Tagged: Green Arrow

MICHAEL DAVIS: Ask Michael! Because I know.

MICHAEL DAVIS: Ask Michael! Because I know.

Last week’s article on privilege and other ranting produced quite a few responses – so many, in fact, I feel it’s my duty to respond and elaborate on my views. So with that in mind, welcome to the first installment of Ask Michael! Because I know. 

The "What about me? What about my needs?" article garnered these important comments.

Terry at 7:58 AM on Fri May 11, 2007 writes:

“I hate that show more than slavery,” is the best sentence I will read this month.

Yes Terry, yes it is.

But let’s look deeper; let’s look to why? Do I really hate the show Sweet 16 more than slavery? Well, if given the choice to be a slave or to watch that show, it would be a tough decision but I will most likely have to go with watching that show. Yeah I think by a 51 to 49 vote I would have to go with the show. Unless we are talking about a MTV Marathon. Then it’s “take me to the cotton fields, because a marathon would be worst than Adam West thinking he can still play Bat-man.” Yes, that show is that horrible.

Mike Baron at 8:11 AM on Fri May 11, 2007 writes:

Ditto.

"Ditto?" This from one of the greatest writers in the history of comics? Ditto? Well, Let’s look deeper; let’s look to why. Maybe, Mike, you are realizing that the world is an eternal flame of duplication where nothing is left to say. With a simple Ditto. You can say to the world “There’s no originality left. Woe is me.” Or maybe you just agreed with Terry. Both would be right.

Rob at 9:22 AM on Fri May 11, 2007 writes:

Hey Michael!
I am new to this site. I thoroughly enjoyed your column and look forward to many more. I agree with you on Paris. The letter for leniency to the governor, made it seem like she thought she had been given a death sentence. Perhaps she should read up on people who spent time in prisons for things they were later exonerated for (then maybe doing time for something she did would make sense).

Yes, Rob. But Let’s look deeper; let’s look to why. You did enjoy my column and I will write many more. You know why you enjoyed my column? You know why you are looking forward to many more? Because you are a smart guy, Rob! I like you, Rob. Not in a Brokeback way but in a kind of “Hey that Rob is a smart guy who knows a good writer when he sees one” way.

Josh at 5:23 PM on Fri May 11, 2007 writes:

Agreed. 
The degrees of elitism and entitlement you see around these days is nothing short of disgusting. I’m really hoping the judge reneges on giving her a more private cell for her own security. Let her get some common sense the old-fashioned way – by having it beaten into her. And seeing some rich, white, no-sense punk get smacked feels great; DOING the smacking feels SOOOOO much better.

(more…)

DENNIS O’NEIL: The kryptonite reality

DENNIS O’NEIL: The kryptonite reality

Once again, life has imitated comics. Maybe comics should sue.

This latest instance was reported in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago and has to do with kryptonite, the stuff from Superman’s planet or origin which can lay the Man of Steel low, or even all the way down. As far as I know, kryptonite was introduced in the early 40s by the writers of the Superman radio show. Since I was only a year or two or three old at the time, I’ll forgive them for not getting in touch with me and telling me why, exactly, they introduced it. But a guess might be: to facilitate conflict, which is widely considered to be a necessary ingredient in drama, and especially melodrama.

These guys – I assume they were guys – and their comic book counterparts were facing a fairly unique problem: how to get their hero in trouble and thus create conflict/drama, and do it not only once, but several times each month, or even more often.

Oh, sure, there had been superhuman characters in world literature and myth before Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, but they were in self-contained stories, and not many of those, and the problem was pretty limited. But with Superman… well, here was a fellow who was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound – and that was when he was in his infancy. (For the record: Superman is only a year older than me. That is, he appeared only about a year before I did, though I gestated for the customary nine months and Supes took a leisurely four years to progress from the imaginations of Joe and Jerry to the public prints. He was a slow developer, but once he got started…) And he literally become more powerful with every passing year. And he had to have a lot of adventures.

So, okay, how do you get this guy in trouble, often, and thus create suspense and interest? The question has been answered in many ways, many times over the years. Kryptonite was one of the earliest of these answers. According to the mythos, it is a fragment of – I guess mineral – from Krypton, where Supes was born. Something in the gestalt of our planet makes kryptonite dangerous to natives of Krypton. (All of which you almost certainly know, but we do try to be thorough here.)

We thought it was fictional. Some of us, of the professional writing ilk, further thought that it was neither more nor less than an answer to a plot problem and at least one of that ilk thought it was overused and temporarily retired it. But now, a Chris Stanley, of London’s Museum of Natural History, analyzed a substance some of his colleagues discovered and, according to the Times, “found that the new mineral’s chemistry matched the description of kryptonite’s composition in last year’s film Superman Returns.”

It is not known whether or not anyone collapsed near the stuff.

At this point, you can either shrug and get on with your life, or pause, and engage in some pretty wild speculation about the nature of reality.

Be warned: We probably aren’t finished with this topic.

RECOMMENDED READING: The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins.

Batman, The Question, Iron Man, Green Lantern and/or Green Arrow, and The Shadow, as well as all kinds of novels, stories and articles.

Dennis O’Neil is an award-winning editor and writer of comic books like

UPDATE: Tom Artis family struggling

UPDATE: Tom Artis family struggling

Via Blog@Newsarama:

The Springfield (Ill.) State Journal-Register reports on the financial problems faced by the family of Tom “TC” Artis, the comics artist who died on May 1.

Artis, 51, suffered a massive stroke last June that left him comatose, and reliant on a ventilator and feeding tube. He was best known for his work on The Spectre, Green Arrow and Tailgunner Jo.

According to the newspaper, Artis’ family — wife Kim and children Deucalion, 13, and Hope, 5 — doesn’t have the money to pay for his funeral and burial and still be able to cover rent and other expenses. Kim was her husband’s sole caregiver over the past year, and was unable to work as Artis’ health deteriorated.

An account has been established at the local Marine Bank to accept donations for Artis’ burial and for the care of his children.

Artis’ funeral is scheduled for Friday.

DENNIS O’NEIL: On triskadekaphobia

DENNIS O’NEIL: On triskadekaphobia

Do my hands tremble as I type these words? Are there creaks and groans coming from the room behind me? Is the air chill and sticky?

What could be happening?

Ah, I think I have it! Triskadekaphobia – that must be it! And what is triskadekaphobia? My computer’s dictionary defines it tersely and simply: An irrational or obsessive fear of… (that number between 12 and 14.) (Parentheses and paraphrasing mine.)

This is the that number of these whatever-they-ares that I’ve written and that, my friends, is scary. That it is also irrational goes without saying, at least to the non-believers among you.

My irrational fear of… that number is not exactly new. If you look at any of the comics I’ve written in the last dozen (nor baker’s dozen!) years or so, you won’t find the dialogue balloons and captions on any single page totaling that number unless the editor added or subtracted or conflated something, in which case it’s on his or her head. And if I’m doing a script and reach the end of page 12, I either quit or make myself charge on until I get to page 14, even if I run out of steam half way through that page.

(more…)

MICHAEL DAVIS: The Boulevard Of Burning Bridges

MICHAEL DAVIS: The Boulevard Of Burning Bridges

I’m about to put together a major deal with a powerhouse entertainment company. I’m putting a group of people into that deal and I have a bit of a problem. I know this guy who is MAD talented. He’s a superstar professional and I have known him for years. Bringing him into this deal would help him get to the next level in his career. It would be great for me also but I’m thinking… is he too much trouble?

I have a pretty good idea what most people think of me. I have a reputation of being brilliant or lucky. People are always amazed at what I manage to get myself into. Some people love me, some people hate me. I once cared about what people think about me, now I just don’t. Why people, why any person would spend his or her time thinking about someone else’s demise is beyond me. You know what I think of those people who wish me ill?

I don’t think of them. It’s too much trouble.

For my entire career I have said that DC Comics does the best books in the industry. Mike Richardson would disagree with me and Dark Horse has done fantastic books but I just think that DC does the best books. I am and will always be a part of DC’s history. Milestone, Static Shock and being the illustrator on the first ever project from Piranha Press makes me part of their history.

I will most likely never work with DC again.

Not because I don’t want to, but because they see me as too much trouble.

I’m lucky enough – no that’s not right; I’m good enough not to have to work with DC. I have put together some major deals that have to be respected regardless if you like me or not. I think my résumé should count for something at DC. It doesn’t. Would I work with DC if a deal made sense? Yes. Would they work with me? Most likely not. Why? Long story, not important – let’s just say that we agree to disagree. Just so we are clear – I have a great deal of respect for DC Comics and their chief Paul Levitz. And here’s the thing about Paul you never hear if you disagree with him he’s man enough to listen even if he thinks you are wrong. I think Paul will go down in comics’ history as a great man.

For whatever reason, DC Comics thinks I’m too much trouble and they have every right to run their business without me and I respect that. I think it would be too much trouble to try and convince them to be in business with me. So we won’t work together. That’s cool – as I said I’m good enough with what I do to not need DC comics. I could be wrong about why we won’t work together but with all due respect to the powers that be at DC they could be wrong also. So I will most likely just have to enjoy what I consider the best books in the comics industry from the cheap seats. They on the other hand will not have the benefit of my ability to do what I do. I’m not vain enough to think they need me.

(more…)

Tom Artis, R.I.P.

Tom Artis, R.I.P.

Comics artist Tom Artis died of complications from diabetes today at his home in Springfield, Illinois.

Tom had been hospitalized off and on for the past several years. According to his friend, fellow artist Doug Rice, Tom had been in a hospice since the beginning of the year. His wife Kim and children, Duke and Hope, were there with him when he died.

Tom’s many credits included Judge Dredd, Aliens vs. Predator, Justice Society of America, She-Hulk, The Spectre, Green Arrow, and his own creation for DC Comics (with friend and writer Peter Gillis), Tailgunner Jo.

I had the honor of working with Tom for several years; he was a talented artist and a good man. He will be missed greatly.

DENNIS O’NEIL: Tribute to a true master

DENNIS O’NEIL: Tribute to a true master

Kurt Vonnegut is gone.

I’d like to say that I was a bit ahead of the crowd in discovering that, while he was a science fiction writer, he was also much more, but by the publication of Cat’s Cradle in 1963 a lot of people had found this wise, sad, funny man – particularly disaffected young people.

He was often likened to Mark Twain and the comparison’s apt. But while I unstintingly admire Mr. Twain (maybe such admiration is in every Missouri-born writer’s DNA), I think Vonnegut’s quality average may be a bit higher. True, he did not write as much as his predecessor – Twain was astonishingly prolific – but he always seemed to be at or near his best. I can’t remember reading any Vonnegut piece that I thought was second-rate.

He was pessimistic without being sour, famous without egotism, and he had compassion completely devoid of sentimentality. Like Mark Twain, he could voice unpopular opinions without offending those who disagreed with him.

(more…)

MICHAEL DAVIS: You’ve got a friend in me… a comic book story

MICHAEL DAVIS: You’ve got a friend in me… a comic book story

  • News
  • April 27, 2007

For most people, comics are a small part of their lives. By that I mean if your comic book collection and your girlfriend were hanging by a cliff and you could only save one your choice would be simple.

Your choice would be simple, right? If not then you should really seek some professional help.

As much as I love comics I have never thought that comics would affect my life in any significant personal way. By personal I mean that outside of my love for the medium and income from the business, comics would not play a major role in my life. I have always thought that comics were an important but small part of my life.

Boy, was I wrong. Sometimes it’s the small things that lead to the big things.

My birthday is Sunday and I have been thinking about my life and my friends lately. Everybody in the comic book industry who knows me knows that Denys Cowan is my best friend. I don’t have a lot of friends (insert your joke here) but those friends I do have are great people. I know I’m a bit hard to get to know-truth be told people meet me and they either love me or (insert your next joke here) hate me.

Of those friends I consider among my best friends: Mike Stradford, Lovern Kindzierski, Roger Klohr, Jason Clark, Ehrich Van Lowe, Lee Speller, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, David Quinn and Denys. Of those guys Denys has been around the longest except for Lee, and we go back to Junior High. I would take a bullet for every one of those guys. That said, Denys and I grew up and went to school together – even if we did not know it.

So how do you grow up together and not know it? Here’s how. I grew up in Queens, New York: Jamaica, Queens then Rockaway, Queens then back to Jamaica, Queens. In all the years I lived in Jamaica, Denys literately lived around the corner from me and we NEVER met.

That’s nothing special until you consider that we went to the same specialized high school, The High School Of Art & Design in Manhattan and we still never met.

Consider this: Denys and I lived around the corner from each other, we rode the same bus, from the same bus stop took the same subway train from the same subway station everyday. We then had to walk the same blocks to the same school in Manhattan. We did this for years and never met. What are the odds?

How did we meet? Why did we meet?

Comics.

We literally met at Marvel Comics years after high school because a mutual friend of ours thought that two black guys working (or in my case trying to work) in comics should know each other. We both resisted that meeting but our friend Darlene was smarter than both of us and arranged it. She asked me to have dinner with her one day and told me to meet her at Marvel where she was the receptionist. When I got there she asked me to Xerox something for her. I went to the Xerox machine and standing there was Denys Cowan.

(more…)

DENNIS O’NEIL: Who knows what evil lurks…? Part 3

DENNIS O’NEIL: Who knows what evil lurks…? Part 3

  • News
  • April 24, 2007

I had it easier than many comics writers. I began in the business as an assistant to Stan Lee in 1965, when Marvel was just completing its metamorphosis from obscure Timely Comics to publishing phenomenon, and Stan’s vision of what a comic book company could be was pretty much complete. Implicit in the writing part of the job was the requirement that I imitate Stan’s style – after all, Stan’s style was Marvel. That made the job simple: imitate Mr. Lee successfully and I was doing it right.

Of course, I bridled a bit at having to imitate anyone. After all, I was in my 20s and had been doing comics for about two days, and therefore, according to my lights, I was deeply wise and fully knowledgeable about…oh, name it, and don’t forget to include comics. As Bob Dylan sang, “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.” Now, in my sexagenarian salad days, I’m grateful for my Marvel initiation because everyone begins by imitating someone, and I didn’t have to seek a model or wait for the churning of the universe to provide one – I learned the trade by having to imitate the comic book scripter who was at that time, arguably, the best.

Here are a few words from a man who is well on his way to becoming my favorite mainstream writer: “Most artists are brought to their vocation when their own nascent gifts are awakened by the work of a master… Inspiration could be called inhaling the memory of an act never experienced.” Those observations are from a Harper’s Magazine piece by Jonathan Lethem titled “The Ecstasy of Influence,” which you can read on Harper’s website. They bring us, at last and via the long way around, to the subject of this installment of the arc (or miniseries, or series-within-a-series or whatever the hell it is) that began with what we called “Who Knows What Evil… Part 1.” Those of you who were kind enough to read the earlier installments may remember that I suggested that the creators of Batman may have been…well, call it “intensely aware” of The Shadow and other popular culture creations.

Let’s assume that they were. Did that make them wicked, weaselly thieves? No, no, and again, no. Remember: everyone begins by imitating someone. As Anthony Tollin said in a phone conversation, those early comics guys (who were barely out of adolescence and in the process of inventing a medium) had no one to emulate except authors from other forms and the newspaper strip fraternity. Since they were generally not from society’s loftier precincts, with ready access to elitist amusements, their entertainment was comic strips, movies, the pulps, and maybe radio, and it was natural – inevitable? – that they’d seek inspiration in those media. Where else?

(more…)

On-screen comics?

On-screen comics?

  • News
  • April 20, 2007

If you saw last night’s episode of Smallville – even on TiVo – you probably noticed a vaguely animated "comic book" story starring their version of the Justice League (Green Arrow, Aquaman, Cyborg, and a Flash), as opposed to, say, DC’s version or the version they’re trying to bring to the big screen in a few years. This comic book is actually a commercial for the Toyota Yaris, and it will continue through the show’s next-to-last season finale on May 17.

It’s almost good.

The interesting part of all this is that the comic book / commercial is promoting a contest whereby the winner can get one of those Yaris (wasn’t that an old video game called Yaris’ Revenge?). Until recently, advertisers thought superheroes could only sell Underoos and POGs, so this is a great leap forward in consumer recognition.

You can see / read / experience the comic book, play the game, and enter the contest by going to the appropriate spot on The CW’s website.

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