OK, I admit it. The real reason I posted “Jesus Rides a Harley” was that I needed an antidote to seeing Ghost Rider last weekend with my son Eric and my old friend Morris. Is it as bad as Ang Lee’s Hulk movie? Probably not, but it sure isn’t much better.
Stephen Colbert did indeed make an appearance at the New York Comic Con last Friday afternoon to promote his Tek Jansen comic book mini-series. Yay! But only 75 people were allowed to get his autograph. Boo!
Head’s up, fans of Stephen Colbert and comic books. You are one and the same. Colbert will be at the New York Comic Con this weekend! My buddy Dennis will be there too, although mostly to see Stan Lee. I’ll be right here. Starting work on the taxes. 🙁
Stephen Colbert is the Emmy Award-winning host of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. He will be at NYCC on behalf of Oni Press in support of his new 5-issue comic book miniseries, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen, which will arrive in stores on March ’07. The series is written by John Layman and Tom Peyer with Jim Massey and illustrated by Scott Chantler with others. It is a full color, 32-page comic book that will retail for $3.99. Colbert will be autographing on Friday, February 23 at 4:30pm.
It’s an indelible memory. My mother coming into the room at 330 Zida Street, Fort Atkinson, WI, where I was watching The Adventures of Superman on TV. She snapped off the set and said she didn’t want me watching the show. I didn’t understand why. My brother Jeff said, “He jumped out a window and killed himself!”
Jeff was referring, of course, to George Reeves, who shot himself in 1959. If this event from my childhood occurred close to the time of Reeves’ suicide, I was not yet four years old.
I loved the show, and I still do. I own the entire series on DVD. In the movie Hollywoodland, just out on DVD, a fictional private detective investigating the death of Reeves learns that his son is seriously disturbed by the suicide.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/FEB07/Hollywoodland.flv 425 240]
I have a pretty good recollection of my feelings upon learning that Reeves had killed himself. First, I didn’t believe my brother’s assertion that Reeves had jumped out of a window. Second, I wasn’t filled with dark thoughts. I merely accepted it. I did exactly what Adrien Brody’s character tells his son to do, as seen in the video clip. I continued to watch the show on TV.
My mother made a Superman sweatshirt for me. I don’t remember if that was before or after Reeve’s suicide. The “S” was inside of a circle instead of a diamond, but I didn’t mind. I treasured that sweatshirt. For a cape, I would fasten a bath towel around my neck with a safety pin. And, yes, I would look for things to jump off of — chairs, rocks, etc. It was lots of fun. But it was always play.
Hollywoodland perpetuates the notion that somehow the show was a bad influence. And that bothers me. I haven’t heard that opinion expressed anywhere else, but other than that omission I agree with NPR movie critic Kevin Turan’s assessment.
Last week’s Newsweek had a feature on comedy in the Baby Boom generation. I was surprised and pleased to see how much influence MAD Magazine is credited as having.
Alfred E. Neuman, a slightly altered spelling of the name of one of Randy Newman’s uncles, is of course the MAD Magazine mascot. The image of the face and the famous catch phrase, “What, Me Worry?”, were far from new when Harvey Kurtzman, MAD’s creator and its first editor, adopted them.
Helen Pratt was one Pratt who really did go on the attack! She sued MAD Magazine for copyright infringement. Her husband, Harry Stuff, had obtained a copyright for this image and slogan, for this postcard that he produced in 1914:
Helen Pratt Stuff lost after the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. The full story was written up by Maria Reidelbach in chapter 8 of her excellent 1991 book, Completely MAD. Here are excerpts of Reidelbach’s account.
Continue reading Pratt Attack – 8
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Here is today’s Peanuts comic strip reprint. Look at the self-satisfied expressions on the faces of Violet and Patty! Lucy was self-centered, and she tormented Charlie Brown, but these girls are out-and-out cruel.
Charles Schulz with the real-life Charlie Brown
It’s no secret that Charles Schulz and his first wife, Joyce Halverson, had a rocky 20-year marriage. They divorced in 1972, and a year later Schulz married Jeannie Clyde. The characters Violet and Patty disappeared, and they were more-or-less replaced by Peppermint Patty and Marcie, who both liked Charlie Brown.
One of the few times Schulz ever publicly spoke of his first wife can be read in this interview. Schulz mentions a then-new biography about himself, written by Rheta Grimsley Johnson who was, at that time, the wife of cartoonist Jimmy Johnson.
