Tag: westfield state college

Evan gets even

Forty years ago I was in the first semester of my freshman year at Westfield State College. I was accepted at UMass in Amherst and at Boston University, but I had to put myself through school, and the only way I could afford to do that was by attending one of the 4-year state colleges in Massachusetts.

I worked hard to earn my B.A. in Economics, and I am very unhappy with the trouble that is going on at Westfield State now, because of Evan Dobelle.

What Boston Globe reporter Scott Allen doesn’t say in the video is that these events are history repeating itself, because Dobelle went through this before, ten years ago at the University of Hawaii. The difference is that the board of trustees in Hawaii didn’t want to hassle with a lawsuit, and they decided to give Dobelle a generous settlement to make him go away.

A guy named Joe

Mark Evanier has a post with this video interview with the great Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, the finest ink man there ever will be in comic books. Original art that has been graced by the Sinnott touch is a thing to behold.

Interview with comics legend Joe Sinnott, Part 1 from The Comic Archive on Vimeo.

Joe talks about the work his son Mark has done cataloging all of his published work. Denro has done a lot to find copies of all those comics, including Joe’s unsigned stories, for Joe and Mark.

Joe goes into some technical detail about his preferred tools of the trade, which is a treat for me, a wannabe cartoonist from long ago. Joe has praise for the former quality of Strathmore paper, which used to be made at a now-closed mill on the Westfield River, in Massachusetts. Knowing that comic books were drawn on Strathmore paper was one of the reasons why I decided to attend Westfield State College.

Here I am in Joe’s home studio, where he produced the finished art for some of the finest Marvel Comics ever done. I’m holding up two Alley Awards that Joe won for his work on the Fantastic Four.

Phil Shepardson, R.I.P.

I owe Phil Shepardson a lot. When I was a senior in college he lined up an internship for me at the local radio station. I must have done all right, because it turned into a job when I graduated. By happy accident, that was how I met Bismo, who called the station when I asked a Star Wars trivia question. “What color is Darth Vader’s light saber?” Bismo said “blue” and I’ll never let him live that down.

Tonight I learned that Phil Shepardson passed away a few months ago. Here’s an obituary. Five years ago, I wrote a bit about Dr. Phil, as we called him at Westfield State College, before there was Dr. Phil.

“As Schools Match Wits” host dies: wwlp.com

You know the tirelessly upbeat, fun, and engaging personalities of Cousin Brucie and Stan Lee? That’s what knowing Phil Shepardson was like. He was a true multi-media man and a kindred spirit. Phil loved cartooning, and he would challenge me on my definitions of art vs. illustration, and films vs. movies. When The Empire Strikes Back came out, I happened to run into Shepardson at a supermarket, and he wanted to know what I thought of the movie. We had a lively discussion about the phenomenon of blockbuster movies merging with fandom, which he didn’t particularly welcome, and he wanted me to explain it to him. Was it a generational thing, or a commercial response to the excellent films of the early 70’s? That was the sort of discussion that Shepardson loved to have. Here’s to you, and farewell, Dr. Phil.