian. Grant Morrison would be writing Batman And Robin for the forseeable future. Dan also mentioned that he thought writer James Robinson pulled off a well written story with Justice League: Cry For Justice. Though the ending was shocking, it was not gratuitous, and would lead to some big changes for Green Lantern.
Ethan Van Sciver said that the conclusion of Flash: Rebirth would lead into future stories and a broader epic for The Flash.

Tony Bedard, writer of the Great 10, said that he developed the characters so that, after the end of their mini-series, other creators would be able to use them elsewhere in the DC Universe.

Jimmy Palmiotti said that what drew him to Power Girl was her voice and personality. He said that he doesn't find that every character has a distinctive voice, but she did. He also said that comic book fans help determine what makes it, what doesn't, what sells.

Dan Didio commented on the Legion Of Super-Heroes. He said that one of the problems with the Legion was the generational aspect of the DC Universe; it fractures the audience. The favorite era for a comic book reader is usually their first exposure to a comic book title. Dan said that one of the goals of DC is to find one strong interpretation and stick with it, without alienating fans of various eras. He also mentioned other characters. Static, from Milestone Comics, will be a member of Teen Titans, and a Batman Beyond series would be upcoming.

Dan had a few comments about J. Michael Strazinski. He loved JMS on Brave And The Bold. Those were great stories with emotional impact. Superman happens to be JMS's favorite character, and Dan said that he has a perspective on the Man Of Steel that is 180 degrees from where he is now, but is still true to the character.

On Birds Of Prey, Dan said that writer Gail Simone and artist Ed Benes wanted to return to the title, and that is why DC is bringing it back.

Tony Bedard said that in order to get new people coming to comic books, as Geoff Johns said, the goal is to make comics the most popular modern myth. Didio expanded that thought further. He said that it was not just DC's job, but the job of all comic book publishers, to raise the public consciousness of comic books.

Someone in the audience asked a question about new cross-company crossovers, which were popular in the 1970's. Didio said it was possible, but at the moment DC was concentrating on its own characters.

Dan Didio then had a series of announcements about various series. David Finch would draw the cover for Batman #700, and would be the regular cover artist for Action Comics. Action's creative team would be writer Mark Guggenheim and artist Pete Woods. Paul Levitz would take over Adventure Comics and Legion Of Super-Heroes. On a related note Dan asked Legion fans to send postcards to DC's offices if they wanted Legion flight rings with the new upcoming Legion Of Super-Heroes #1. DC's Free Comic Book Day issues for 2010 will be War Of The Supermen #0 and Brightest Day #0. Brightest Day will carry a lower price point. Blackest Night #8 will carry the cover price of $3.99, and have a fold-out cover. A new Who's Who will be published, drawn by core DC artists and freelancers. The next DC animated DVD movie, after Crisis On 2 Earths, will be Under The Hood. After that, there has been nothing definite to announce yet.

Ethan Van Sciver announced that his new project would be a creator owned series published through Wildstorm and written by Gail Simone.

An audience member had a question about how the second features would be collected. Dan Didio said that if it was related to the first feature, they would be created together, but if not, it would be collected in a separate edition.

Another question was about superhero novels. Dan Didio said that those were handled by a separate group in the company and licensed out. He closed the panel by answering a question about Grant Morrison's mulitverse, saying it was moving forward. Several Earth-2 stories are forthcoming. If there were to be any Elsworlds stories, this is how they will be handled.

Next: MegaCon 2010 Day 2: Part II!

Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #118: MegaCon 2010: Day 1!

Note: While this blog post is the first of three on MegaCon, the podcast episode on MegaCon itself will be a single episode.

I first attended MegaCon in Orlando, Florida in 2005, as one of my son's birthday presents, as both were around the end of February that year. We did it again in 2006, both times only on Satuday, but have not been back since. I had the opportunity to go this year because Jeffrey Taylor O'Brien, of the Superman Homepage website, was going to attend in order to accept an award for the website. We had friended each other on facebook after the podcast he co-hosts with Michael Bailey, From Crisis To Crisis, began. We later began working on a comic book project that I'll be able to discuss at a later date. On Sunday afternoon, March 14, 2010, he accepted the award for the best comic book fan website award from Project Fanboy http://www.projectfanboy.com/. The whole award ceremony can be seen here: http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7698.

To read Jeffrey's coverage of MegaCon 2010 on the Superman Homepage website, click on the following links:
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7673
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7675
http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7687.
These links also contain some of the pictures I took at MegaCon.

My convention experience actually started Thursday night, when my wife Cynthia and I drove to the Orlando Internaional Airport (OIA), to pick Jeffrey up. He stayed at our home that weekend, and it was a pleasure to finally meet him in person, and enjoy his delicious cooking.We went to the orange County Convention Center first thing Friday morining and bought our three-day passes. We avoided the long line inside by going to an outside booth (a tip for those who don't buy their tickets in advance).

When we first entered the hall, the Ghostbusters ambulance sat in front of the hall entrance, followed by the Flintstonemobile and a new stlye VW Beetle stylized as Pokemon. To show my age, the one that grabbed my attention was the Flintstone car.

The first panel we went to was The Power Of Plot, hosted by writers Glenda Finkelstein and Kimberly Raiser, both of whom I was not familiar with. I had forgotten to bring my notepad with me, so I took notes on the back of the convention program. The two panelists had some good pointers that I'll share with anyone interested in writing. The first thing they mentioned was how inportant it was to know the ending of the story before halfway through writing the story, or the ending could fall apart. It's important to know where you're going, but still allow yourself to be surprised. Sometimes the story, or its characters, will lead you down a path you didn't expect and improve the tale. How to begin a story is to draw in the readers. Engage them from the first paragraph. It isn't always necessary to explain a character's background. Use conflict to develop his or her background. Also, don't have too many characters. It will bog down the story. Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Always provide clues in the plot, especially in the mystery genre, that point to the conclusion, even if the readers don't always pick up on them before they get to the end. Always give readers characters to care about. Noone enjoys unsympathetic characters. Conflict in a story is not necessarily good vs. evil, but some disagreement between characters that is resolved by the end. Finally, when writing, write for yourself. If you enjoy what you're writing, then that emotion will flow to your readers, and they will enjoy your stories also.

After that panel Jeffrey and I wandered through the main hall separately. The convention wasn't as heavily attended that day, as it would be on Saturday. My main focus that day was to meet Billy Tucci and buy a copy of the hardcover edition of his book Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion for my son. The story placed DC's iconic WWII character and Easy Company in the middle of the historic Lost Batallion battle of that war. I had earlier interviewed Billy back in episode #97: http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/2009/10/Episode_97_An_Interview_With_Billy_Tucci-252208.html. When I introduced myself he got up from his chair and gave me a hug. He gave me a warm welcome and it was the highlight of the convention for me. he autographed not only the copy of the book I purchased, but my copy of Jonah Hex #53, May 2010, which he drew. As he did in all of the copies of his Sgt. Rock book he autographed, he drew a very nice Sgt. Rock sketch, and signed it, "To Will - War Is Hell. Billy Tucci." To look at it. it's hard to believe that it took only a few minutes to draw.

Another artist I wanted to meet was Central Florida artist Derek Fish, who I first met at the 24-Hour Comic Book Day event at Acme Comics back in October of 2009. He was in Artist Alley doing sketches and selling his new comic book The Wellkeeper, issues #0 and #1, on which he served as writer, artist, cover colorist and letterer. Back in October I sat next to him and watched him ink the pages of a future issue. I reviewed his comic book on My Pull List Issue #83 http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/2010/03/issue-83-megacon-2010.html.

I also had a few books signed by Marv Wolfman, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jamal Igle, Darwyn Cooke and Laura Martin.

I asked Marv Wolfman if he worked with Curt Swan, and he said that he did many times. He described Curt as a perfect gentleman. When I asked him if he had a favorite among the many stories he wrote he said that it would be the tribute story to Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in Action Comics. He didn't remember the issue number, and as I wracked my brain tothink if I had read it, he mentioned that it was drawn by the late Gil Kane. That was the clue I needed and I recalled the cover, even though I didn't know the issue number either. (Looking through my collection, it's Action Comics #554.)

As Laura Martin signed my copies of Planetary vol. I and issue #27, I asked her how she came to be the colorist for the Planetary series. She informed me that she had been the colorist for artist John Cassaday on his Image series Desperado, and he like her work and told her that he and writer Warren Ellis were looking for a permanent colorist for Planetary. So she walked right into it. I asked her if she has met Warren Ellis in person, and she said that he has. Laura also said that, while Warren cultivates an internet persona (that I'll describe as a sharp tounged curmudgeon), in person he is a gentleman. But we love you anyway, Mr. Ellis.

As I waited in line for Darwyn Cooke to sign my copies of The New Frontier trade paperbacks and DVD, someone brought him a box of "Handerpants" and said Jimmy Palmiotti told him to bring them to him. Darwyn opened the box and put them on. They were white fingerless gloves that look like whitey tighties for the hands. Jimmy sat at a table on the other end of the section from Darwyn. My friend Marc of Acme Comics later told me that he was at the same bar as Darwyn and Jimmy, and Darwyn talked about how weird, but how comfortable the gloves were on his hands.

Jeffrey and I met again to attend the DC Comics panel. On the panel were: Dan Didio, Tony Bedard, Rob Hunter, Mark McKenna, Stephane Roux, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Amanda Conner. Unfortunately, I din't have any room on the program to take any notes, but you can read Jeffrey's fine coverage of that panel at: http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=7673. The biggest announcement that I remember from that panel was the now familiar announcement, to Power Girl fans, that Amanda Conner was leaving the book after issue twelve, and co-writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray were leaving with her. The reason she gave was simply exhuastion. She had not had any time off, and ws working extremely long hours to keep the book on schedule. While I don't read Power Girl, only for budgetary reasons, I do enjoy Amanda's art style.

That pretty much summed up the day. We also took pictures of various cosplayers in attendance. there were several Supermen, including a Black Lantern Superman, several Supergirls, at least one Wonder Women, and my favorite, Saturn Girl of the Legion Of Super-Heroes. She was the first Legionairre I can remember seeing in the three years I've been to MegaCon.

On our way home Jeffrey and I stopped at the grocery store to get a few things. He seasoned the salmon my wife had bought, steamed asparagus, boiled potatoes, and made a lemon cream sauce to go with the salmon. It was a delicious dinner, and a hint of what we would enjoy Sunday evening when Jeffrey would cook the entire dinner for us. But that's another post.

To see more of my pictures from MegaCon, click on this link to my megaCon 2010 facebook photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033083&id=1239968992&l=c6f45bc404.

Next: MegaCon 2010: Day 2!

Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #117: Superman At 50 In Time Magazine!

Continuing a look at DC's 75th birthday, this week we look at Superman as he appeared on the cover of Time Magazine for the week of March 14, 1988, in a cover drawn by then Superman writer/artist John Byrne. The cover can be seen at this link: http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19880314,00.html, and the article can be read at this link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966978,00.html. In this episode I'll outline the contents of the article.

It begins with the famous Nietzsche quote, Behold I teach you the superman, and then quotes Superman writer and co-creator Jerry Siegel conceiving a character like Samson, Hercules and every other strong man he'd ever heard of into one man, only more so.

The article then reviews some of the familiar touchstones of Superman's creation: Siegel conceiving of a villainous Superman, reinvented as a hero, collaborating with friend and artist Joe Shuster on a comic strip, the eventual sale to Detective Comics and launch of Action Comics. The article noted that the first issue was worth around $35,000. In recent weeks, here in 2010, a copy sold for over $1,000,000.

In 1988, and still today,Superman is an institution, even if not as many people read his exploits as did in 1988, or before. The article noted that Superman had run continuously in comic books, and 250 newspapers in a comic strip (as Siegel and Shuster first envisioned), a radio show that lasted 13 years, a number of cartoon series (not including Superman: The Animated Series, which would run for three seasons later in the next decade), two 15 chapter movie serials, a TV series of just over 100 episodes, a Broadway musical and five movies. That didn't include decades of merchandising.

David Newman was quoted as saying that Superman was an American myth, as King Arthur was to England. John Byrne, who the article noted was worn in Great Britian, called the Man of Steel the ultimate success story, a foriegner who came to the states and became more successful than he could have been anywhere else. Science fiction writer Harlan Ellson was noted for stating that there are probably only five fictional characters known around the world: Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, Mickey Mouse, Robin Hood and Superman.

The article noted that the week the issue of Time appeared on the newsstands was not Superman's 50th birthday. Even though the Man of Steel's birthday is celebrated on Leap Day, February 29th, the month of April 1938 was when Superman was born on the first issue of Action, dated June 1928.

To commemorate Superman's golden birthday, CBS broadcast a Superman special and DC Comics threw a big party. The Smithsonian Institute held a Superman exhibit that would run until June, and Metropolis, Illinois was refurbishing its Superman statue. In Superman's real birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio, a Superman fan club called the Neverending Battle planned its own Superman exhibit and ticker-tape parade. I don't know if they were able to put it together.

The article also mentioned the book Superman At 50: The Persistence Of A Legend, edited by Dennis Dooley and Gary Engle, published by Octavia Press (which was the subject of episode #9 of this podcast). A number of features in the book were mentioned in the article, including the identity of Lois Lane's inspiration, Lois Amster, A Glenville High School classmate of Jerry and Joe's.

Superman's co-creators did not take part in the Superman festivities. Both were 73 in 1988, and lived in retirement near each other. Both had health problems, Joe was legally blind and Jerry suffered heart issues. Superman's creators would both be gone before another decade had passed. Their legal troubles over Superman's copyright was briefly reviewed.

The article noted Superman gave birth to an army of brightly clad imitators. Looking back, it seemed the Drepression strengthened the idea that anyone could make it, noted cartoonist Jules Feiffer. But the article also asked how Superman has lasted beyond the Depression and WWII. Its answers were that Superman was orphaned, like the characters Huck Finn and Little Orphan Annie. He was a foreigner who came to a land built by foreigners. He was one of the good guys, and Superman's violence was never cruel. He used his powers to deflect violence as much as possible.

Also noted were the religious connotations in the Superman story. Catholic priest and novelist Andrew Greeley compared Superman to angels. Others compared his kryptonian name, Kal-El, to the Hebrew syllables meaning "all that God is". Greek and Norse mythology also had stories of gods who dwelled on Earth as men.To me, the closest religious parallel to Superman would be the story of the infant Moses, who was found and raised in the home of Pharoah's daughter.

Christopher Reeve also noted how, on a secular level, Superman was special. He was quoted talking about terminally ill children whose last request was to talk to him, and passed away knowing that someone of Superman's qualities existed. He said that was why he cold never be silly when protraying Superman. He took him seriously, and that is probably why he was the best actor who played the Man of Steel to date.

The Time article noted how Superman has changed and adapted according to the media he appeared in. "Look! Up in the sky!" and kryptonite first appeared on the radio show. The article also mentioned that the Man of Steel evolved as America changed during WWII. Clark took his physical exam for the draft, and was declared 4-F because he accidentally read the eye chart in the next room with his x-ray vision. Superman fought the war on the home front, catching saboteurs. After the war Superman's powers grew as readers seemed to wanted more pizazz.

Superman's history on film was reviewed, from Kirk Alyn's serials, with an animated flying Superman, to George Reeve's flying Superman had better effects, but were not the level of the '70's movies. And, as Alyn noted, his muscles were real under the "S".

The article noted the storm of Dr. Wertham's campaign against comic books. Superman weathered that storm but was more threatened by the changing attitudes of youth during the 1960's, with the Vietnam War and civil rights. Superman began to be seen as out of touch by some. Then the popularity of nostalgia arose, and Superman was revived, most notably, by Superman: The Movie which premiered in 1978.

Lois Lane has transformed over the decades to match the times, the article noted. While she was a pioneering role model, there were real-life female reporters who filled Lois' shoes, Anne O'Hare McCormick, Martha Gelhorn, Dorothy Thomson, Dorothy Kilgallen and others. Lois even broke off romantic notions toward Supeman in the early 1980's.

The article ended with the biggest changes in Superman, helmed by John Byrne. His idea was to bring down Superman's powers so he isn't as omnipotent. At the time the article appeared, Byrne's revamped Superman had doubled sales to over 200,000 copies, a level the best selling comics in 2010 rearely reach. The last sentence hoped Superman would reach 100. In a few years he will reach 75, so it looks like there's a good chance he will. The biggest threat to Superman now doesn't come from kryptonite, but from the neverending legal battle between the heirs of his creator and his publisher. Will the heirs win the fight, but leave the publisher that has provided decades of Superman stories? Or can both sides come to some licensing agreement similar to the ones with the heirs of the creators of Batman and Wonder Woman. The Man of Steel also faces a bigger scientific challenge than Luthor and Brainiac combined, with the rise of digital publishing. Will DC Comics, and the comic book industry in general, learn the lessons of the music industry and find a way to survive and thrive in this digital age? It's a neverending story indeed.

Next week: MegaCon 2010!

Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Episode #116: Happy Birthday, Irwin Donenfeld!

This episode is almost a week late. I apologize, but I was working on a project and trying to get it done by this past weekend. While I didn't siucceed, I did make progress, and should be able to discuss it in the near future. Meanwhile I want to catch up on the podcast, and this week will be a double feature as a result. Also, this upcoming weekend, March 12 - 14, 2010, will be MegaCon in Orlando, Fl, http://megaconvention.com/, and I will be attending all three days for the first time. I went there in 2005 and 2006, but only on Saturday.

Irwin Donenfeld was born on March 1, 1926, and died on November 29, 2004 (one day after what would have been my mother's 66th birthday). His parents were Harry and Gussie Donenfeld. Harry was one of the founders of DC Comics. Refer back to episodes 94, 95 and 108 about the key founders of DC, and episode 113, which contains a story Irwin told of his son and Curt Swan. A lot of the information about Irwin comes from Gerard Jones' book Men Of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters And The Birth Of The Comic Book, with some other info from Mark Evanier's website about Irwin's passing, http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2004_12_01.html.

He had one sibling, his sister Sonia, born in 1928 and known as Peachy. His godfather came from his father's mob ties in Prohibition, being none other than mob boss Frank Costello himself. Irwin had a sad childhood in some respects because he did not have a close relationship with his dad. Harry spent most of his time, apart from business, with his mistress Sunny Palin. Irwin once remarked that his father had a wife and mistress, and cheated on both. He also remembered his parents arguing over Harry's philanderings.

As a boy Irwin had a closer relationship with his father's chauffeur, Frank Moschello. Frank had been a street kid and booze-runner, and had taken the fall for one of Harry's rackets, and was given a job for life as a reward. While his father would leave after a couple of innings, Frank would stay and watch all of Irwin's Little League games, and talk baseball with him on the drive home. At night, Frank would drive Harry to all of the night clubs. Irwin described Frank as more of a father than Harry was. But, like any son, Irwin still had an admiration for his biological father, desribing him as a real dynamo. Other than baseball, Irwin's other interest was in boxing.

As a teen, Irwin got an after-school job at Independent News, which was owned by his father and Jack Liebowitz, who mentored Irwin in his usual gruff manner. Irwin would even see his father's mistress at the after-hours gin rummy games Harry and Jack would have with Independent News' other executive Paul Sampliner. Sunny would be a part of the card games as well. Irwin described her as slightly overdressed, and a little taller than his father. He knew that she was more a part of his father's life than he was.

At the age of 18, Irwin joined the Army and entered pilot training, but never faced combat. He remained at Keesler Army Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi for the duration of his enlistment. Harry visited his son once when Irwin was about to fight for the base championship. Irwin told his father he couldn't arrange a dinner with the base officers when Harry asked. A few days later Irwin was ordered to report to the Colnel's office. While he wondered what he had done wrong, his father appeared, having somehow arranged an Army limo from the train station, and dinner with the officers. Decades later, Irwin marveled at how his father could make everyone like him.

After his Army service, Irwin graduated from Bates College in 1948, and began working at DC Comics. He would work his way through the company. Irwin would work in the production department, readying the pages for printing. Jack Liebowitz would also assign Irwin to take over his father's duties in distribution. As Irwin became an adult himself, and entered his father's world, Harry Donenfeld was retreating. The years of hard living, and the pressures of a wife and mistress, were beginning to take its toll. Plus, Jack Liebowitz may have wanted Harry to fade into the background, and take his old mob history with him.

Irwin would eventually become head of the editorial department. He would leave the daily realationships with writers and artists to the individual editors. His concentration was gathering sales information from Accounting, studying trends, and deciding what boosted sales. Irwin's concentration was on the covers. He left the editors to worry about the content, and tried to figure out what on the covers would hook readers, from colors to dinosaurs or apes. Eventually, he put a limit on how many times apes could appear on the cover. One of his more infamous ideas was the checkerboard that appeared on DC titles in the mid-1960's (I remember them from my own childhood).

Irwin was involved in the development of the DC title Showcase, during a time when the comic book publisher struggled to stay in business. The title would play a key role in the birth of the silver age of comic books, giving birth to, among others, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Lois Lane's own title. Around 1964, Irwin signed a distribution deal with a small publisher who had gotten the rights to publish a fan magazine about a British music group. It was published soon after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, and the group's name was, of course, The Beatles. As part of management, Irwin held the company view of the ongoing legal battle with Jerry Siegel over the rights to Superman.

In 1967, DC Comics was bought by Steve Ross, who owned Kinney Services. Irwin left the company in 1968. He felt promises were made to him that were not kept. He left the comic book industry entirely, bought a marina in Westport, Connecticut, and published a boating magazine. Irwin and his wife, who I could find no information on, had six children, Rita Lynn (a real estate agent who died on November 24, 1990 in Kissimmee, Florida), Amy, Mimi, Ben, Harry and Luke. Luke was the son I mentioned in episode #113, the Curt Swan Toast, about the sketch he received from the Superman artist.

Next episode Superman On The Cover Of Time Magazine!

Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.

Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com/.

Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.

My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.

Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.

Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.