Author: Ed Catto

Ed Catto: Fiction with Purpose

COMIC BOOK REVIEW DC THE NEW FRONTIER

On the way to RocCon, the Rochester Comic Convention, my cousin John gave me a comics-related clipping that his mom, my Aunt Carolyn, asked him to pass along. It was from the Catholic Courier and it was a positive review of Darwyn Cooke’s graphic novel The New Frontier.

This week’s column was supposed to be about RocCon, but the clipping about The New Frontier sent me in another direction. So instead let’s focus on purpose, Geek Culture and the Catholic Courier clipping.

But first a little background on Darwyn Cooke’s The New Frontier. This graphic novel was originally released as a six-issue miniseries in 2004. The Catholic News Service review describes it this way:

rochester-catholic-courierSet in the 1950s and early 1960s, the novel…examines issues of racism, immigration, the blacklisting of accused subversives and the morality of the Vietnam War.

More important, in The New Frontier creator Darwyn Cooke firmly established the DC Universe as a place where focused individuals work hard to create positive change that benefit everyone.

Still, it was strange to reed about this graphic novel in a Catholic newspaper. Back in the day, I don’t recall a whole lot of support from the Catholic Church for comics. More recently, I’m always surprised when some organized religions protest against fiction like Harry Potter stories for promoting the devil or other rotten things.

This review was different. It was very positive. In fact, they awarded The New Frontier an A-III rating. I never would have imagined that the Catholic Church would formally approve of the Justice League. But you know what? They should have.

Maybe I should have seen the church’s embrace of heroic fiction coming. My Aunt Carolyn, a devout Catholic, has always been pro-comics. She’s retired now, but she enjoyed a long career as a middle school/high school English teacher.

In the 60s, my Aunt Carolyn famously took the initiative to purchase a stack of comics to share with her class. This was in Auburn, NY, a town that back in 1948 had one of those ridiculous comic book burnings to stamp out juvenile delinquency. Despite the fact that she used her own money to buy the comics, the school administration frowned on classroom distribution of “funny books.” They demanded she get those comics out of the school.

So I’m happy that “we” in general, and the Catholic News Service’s reviewer in particular, value positive stories about individuals who routinely engage in self-sacrifice and contribute to the greater good.

I contrast that with current political discussions. It’s astounding to me that so many conversations about the Presidential race don’t value a lifetime of public service.

I’m proud of the fact that often in Geek Culture, there tends to be a value assigned to characters that do positive things.

And taking it a step further, in Geek Culture the real heroes are the creators who got off the couch and created something positive.

None of our fictional heroes are perfect. Certainly few of Geek Culture’s real-life hero-creators are perfect. In fact, one Golden Age artist I constantly put on a pedestal struggled throughout his life. Consequently he was, at times, mean and cruel and disappointed many people.

But it’s not about perfection. It’s about trying to do something positive and succeeding once in a while.

I’m thrilled that the Catholic News Service embraces the message of hope and optimism in that the brilliant Darywn Cooke story, The New Frontier. It’s a fantastic read. However, at the core of that story and so many stories in Geek Culture, there are a lot of positive, hopeful messages. And even the Catholic Church can get behind that.

Oh, that review from the Catholic News Service is here http://catholicphilly.com/2016/07/us-world-news/culture/darwyn-cookes-final-frontier/ if you’d like to read it.

Ed Catto: The Mission of Star Trek – Mission New York

star-trek-mission-pix-3-cosplayers-atb

idw-john-bryne-stmnyFans, creators, actors, historians, licensees, NASA and even the United States Post Office celebrated Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary last week at Manhattan’s Javits Center during Star Trek: Mission New York. This convention was a triumph of Geek Culture and how one man’s vision inspired so many others to create one of the most successful and enduring entertainment franchises.

Star Trek fandom has always been passionate and vocal. They’ve banded together to keep the Enterprise flying and have been holding conventions since the 70s. This convention, created by Reed Elsevier’s ReedPop division, was held in the same location as their New York Comic Con. That’s become such a behemoth that, by comparison, Star Trek: Mission New York seemed to embrace a more intimate vibe.

There are benefits to a smaller convention. This was so much easier to navigate than New York Comic Con. There were shorter lines and no crushing crowds. Fans were in a better mood. But try as I might, my observations of this show are undoubtedly influenced by other trade shows and fan-focused shows. And there were a lot of shows this past weekend. Convention expert Rob Salkowitz analyzed the “so many nerds, so little time” phenomenon for Forbes.

star-trek-con-4lPanels: Where the Fans Are

The heart and soul of the convention seemed to be in the panel rooms, even more so than at a conventional trade show or comic con. These panels allowed fans the opportunity to explore the many niches of Star Trek in intense and personal ways, despite sitting in a room with 400 other people.

When I left for college, my dad suggested that it would be wise to join a group or team as a way to break down the overwhelming scope of the university. He was right – and the advice would have been appropriate for Star Trek fans that weekend.

A few of the most fascinating panels included:

  • The Women of Star Trek Reflect on 50 Years – Star Trek actresses candidly discussing the difficult choices they were, and are, often forced to make
  • The Lost Years: Treks that Never Were A panel that explored the strange but unproduced worlds of scripts, movie concepts and series that never made it onto the screen
  • Writing for Star Trek, where David Gerrold, you may know him as the writer of the classic episode, The Trouble with Tribbles (now back in print through ComicMix), passionately encouraged would-be Star Trek writers to create their own books, with their own characters and their own universes
  • Leonard Nimoy: A Tribute provided great history, including photos of Nimoy with Adam West and in costume as the Grand Marshall of a local parade
  • Star Trek: The Roddenberry Vault panel, teasing unseen footage. More on this in a bit
  • A stage reading of Star Trek IV, which I enjoyed more than the actual movie… and I like the movie

gerrold-chekov-stmnyCosplay

Creative and clever cosplay clearly was a theme at this show. Pattern manufacturer Simplicity’s booth spotlighted their licensed Star Trek patterns, but the real creativity was with the fans. Some highlights:

  • A medical student designed and sewed an elegant starship dress
  • One clever fan appeared as an animated Nurse Christine Chapel, who’s arm was miscolored for just a few frames in the Star Trek Animated Series episode The Lorelei Signal
  • A fan dressed as Lt. Uhuru in the toga-esque outfit worn for TV’s first interracial kiss

The cosplay contest on Saturday night also included brilliant pop culture mashups like Khan-ye West, Kim Cardassian, and Ensign Trump, complete with his “Make the Federation Great Again” political sign.

vulcanThe Show Floor

The exhibition floor offered an eclectic group of booths and activities. On one end, NASA’s huge booth helped fans understand upcoming space exploration, (like the Tess satellite) while on the other end, the U.S. Post Office sold the new Star Trek stamps.

In between there was a mix:

  • Comic publisher IDW was there with creatives who were signing comics. The legendary John Byrne made a rare convention appearance to sign copies of his recent photoplay Star Trek
  • Eaglemoss was selling individual Starships and Starship Dedication Plaques from their Star Trek Starships collection. Many sold out quickly. The steady crowd of fans at the booth kept me from speaking to my friends at Eaglemoss crew too much.
  • Likewise, rabid fans kept the Titan booth busy, as they also sold out of many of their products. Their new coffee table book Star Trek: 50 Artists 50 Years, was gorgeous. I had loved the exhibit that the book is based upon when I saw it in downtown San Diego during July’s Comic-Con.
  • The Smithsonian touted their Star Trek documentary, but somehow that seemed like an assignment a teacher would give you, rather than something fun you’d find on your own. But I’m clearly not giving it a chance and I haven’t seen the documentary yet (it debuted September 4th).
  • Microsoft’s Star Trek: Bridge Crew offers an amazing virtual reality experience for fans. The reality of the long line, however, discouraged me from taking part of it.
  • Star Trek Timelines is an immersive game that spans the many Trek franchises and, for the vast majority of users, is free. A very patient but energized (I mean that in the non-Trek sense of the word) staff helped fans play the game on the mounted iPhones and tablets – and gave away a lot of prizes.

reliant-eaglemossThe Son of….

Rod Roddenberry is the son of Star Trek Creator Rod Roddenberry. Rod carries on the business side of the work that was established years ago as his father, with prescient insight, kept many of the licensing rights.

Rod’s an affable guy. He’s warm, humble and friendly. And he announced an astounding project. It turns out that his father maintained a warehouse full of dailies and outtakes from the original series. Gene Roddenberry had gathered up everything that was on the metaphorical cutting room floor and preserved it. Working with Roger Lay, Jr., Rod and the new team have assembled these treasures in the Star Trek: The Roddenberry Vault, on sale later this year.

star-trek-con-3rA Few Stumbles

For every Wrath of Khan or ST:TNG, there’s a Nemesis or a Star Trek: Enterprise. There were some shortcomings with this convention too.

After 50 years of merchandise, collectibles, comics and books, I was disappointed that there weren’t any dealers selling those treasures in any meaningful way. I had gone into the show on the lookout for vintage Trek comics and books but left empty handed. I wanted to see things like Topps cards, Ben Cooper Halloween outfits and 70s Star Trek guns that fired little plastic disks. I hadn’t planned on buying any of those things… but you never know.

My frustration was compounded when I asked the woman in the information booth if there were any dealers or back issue sellers. She informed me that she “had no idea” but that I “was welcome to wander around the exhibition floor” to try and find what I needed. I was, quite frankly, stung by the impoliteness and uselessness of that suggestion. That’s not the Reed Expo Customer Service that I remember.

The whole exhibition floor was a bit underwhelming, but on the other hand, it seems that companies with product designed for fans sold a lot this weekend. There wasn’t a crushing competition for consumer dollars.

Years ago, I had enjoyed a Star Trek novel now and again, so I was really surprised how unwelcoming the Simon and Schuster booth was to new or in my case, lapsed, readers. I went to that booth planning to purchase a book, but after a sour experience, I decided against it. My to-read pile is tall enough, anyways.

And there’s so much more going on in the “world” of Star Trek fandom that I wish was front and center at this convention. I wanted to learn more about the many Trek podcasts, the high quality fan-films and the boom in impressive fan artwork.

star-trek-con-2Box Office? What Box Office?

Last week, The New York Times had a front-page article on changing movie going habits and this summer’s box office sequels that didn’t become hits. I was surprised to see Star Trek: Beyond on that list. I had thought it made its money back and I had enjoyed the picture. But maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised – the faithful superfans at Star Trek: Mission New York had all but ignored that movie.

The Next Frontier: 50 More Years

What’s the real magic of Star Trek? Is it the hope for an optimistic future? Is it the smart science fiction? Is it the ripping yarns? Is it really just the story of a guy and his buddies? Who knows? I’ll leave it to deeper thinkers to sort that all out. All I know is that Star Trek fan culture is thriving. It’s a robust intersection of fandom, commerce & entrepreneurialism. And that a good time was had by most at Star Trek: Mission New York.

 

Ed Catto: That Other British Invasion

3 covers British JPG

One day in the early 80s, I was with my girlfriend in a shopping mall. Somehow I had been relegated to the role of sidekick while she shopped. I liked to do a lot of things with her, but shopping wasn’t high on that list. I was bored so I decided to buy a comic book to read while she shopped.

Swamp Thing 21 p1 anatomylesson1Back then I was enjoying a lot of comics and purchasing them every week at Kim’s Collectible Comics and Records. But one store in that mall had a spinner rack filled with comics, and I knew I could snag an issue that I had missed.

I evaluated the comics available on that rack and hoped that one would be my salvation from the dreariness of shopping. I reached out for Swamp Thing #21, and was surprised to find an unfamiliar writer wrote it. I decided to give it a try nonetheless.

Those initial low expectations quickly gave way to… my brain exploding! That issue masterfully took a fresh approach to a tired concept, and wrapped it in thoughtful, clever and creepy prose. It was a big deal. I was so excited, and at the same time so frustrated, as I couldn’t really discuss it with that girlfriend. She had no interest in comics.

I didn’t know it then, but comics were about to change.

Alan Moore, that writer, was just one of the creators who ushered in a new era of comics. Sequart’s newest book, The British Invasion – Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison and the Invention of the Modern Comic Book Writer discussed the important contributions of these writers. I was able to catch up with author Greg Carpenter and he shared some insights.

Greg CarpenterEd Catto: Can you tell us a little bit about your new book, British Invasion, and what you set out to do with this book?

Greg Carpenter: I’d be happy to Ed, and thanks for having me here. The British Invasion is an in-depth analysis of the intertwined careers of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Grant Morrison – three influential British comics writers who first began writing American comics in the 1980s. The book traces their work from the ‘80s through today (or as close to “today” as you can get in the book-publishing world), and it focuses in particular on how these three writers redefined our understanding of what it means to be a comic book writer.

At least, that’s the dry, academic-y answer. As for what I wanted to accomplish, on the simplest level I think it was to try to answer the question that students always ask me: “Why have comics become so popular lately?” Obviously that’s a loaded question with lots of presuppositions, but the gist of it – that comics culture has moved from the outskirts of society to the mainstream – seems fair. And for me, the answer to that question leads directly back to the work of people like Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison.

BRITISH INVASION coverI remember back in 2004 when I was sitting in a theater watching The Incredibles. Here – in a Pixar movie that didn’t really have to be all that smart or insightful in order to be successful – was a full examination of the wonder and the absurdity of the superhero genre, viewed through a real-world prism with real world consequences. Even though there had already been several superhero movies by that time – some of them quite good – what struck me was that Brad Bird seemed like the first filmmaker who had really “gotten” writers like Moore, Gaiman, Morrison. The thrill for the viewer came, not from the style of the costumes, the nature of the superpowers, or the threat posed by the villain, but rather from the momentary suspension of disbelief that comes when you realize – this is what superheroes would really be like.

That thrill, that feeling, that … sensation is far more rare than you might think, and I knew then that at some point in the future I wanted to try to show everyone why that feeling is so powerful.

EC: What’s your personal fan experience, and did you enjoy these writers when they burst onto the scene?

Miracle Man Eclipse PromoGC: I came of age at the perfect time. As a kid, my comics reading was pretty random – a smattering of superhero books and a lot of commercial tie-ins like Marvel’s Star Wars and GI Joe. By the mid-‘80s I was pretty heavy into DC’s Star Trek, but I kept seeing all these in-house ads about a book called Swamp Thing that was winning all sorts of awards. This was pre-Internet and I lived in the rural American South, so a person wasn’t going to find much comics journalism in the local Wal-Mart. My education came from those in-house ads. And if a house ad said I oughtta pay attention to a particular title, well, that carried a lot of weight with me.

So I wound up buying Swamp Thing #56 – the blue issue. I didn’t really understand it, but I could tell it was different from all the other stuff I was reading. And once I started stepping out of my comfort zone, I found myself swept away with the energy of the times – The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Maus, The Shadow, Byrne’s Superman, The Killing Joke, The Question, Black Orchid, Animal Man, Arkham Asylum, V for VendettaSandman. It was an amazing period. And Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison were the ones shaping my worldview, my own personal mentors – priests, professors, and practical philosophers. They could do no wrong.

So when they drifted away from mainstream DC, I drifted away from comics. It’s hard to remember now, but in those days, in the part of the country where I lived, there wasn’t much access to books like From Hell, Sebastian O, or Signal to Noise. It was like loving music but only being able to listen to Top 40 Radio. So for me, it felt like my three favorite writers had largely left comics – even though they hadn’t. And I really didn’t care much for what had taken their place at DC, Image, and Marvel in the early ‘90s. So I stopped reading.

And then, as fate would have it, I was standing in a Wal-Mart and saw a comic book display. I paused for old times sake and was struck by a new title – JLA #1 – written by Grant Morrison. From then on it was like the Michael Corleone line – “just when I thought I was out, (Grant Morrison) pulled me back in.” And I’ve been reading ever since.

EC: You do such a great job of putting it all into context and telling a “big picture story.” As I’m reading your book, I’m thinking “Yeah, I vividly remember those stories from Supreme or Promethea.” I’m impressed by the way you are able to analyze those stories in the context of each writers’ career and within a particular historical timeframe. How much of a struggle was it to tell the tale that way and how did you go about it?

GC: You’re very kind to say so. I wish I could say that everything just fell together perfectly, but alas. I think the low point for me came when I was staring at dozens of little scraps of paper scattered across the floor, trying to figure out how in the world to make the overall structure for the book come together. I knew I wanted to do rotating chapters, but there were lots of organizational problems. While these three writers have always been active, their creative peaks often come at different times. So I was left with a floor full of jigsaw pieces that all came from different puzzles and all I had was an X-ACTO knife and some touch-up paint to try to make it all go together.

As for the rest, I learned to make a friend of the Grand Comic Book Database, tracing chronologies and sketching out long timelines. If I can’t see something visually, it’s never quite real.

EC: By focusing on these three British writers, are you leaving out other important creators that are important to the big picture?

GC: More than I could even begin to list. The beginning of the so-called British Invasion wasn’t even a writer movement – it was about artists. People like John Bolton, Brian Bolland, and Dave Gibbons had begun working for DC and Marvel and were doing great work before Alan Moore made a splash with Swamp Thing. And, of course, there were so many great writers in those early days – people like Alan Grant, John Wagner, Jamie Delano, Peter Milligan … and that doesn’t even begin to include the writers who came after these three – Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, James Robinson, Mark Millar … you could go on and on.

And that’s just the British creators. The book focuses in particular on the impact of the Invasion on the notion of the modern comic book writer. If you want to really look at the development of the writer’s role, there are also plenty of non-British writers who helped pave the way for what these three were able to do. I’m thinking of Denny O’Neil, Chris Claremont, Steve Gerber, as well as writer-artists like Frank Miller and Howard Chaykin.

But ultimately in any book you have to focus. What is the problem you’re trying to solve? What’s the question you’re trying to answer? In my case, I knew I wasn’t writing an encyclopedia. I was looking specifically at the role of the writer, and these three writers’ work seemed so interwoven that it was impossible for me to talk about one without the other. But I still lose sleep over all the creators who frankly deserve their own book.

EC: I love the chapter titles. Can you tell me a little bit about how you chose them?

GC: I love that the titles worked for you. That was one of my earliest ideas for the book. Each chapter gets its title from the name of a song by either the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, or the Who. Some of those choices are hopefully pretty obvious – a Sandman-heavy chapter is “Golden Slumbers,” the chapter with Grant Morrison’s vision at Kathmandu is “I Can See for Miles,” and a chapter on Spawn is “Sympathy for the Devil.”

But beyond setting the mood or reinforcing the theme, the choices don’t follow any set pattern. I don’t think Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison correlate directly with the three bands – one of them isn’t the equivalent of the Beatles or the Stones, for instance – so I just drew liberally from all three to find the most appropriate title for each chapter.

EC: It’s a big book, but I’m sure you had to make decisions and choices about what to include. What do you regret leaving on the cutting room floor?

GC: When I started, I naively thought I’d be able to cover all the published work of each writer. It didn’t take long to figure out that was impossible. So there are lots of things I never got to write about. But of those things that I did draft and then take out, the most disappointing was probably a section I wrote on Alan Moore’s Neonomicon.

Any of your readers who’ve read that book know already that it’s a tough book to deal with – powerful, complex, and disturbing for a number of reasons. But when I was drafting the manuscript, I dove into it and wrote what I thought was a really nuanced, insightful analysis.

Well, have you ever had one of those moments of brilliance at 2 AM where you’ve just stumbled upon the plot to a novel that’s probably going to earn you the Nobel Prize for literature? You feverishly scribble the idea down so you don’t lose it, but then, the next day, when you pick it up to read it there’s nothing there besides the most banal idea imaginable. That’s basically the story of my Neonomicon analysis. When I found myself editing the manuscript a few months later and got to that chapter, I just scratched my head. What I thought was enlightening was utterly vapid. It was so nuanced that there wasn’t anything there. I thought about revising it, but the book was already overlong so I just dropped it. Maybe I’ll go back to it someday – just not at 2 in the morning.

EC: We shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but your cover is clever and to the point. How did the design come about?

GC: The cover is great, isn’t it? Kevin Colden, who has done some great work on The Crow among other projects, did the cover. In keeping with the theme of the British Invasion, it’s an homage to the album cover, Meet the Beatles.

But it didn’t start that way. Originally, I actually tried to sketch out an idea myself. It was an image of Mount Rushmore with Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison carved into the rocks. Trust me, it was even worse than it sounds. My wife took one look at it and said, “Seriously?”

So I went back to the proverbial drawing board and tried to draw an empty bandstand modeled after the Beatles, with a drum set, microphones, and three guitars. I sent this one to Mike Phillips at Sequart and he said something along the lines of, “Um … yeah. So, anyway … what would you think about something inspired by an album cover?” And with that, for the betterment of all humanity, I retired my drawing pencil.

Mike and I talked about several album covers, but we kept coming back to Meet the Beatles. For legal reasons, you can’t use a real person’s face on a cover, which is understandable, but (and I think this was Mike’s idea) we thought it might still work if we put them in Union Jack masks. And Kevin took it all from there.

EC: If you could go back in time and give any “Dutch Uncle” advice to Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman or Grant Morrison, what would it be?

GC: Oh, I don’t think they need my advice. They’ve each done pretty well on their own, don’t you think? So I dunno … I guess if I had to, I might tell them – especially Moore and Gaiman – to skip some of the work they did for Image Comics in the ‘90s.

But honestly, I don’t believe in second guessing the past like that. Let’s say, for example, you were able to help Alan Moore get a better Watchmen contract with DC, saving him from some of the nastier aspects of the profession. That would seem like a good thing. But would a happier, more content Alan Moore have gone on to write From Hell? I tend to doubt it. I don’t know about you, but given a choice between enjoying three years of Alan Moore writing something like Green Lantern – as enticing as that might be – or getting Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell, I’m gonna take the Jack the Ripper story every time.

EC: There’s such a rich landscape of creative comics being produced today. What are you enjoying and what do you feel will be viewed as important in the years to come?

GC: It feels almost like a cliché to mention it, but I really love the March Trilogy. What’s special about it, I think, is that once you get beyond how amazing John Lewis is and how well he and Andrew Aydin have compiled his story, Nate Powell’s art is extraordinary. All too often, comics that are classified as “educational” tend to be stiff and lifeless – like your great-grandmother’s idea of what a “good” comic book might be. But Powell is the real deal. Great cartooning, imaginative layouts. The national media might make it sound like broccoli sometimes, but it’s really great comics storytelling. And because of its subject matter, it’s going to be part of the high school curriculum for a long, long time.

Among mainstream comics, I was a big fan of Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye. I always joked that it felt like I was watching some mythical Quentin Tarantino movie shot in the ‘70s and starring Steve McQueen circa 1963. I also think Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman is deceptively good. It’s one of those comic book runs that is easy to take for granted, but ten years from now we’ll still be thinking about it. And Eric Powell’s The Goon always makes me smile.

But the other area that makes comics exciting today is the changing demographics – particularly the infusion of more women creators and readers. Any time you can shake up the industry and change the aesthetics, good things can happen. I once got to interview the artist Janet Lee, best known for Return of the Dapper Men. She showed me some of her work in progress and, to be honest, I was dumbfounded. Instead of something conventional like rough pencil layouts, inks, or even watercolors, she was using a technique akin to decoupage, drawing and coloring images and then cutting them out and painstakingly layering them on a larger page. I can’t even imagine what it must take to do that, but once it’s published, her stuff looks unlike anything else out there. That’s what you get when you have greater diversity in the field – fresh voices, fresh perspectives, and new aesthetics.

In a lot of ways, that was the lesson of the British Invasion too, I think.

EC: What’s next?

GC: Well, my wife and I are both writers – her debut novel, Bohemian Gospel, was published last year by Pegasus Press (heavy-handed plug) – so we tend to alternate between projects around our house. That means that lately I’ve been doing a lot of copy editing and proofreading on her sequel, The Devil’s Bible.

That’s not to say I don’t have a couple of book ideas of my own brewing. I do. But I also remember what Hemingway said – the book you talk about is the one you never write.

EC: Thanks so much, Greg!

Three Alan Moore Comics

 

Ed Catto: The 30th Anniversary of Star Trek’s 20th Anniversary

DC Star Trek Comics

Turning 50 doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. In fact, those typical black-and-white “50 years old” party decorations, suggesting that the celebrant is “so old,” seem out of place to me. Fifty can be fun. Fifty can be optimistic. Isn’t Hollywood’s most famous re-invented party boy, Robert Downey, Jr. over 50? Isn’t the always-engaging Marisa Tomei over 50?

This year Star Trek turns 50 and the phenomenon never looked better. There’s a new movie, a new fascinating Star Trek podcasts out there. And now, more than ever, there’s top TV show and even new stamps from the U.S. Post Office. There’s a bunch of -notch merchandise from innovative companies like Titan and Eaglemoss.
But it wasn’t always so. Back when Star Trek was turning 20 the future wasn’t so certain. It was a struggle. Fans were ridiculed. The world at large did not associate any ‘cool factor’ to Star Trek fandom.

And during those days, DC Comics was creating top-notch Star Trek comics. Looking back (at the future) through the lens of 2016, these adventures covered a perplexing time for the franchise. Spock was dead, Lt. Saavik had crashed the party, the main characters were all dealing with aging and career issues and interesting original characters were added to the mix.

I think it might be my favorite period of the Star Trek mythology. So instead of celebrating Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary like everyone else at the Star Trek: Mission New York convention later this week, let’s instead celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Star Trek’s 20th Anniversary…and specifically DC Comics’ Star Trek.

Marv Wolfman was essential to DC’s acquisition of the Star Trek license. Working on the Marvel Comics version helped him develop a unique perspective for successfully adapting the property into comics. Marv offered these great insights:

“I was a huge Star Trek fan. Still am, actually. I had written the first few issues of Marvel’s Trek but in analyzing it later felt everyone who handled Trek comics was doing it wrong. We were all trying to mimic a TV show’s four act structure and tone. We were all telling too many stories on the Bridge when we had an unlimited SFX budget. If they had the means they would have done other types of stories, but they were restricted by budget. Also, TV shows have tons of talking scenes, because that’s cheap to produce. Talking scenes in comics is visually boring, so I wanted more action and wonder.

“But Trek was pretty much dead at this point in comics and the first Trek movie (I wrote the adaptation for Marvel) didn’t offer much hope. But then I got the chance to see an early advance of the second movie and went back to DC saying we needed to get the license. I remember Jenette Kahn (DC’s President) didn’t think there was any hope for Trek back then (and most would have said she was right) but I was a fan and said this one was really good and I had a way of fixing it. Jenette may have disagreed but she trusted me and approved us getting the license.

“I brought in Mike W. Barr to write it, as I knew Mike loved Trek as deeply as I did. My thought was to handle the book like it was a comic, not a TV show. Have continued stories. Don’t structure it like a TV show. Have emotional characters and bring in new characters with whom we could tell stories we couldn’t necessarily do with the regular cast, which we couldn’t change. I wanted the cast off the bridge and on planets, and I wanted the problems to be big and not easily solvable. One of comics’ strength is building up a universe and there was no reason to keep it small because the TV show did. 

“And all of that had to be done while 100% honoring everything else that made Trek great. Great characters and thoughtful SF stories. I thought we did it and the book sold amazingly well.

“I believe later on the approach was altered to go back to more of TV’s four-act structure, ignoring what made comics work, but as sales dropped that approach was changed back to what I had pitched and what Mike Barr wrote. I think whatever you do you need to remember to use the strength of comics.”

Robert Greenberger Marv Wolfman

Next I turned to ComicMix‘s own Robert Greenberger, who has long been engaged in Star Trek fandom (be sure to read his Notes from a Final Frontiersman column). Robert was an editor for the DC Comics Star Trek series. I had a lot of questions for him:

Ed Catto: Rereading the first fun DC Star Trek comics, it still seems fresh and exciting to me. At that time, Spock was “dead,” the main characters were dealing with both middle age and career issues and the series introduced several new characters. What was it like to develop the series at that time?

Robert Greenberger: Marv Wolfman lobbied DC for the rights, feeling he didn’t have a real good chance to work with the characters when Marvel had the license. He and Mike W. Barr both worked under the far more restrictive Marvel license and so they wanted to see what they could do unfettered. The absence of Spock was seen as more of a creative challenge than anything else, since removing such a key figure changed the group dynamic. It also let Mike explore Saavik as a character.

EC: Can you tell me about the challenges you faced?

RG: When I arrived in 1984, the book was about six issues along and Marv and Mike were in a nice groove, developing their original-to-the-series characters, to round out the ensemble and have people they could actually do things to. A third film was being planned but we knew nothing about it at the time so continued to try and fill the gap after Star Trek II with interesting stories. Some of it felt like vamping and required some inventive thinking which is where, I believe, Mike hit on the idea for a Mirror Universe saga.

EC: At that point you were celebrating Star Trek’s 20th Anniversary. Just how different was that from the 50th Anniversary we’re celebrating now?

RG: Paramount Pictures chose not to do too much special for the 20th. There was some licensed merchandise but it wasn’t as big a deal to them. Len Wein was writing the comic for me at the time and we agreed we’d do a special story for that September. I got to use extra pages and he came up with “Vicious Circle!” a fun sequel to “Tomorrow is Yesterday,” allowing the TOS-era crew to meet their film series counterparts.

Paramount finally made a big deal on the 25th and now, the 50th. I’d love to have been involved with this year’s celebration since some transmedia storytelling could have been fun.

EC: I really liked the artwork on the DC series. What can you tell about working with talented guys like Ricardo Villagran, Tom Sutton, Gray Morrow, Curt Swan and even Eduardo Barreto?

RG: Ricardo was living in the NYC area in the early 1980s landed some work at DC, which led to Marv offering him Trek. He relocated to his native Argentina and we used DHL to make the monthly schedule. He needed the reference but smoothed out Tom’s pencils. Tom was a tremendous storyteller and I loved working with him, but the likenesses were never his strong suit. Eduardo Barreto stepped in for one story and if I could have, I would have shackled him to the Engine Room – I adored his Saavik spotlight, but he was in such demand I couldn’t keep him.

When I could, I spelled him with people like Gray Morrow and Curt Swan who handled the work really well. Then I lucked out with Gordon Purcell on Trek and Peter Krause on TNG, young guys who gave it their all and it worked.

EC: You’ve been involved with both Star Trek fandom and comic book fandom for many years, Robert. Can you compare and contrast the two fandoms?

RG: Comic book fandom was a direct outgrowth of science fiction fandom whereas Star Trek fandom splintered from SF fandom since they were looked down on for preferring filmed SF to prose. It was far more broad-based and in many ways welcoming so it grew faster than anyone could have imagined. The passions and infighting remains exactly the same, though.

EC: How does Star Trek fandom react to Star Trek comics?

RG: When there was nothing else regularly published, it was most welcome. Many didn’t like the inaccuracies in the Gold Key books but it was all they had between the infrequent Bantam novels throughout the 1970s. The Marvel series was much better received but suffered from inconsistent creative teams, an editor who didn’t know the property well, and a license restricting them to whatever was established in The Motion Picture. When DC arrived, they had a much broader contract and an editor, Marv, and a writer, Mike, who knew and loved the material. They got to be consistent, which the fans responded to. When I took over, I had a smooth-running operation and the fans continued to support us. Today, IDW feels the same love thanks to Mike Johnson’s stories.

EC: There’s a plethora of Star Trek podcasts now. Do you listen to any of them and what are your favorites?

RG: I honestly listen to exactly one podcast (totally unrelated to comics or Trek) despite having been interviewed for several. I respect Michael Clark, over at Visionary Trek, whose The Captain’s Table podcast has been good to me.

EC: Star Trek has had such a long history in comics. What are some of your favorite Star Trek comics over the last 50 years, and what do you think is the secret ingredient to adapting Star Trek to comics?

RG: I was honored to find six stories I was involved with make it to Comic Book Resources’ recent Top 10 Star Trek Comics of All Time list. My personal favorites are things like Star Trek Annual #3, by Peter David and Curt Swan, Debt of Honor with Chris Claremont and Adam Hughes, and The Modala Imperative miniseries by Peter, Michael Jan Friedman, and Pablo Marcos since it crossed TOS and TNG using Spock as the lynchpin. I enjoyed Glenn Greenberg’s Starfleet Academy run at Marvel and various stories from the other publishers.

Comics is not television and the action and special effects translate differently. To me, the secret sauce in the comics is keeping the focus on characters, working with the ensemble and serializing subplots so you can really explore issues in ways a 60-minute episode of two hour film cannot come close to working with. This way, we offer readers a different experience and shine the spotlight on different facets of the crew or races that make the universe so incredibly fascinating.

EC: Thanks, Robert and Marv. I wonder if Star Trek is one of those 50 year olds that wish to be 20 again?

Bob Greenberger, Howie and Shatner

 

Ed Catto’s Mitzi McCoy Summer Fling!

MM 110748 300 debut episode

mm-promo3-ccWhat’s more delightful than a summer fling? You meet someone new, get fascinated and before long you’re spending every moment under the hot summer sun together. This summer’s almost over, but there’s still time for one last fling. Get ready to meet Mitzi McCoy…and her creator’s grandson, Brian Collins.

Mitzi McCoy was a lovely strip that debuted in the late forties. Created by illustrator Kreigh Collins, the series opens in the small midwestern town of Freedom, where readers meet the strong willed heiress Mitzi McCoy.

In her first adventure, she summons her resolve to tell her obnoxious fiancée to “get lost.” Mitzi had discovered her fiancée was burdened with debt, and to make matters worse, he had bragged to a gossip columnist that he was “marrying money.” On top of all that, the scoundrel also included a photo of Mitzi in a bikini to accompany the story. Having learned a tough lesson, Mitzi throws herself, and her local newspaper chums, into a series of small town adventures.

The strip is visually stunning. Through the lens of 2016, Kreigh Collin’s artwork is like a lovechild of early Frank Frazetta mixed with a whimsical dash of Dave Stevens. Mitzi McCoy reminds me a lot of Frazetta’s comic strip Johnny Comet, recently collected and published by Vanguard. Each panel is solid, tight and imaginative with expressive figures, gorgeous design and engaging settings.

Kreigh Collns at EaselMitzi and her pals would face off against counterfeiters, art forgers and blackmailers amongst the rolling hills of small town America. As the quintessential “girl next door”, Mitzi offered many opportunities for Kreigh Collins to show off his art skills with demure glamour shots.

But as just as quickly as she came onto the scene, Mitzi was whisked away.

After only two years, artist Kreigh Collins shifted gears. He ended Mitzi McCoy and started an historical adventure strip called Kevin the Bold.

It would be fair to assume Hal Foster’s classic Prince Valiant inspired this new strip. In fact, Kreigh complained to his editor at the NEA syndicate how unfair it was that Foster was able to run Prince Valiant as a full-page strip, when Kevin the Bold was cut to a half page. He compared his concern to boxing with Hal Foster, but with Foster secretly punching with an iron bar in his boxing glove.

In the last years of his career Kreigh would change the strip once more. It became Up Anchor, a nautical strip about a family on a boat. It mirrored his own time living on a schooner with his wife and two youngest children.

mitzi-on-a-swing-panel-300x311-2658245Kreigh’s family took his illustration work in stride. It seems that the family didn’t consider his newspaper strips that big a deal, although Kreigh did enjoy a certain amount of local celebrity. After his passing, Kreigh’s studio had drifted into a state of disrepair. Kreigh’s widow donated many of the strips, proofs and original artwork to others.

But one day graphic designer Brian Collins, Kreigh’s grandson, fell hard for Mitzi McCoy. He didn’t know much about his grandfather’s career or the comic strips he created but he was intrigued when he starting seeing a few of the strips.

It turns out Brian’s father and grandfather weren’t very close. So growing up there wasn’t that much interaction. But Brian had caught the bug and wanted to learn more. As a self-confessed collector, he worked hard to acquire the old strips. He hunted down several old strip clippings from collectors and his uncle would also supply him with surviving treasures whenever they were found.

Perhaps, as a graphic designer, he shares a bit of his grandfather’s talent and appreciation for illustration and narrative adventure.

Mitzi McCoy Sailing PanelBrian has, in essence, become the champion of this grandfather’s work and legacy. He maintains the blog, Kreigh’s Comics with an outstanding collection of strip samples and commentary.

Brian’s now exploring several options to produce a collection of his grandfather’s work. Fans of Geek Culture know that there are so many wonderful and innovative new comics produced each month, but that doesn’t stop them from enjoying the incredible reprints of classic material offered by publishers like IDW, Hermes, Vanguard, Fantagraphics and Canton Street. It’s become a new Golden Age for enjoying Golden Age work.

It’s surprising Kreigh Collin’s work isn’t better known. Maybe the syndicate didn’t support it enough. Maybe the circulation wasn’t strong enough. Regardless, in these fleeting days of summer, there’s still time for you to fall in love with Mitzi McCoy.

 

Ed Catto: The Misfit Among Misfits?

Suicide Squad covers

No one can deny Geek Culture has gotten bigger, broader and more mainstream. It’s cool to know about comics and comic characters’ history. It’s now cool to wear shirts with superhero images no matter what your age. And even mainstream retailer Bed Bath and Beyond is getting into the act, borrowing the soon-to-be unveiled Captain America statue for the grand opening of a new store before it makes a permanent home in Brooklyn.

Just a few short years ago, telling the world at large that you were planning to attend the San Diego Comic-Con was met with eye rolls and snickers. Now that very same travel announcement is invariably met with envy, excitement and the inevitable “You’re so lucky! Can you get me a Dr. Strange poster?”

Catto Family SSThis all leads us to the excitement and unique fan passion for the new Suicide Squad movie. I don’t think it’s all about that mainstream geek passion. It’s something different.

A Different Passion

Now, as a long time fan, I’ve dragged my family to many fan-focused movies. They’ve always been great sports, but my daughters never really caught the bug. They’d sit through a superhero movie, eat popcorn with dad, and then promptly move onto the next thing after the show was over. Oh, they’d always find cool superhero presents for old dad for birthdays and holidays, but that was just them being kind rather than being passionate fans.

So you can imagine my surprise when my middle daughter, Tessa (who just graduated from college a year ago and is working in New York City) said “Hey Dad, what’s this Suicide Squad about? Maybe we should go see that.” I wasn’t sitting down when she said that, but if I had been, I would’ve fallen off out of my chair.

Who They Are And How They Came To Be

Suicide Squad Pudding Hot TopicThe Suicide Squad was a DC comic series that debuted with a half-hearted tryout as spy-espionage series. It really took off in the mid-80s when it was rebooted as comics’ version of The Dirty Dozen. Some of my favorite comic creators were behind this incarnation: John Ostrander, Kim Yale, Mike Gold, Luke McDonnell, Karl Kesel, Robert Greenberger and more.

More recently, the Suicide Squad bolted on one of the most popular new comic characters, Harley Quinn. At the core of it, she’s the Joker’s insane girlfriend, but she’s grown to be so much more. She’s kind of like the comic version of Chelsea Handler mixed with the irreverent, bisexual Bugs Bunny. She’s fresh, effervescent and lot of fun.

And today’s Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad seem to stand for something special, and passionate fans are embracing and protecting it all. As the ultimate “bad boys/girls” of the superhero world, the Suicide Squad members are edgy and frightening. They are poor role models for kids. But I think that in many ways, they represent a mindset that so many fans have.

These characters certainly aren’t super-characters like Captain America. They don’t make all the right choices and they don’t do heroic things. They’re grungy and disrespectful. Authority figures despise them, but they are very comfortable with who they are.

Deadshot 2And they co-opted the prettiest girl in the class as one of their own. Margot Robbie, a stunning actress who gave us all a reason to sit through the failed caper movie, Focus, plays Harley Quinn. She’s scary and insane and riveting in every trailer. It’s as if America’s Sweetheart (Spoiler alert: She’s not really American) started hanging out with the bad kids in high school.

All of this was thrown into a Geek Culture pot and stirred until it became a fresh stew of validation, alienation, and a unique kind of anti-establishment celebration.

Don’t Stomp On Someone Else’s Validation

And that’s whey when early movie reviews started slamming the movie, faithful Suicide Squad fans rushed to the movie’s defense… before they could even see the movie. Some fans tried to turn the tables on Rotten Tomatoes as payback for dissing their movie, and by proxy, dissing what these fans hold dear and their opportunity for validation.

Not everyone gets it, of course. Slate, that mostly-political site, scratched their head in a story all about the authentic and creative Suicide Squad licensed merchandise on sale at Urban Outfitters. You could almost hear the (usually hip) Slate shaking an aged fist and grumbling “You damn kids, get offa my industry of licensed movie products!”

Geek Culture has grown big – and now the tent is so big that there are areas within it for so many different groups. The Suicide Squad represents another unique segment, and they are vociferously passionate about what’s important to them.

In the holiday classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Yukon Cornelius famously tells his friends “Even among misfits, you’re misfits.” And as many comic nerds have become the cool kids, they’ve left behind many who feel disenfranchised. Or, more accurately, some who feel disenfranchised.

That’s why I believe Suicide Squad is making a connection. It’s telling those who aren’t sitting at the cool kids table that they have value. They are unique. They are special and here’s a movie for you. And many folks just don’t hear that much or certainly not enough.

This isn’t really “my 80s Suicide Squad” – and I don’t think it should be.

But I am excited that so many of the creators* can see what their ideas have become on the big screen.

And I’m really excited that folks who dig arm bands and shop at Hot Topic and may feel like misfits amongst society’s beautiful people have a summer superhero movie all their own. And that we can all enjoy.

And I hope it becomes a franchise.

*One aside: Kim Yale, a trailblazing comics writer who worked on so many Suicide Squad stories, passed away years ago. She gone but she’s far from forgotten. NPR just did a wonderful piece on her and you can give it a listen here.

Ed Catto: Comics’ Original Mustachioed Magician!

Mandrake Covers for ComicMix 

Mandrake oct 30 1938The world has quickly forgotten that Iron Man was always kind of a B-level superhero. As you know, mid-tier comic titles like Iron Man or The Guardians of the Galaxy have now become blockbuster movie franchises. And next up is Doctor Strange, the thoughtful, deliberative sorcerer of the Marvel Universe who was always a well loved, but ultimately B-level player. We know that bigger things are in store for him as his cinematic manifestation, in the guise of actor Benedict Cumberbatch, was plastered all over downtown San Diego.

There have been several other comic book magicians with pencil thin mustaches and one was so popular that his adventures also enjoyed time on the big screen. It seemed like Mandrake should have broken out of that B-character ghetto by now.

Mandrake the Magician, created by Lee Falk (who created The Phantom almost two years earlier), is regarded by many comic historians to be one of comics’ very first superheroes. Falk was the original artist, but before long the masterful Phil Davis was brought in to handle those duties. Mandrake, with his faithful friend Lothar, started in the funny papers, and soon graduated to comic books, movies, radio and more. There was a television pilot developed in the 50s, a cartoon in the 80s and even a made-for-television-movie. Throughout the 50s and 60s, Mandrake was so big he was regularly parodied in Mad Magazine.

Mandrake_2 Don HeckThis character is a dapper magician, with slicked back hair and a tuxedo that would look great onstage in Vegas. In the early days, he employed reality-bending magic and traveled to the astral plane, not unlike Doctor Strange, but he would later settle into a routine of simply fooling evildoers with hypnotic trickery.

Mandrake seemed to have it all. His girlfriend was beautiful and exotic, and after a loooong courtship, they married. His best friend was an African strong man and prince. (In many ways, I think the bromance of Spenser and Hawk from the Robert B. Parker detective novels were a modern version of how that friendship could have been presented.) He was well respected in his community. Mandrake had an over-the-top house called Xanadu that could certainly be featured on MTV Cribs. Everybody loved him… except for dirty rotten crooks.

Lee Falk photoAnd Mandrake’s 60s comics even have that Silver Age Marvel feel. Mandrake #1, reprinted in Hermes Press Mandrake The Magician The Complete Series: The King Years: Volume One offers stories in that vein. The first story, for example, is illustrated by Marvel stalwart Don Heck and uses a real New York City location as a backdrop for adventure.

“If you like Silver Age Marvel comics, I don’t know how you couldn’t like it,” said publisher Dan Herman.

I should also note that Titan is reprinting Mandrake the Magician newspaper strips, while Dynamite spins new adventures of Mandrake in solo series and the Kings Watch team-up comic. As an aside, we had the honor of including a Mandrake the Magician backup in an issue of Captain Action a few years ago.

Over time, Mandrake drifted off the pop-culture radar while Doctor Strange came into pop-culture focus and is ready to take center stage this fall.

The Hermes Press collection, Mandrake The Magician The Complete Series: The King Years, Volume One is a celebration of Mandrake’s glory days. It collects five issues of Mandrake’s King series and Mandrake backup stories from Flash Gordon comics.

Mandrake Cover Vol_1This volume includes scans of original artwork, in that wonderful IDW/Scott Dunbier Style. A reprinted interview with Fred Fredricks, the “modern” Mandrake newspaper strip artist, also provides insights to the character.

But would there have been a Doctor Strange without a Mandrake? One might argue that via Mandrake and Lothar, we can see the prototype for Doctor Strange and his assistant Wong. Mandrake’s adventures harken back to a simpler time, when magicians and gangsters and super-villains all knew their place in the world, and the world’s most insidious problem could be solved in half a comic book.

Mandrake and Lothar, full of self-confidence and purpose, never thought of themselves as B-listers.

Ed Catto: Fangirls Lead the Way

Fangirl Shirts Rebecca and Sally

Fangirl PanelOnce again fangirls led the way at the San Diego Comic-Con. It’s not “new news” anymore, but I’m again reminded how far we’ve come from the days when a woman or girl entering a comic shop was met with a universal hush of curiosity and awe. Today, convention attendees are just about equally split between men and women. And the influence that fan girls, beyond female creators, have on Geek Culture is important.

Jamie BroadnaxOne observation is that so many fan girls who step up to the plate are essentially pioneering entrepreneurs. There’s no real guidebook or established plan about how to make it in a historically male dominated industry. Although there may be historical precedents, the intersection of fandom and social media has provided opportunities for nimble fan girls to make their voices heard both to influence the conversation and become an important part of it all. At last week’s San Diego Comic-Con, I again moderated the She Made Me Do It: Fangirls Lead the Way panel. As has been the case when I’ve led this panel at conventions in the past, our panelists consisted an impressive lineup of women.

Sam Maggs Wonder Women authorJamie Broadnax is the founder of Black Girl Nerds. She’s all about fan passion and she isn’t afraid to point out when big organizations fail to provide adequate seats at the table for a diverse line-up of creators. She’s tireless, upbeat and inspiring. Sam Maggs is a brilliant author and commentator who recently released her second book, Wonder Women. This book showcases “25 Innovators, Inventors and Trailblazers Who Changed History.” It’s a charming book that serves up bite-sized background stories of impressive women in her classic fun and irreverent way. I snagged a copy for my young nieces, but I plan to get another copy to keep in my own library.

Connie GibbsConnie Gibbs is the TV critic of Black Girl Nerds,  and she kicked off part of our discussion about what are the most fangirl friendly TV shows.  Connie brings a spark, and deep insights, to every topic and entertainment property that she passionately discusses. We talked about shows including the CW’s The 100 and the new blockbuster on SyFy, Wynonna Earp. It’s fantastic to see Wynonna Earp get its due and hitting the right notes with such a diverse range of demographics. Wynonna Earp was created by Beau Smith and has been in comics off and on for more than 20 years.

The Lootcrate style business is thriving, and entrepreneurs Rose Del Vecchio and Jenny Cheng are right in the mix. They fight the good fight with their creative FanMail enterprise, a box with a unique fangirl focus. Visit them at www.myfanmail.com. Rose is no stranger to San Diego Comic-Con as she’s helped her dad run his booth on the convention floor showroom for many years.

New this year to the SDCC Fangirls Lead the Way panel were two fantastic entrepreneurs. One lives in Canada while the other is in the Baltimore/DC area. They collaborate on Fangirl Shirts. Their startup creates T-shirt and other merchandise emblazoned with the “Fangirl” name, but the logo is modified to be evocative of the fan property it’s celebrating.  And they celebrate everything from Star Wars to Wynonna Earp.

The common, unstated theme of the panel was how each of these fangirls found their path through the entrepreneurial grit and determination that, along with a little courage, makes for the very best entrepreneurs.

I can’t wait to see where fangirls will lead us next!

 

Ed Catto: The San Diego Alternative

Anissia Croft Pres of Camillus ConThe business world, the SyFy Channel, California, ComicsPRO, Hollywood, pop culture and everyone on planet earth who loves entertainment has spent the last week been focusing on Comic-Con International. And as you may know, it’s still often referred to as San Diego Comic-Con. It’s a gloriously bloated beast of a show, overcrowded and overwhelming. And I just love it.

For change of pace, let’s pause to celebrate the front line of Geek Culture on a smaller scale. Specifically, let’s look at the hard-working folks who create, build and manage one of the nation’s many small comic conventions.

IMG_8964Last week I had the honor of attending Camillus Con, the Finger Lakes New York nerd and geek culture celebration. You may not be familiar with this one, but they’ve been doing it for a while. In fact, this convention was celebrating its fourth birthday.

Camillus is one of those gorgeous little upstate towns with an undercurrent of creativity and fan passion. And both were on display for this show.

Camillus Con President Anissa Croft (“Like Tomb Raider,” she said with a mischievous grin as she spelled her name for me) is charming and infectiously energetic. And she’s quite a cosplayer. She explained how the show has grown and figuratively pitches a tent big enough to include cosplayers, anime fans, comic nerds, artists, artisans, quidditch players and even the local library.

Modern MythosCosplay was in full force at this show. Oh, there were the standards, like Power Girl and Spider-Man, but as a less frenetic, less crowded show it allowed all the cosplayers to have a little more fun acting out as they posed for snapshots. And beyond the standards, there were so many cosplayers with both strong costuming skills and big smiles.

A few highlights from the people who made it happen:

Modern Mythos Comics & Collectibles is run by a longtime collector. He was selling comic book back issues in the dealer’s room. He explained that his collection had grown too large and the time has come to start selling it. (I certainly know how that goes.) His loss was my gain – especially in picking up three gorgeous comics with wonderful Dave Stevens covers.

Ling TangLing Tang is an artist with a delicate flair and a myriad of images to sell via her studio, Illusions of Grandeur. She was warm and friendly, and like so many convention exhibitors, just as eager to chat about the topics du jour (Pokémon Go and Dungeons & Dragons), as she was to shift into selling mode.

Syracuse NerdJames P. McCampbell lets everyone know he is a Syracuse Nerd and proud of it with his shirt. His artwork displayed his passion and his salesmanship reinforced his own boundless enthusiasm.

While some of the mid-tier comic conventions try to position themselves as the cure for everything that’s “wrong” with San Diego Comic-Con, it seems to me that if you don’t like big shows then smaller conventions with heart, like Camillus Con, are the way to go.

Until they too get huge, of course.

Ed Catto: Sam Wilson’s Timely Tales

Misty and Sam Captain America

We’ve been obsessing over the wrong Captain America stuff.

Last month, both Geek Culture and the “world at large” (they aren’t as different anymore, are they?) were outraged that Captain America, in the debut issue of his latest series, was revealed to be an evil Hydra operative. Marvel, to their credit, played it all with a straight face. Some devotees seemed eager, unlike The Who, to “get fooled again.” Fists were clenched and keyboards were angrily pounded as indignant fans expressed their extreme displeasure at the “bad guy treatment” given to a favorite fictional hero.

hail-hydra-shot-my-parents-chimic hangas-hahah?-if-you-2586866The Hail Hydra shocker inspired a kazillion hilarious parodies, too.

But in the second issue of this new series, Marvel revealed it was all an insidious brainwashing trick. “Oh, never mind,” sighed most outraged fans. However, some outraged fans broke into a victory dance, assuming that Marvel caved to their wishes and changed the story based on their expressed outrage. These fans don’t quite realize how far in advance comics, a very collaborative effort, must be planned before the publication date.

CAPA2015011-int2-4-51167There was also a hubbub about the new Captain America statue being erected in Brooklyn. Was it the “real” Captain America or just the cinematic version? Mike Gold explored this notion here when he talked about conflating the media version of a character with the original comic incarnation.

Others, like Teresa Jusino in this Mary Sue column, pointed out that in the original comics continuity, Steve Rogers, the everyman who would become the most popular Captain America, was born not in Brooklyn but in the lower East side.

Even with all that going on, the Captain America news we should be buzzing about is the story unfolding in Sam Wilson: Captain America #11. In this series, Captain America’s pal and partner, Sam Wilson, has graduated from his Falcon identity to become another Captain America. Hey it makes sense to me. Companies can have several Vice Presidents, why can’t our nation have more than one Captain America?

Rage in Captain AmericaIt’s a gorgeous looking comic with fantastic artwork by Daniel Acuna. This brilliant Spanish artist combines dynamic images with innovative composition and then he then wraps it all in a spectacular mastery of color.

I was astonished when I read this comic right after July 4th. To put it in perspective, this was the week our nation had been shocked and saddened by violence in Baton Rouge, Dallas and Minnesota.

Remember I mentioned comics must be planned and created months ahead of time in order to make the publication deadline? It seemed like Nick Spencer, the writer of Sam Wilson: Captain America #11, penned the story that very week. It had a “ripped from the headlines” feel, complete with a nuanced and balanced presentation.

Captain-America-Sam-Wilson-11-Panel-2 copyIn this story, the Americops, a sort of privately funded police force, are the villains. The creators didn’t waste the opportunity to show the difficult conflicts faced by several characters as they struggled, just like the rest of us, to make sense of the awful situation in this story unfolding in the comic as well as in the real world.

Kudos to all involved for adding texture, depth and hopefully a little more understanding to the national conversation.