Tagged: Martha Thomases

Like so many other people who write about and work in comics, I’m in a tizzy getting ready to go to San Diego for Comic-Con International. Not only do I have to worry about all the normal travel stuff – Can I fit a week’s worth of clothes in a carry-on bag? How much knitting do I need for such a long flight? – but this year, I also have extra San Diego stuff to consider.

For starters, there are all the people I have a crush on, people I see only once a year, and try to flirt with in that awkward, married way that I hope is charming, but fear might be excruciating. Last year, there were painful moments when the people I only used to see once a year tried to remember who I was after not seeing me since 1999. Instead of flirting, they wondered why this gray-haired woman presumed to ask them about their exercise programs.

(If you’re keeping score, Neil Gaiman remains the champion of charming, deniable flirting. We can sit together with our spouses and children and he is so adorable that I believe that if we were only 30 years younger, childless and single, we could still make each other laugh.)

The Con has changed, and so have I. When you work for one of the Big Two publishers at a comic book convention, you feel important. You may be a cog in the corporate machine, but you have a hotel room at the main hotel, you have an expense account, and you have a recognizable identity.

However, San Diego is no longer a comic book convention but a multi-media orgy, and instead of comic book stars, there are movie and television stars. Ed Brubaker will be there, and that’s very cool, but Paris Hilton is going to be at a Lionsgate panel on Thursday.

And I no longer work for a Big Two publisher, but a plucky little upstart, so while people may recognize me (“Aren’t you that crazy lady who was hassling me last year), I’m sharing my hotel room.

Unlike last year, ComicMix has a booth this year, so you can stop by (Booth #2308, with Insight Studios and the fabulous Mark Wheatley of EZ Street and Hammer of the Gods 2), say hello, and meet some of the fine people who make ComicMix the place to be. And this is amazing and wonderful, but, like so many other amazing, wonderful things, this means more work for me. Mark Ryan and Mike Grell will be on hand to promote their new graphic novel, The Pilgrim. The previously mentioned Mark Wheatley will be there. Mike Gold, not only editor-in-chief of ComicMix but also a founder of First Comics and former big muckety-muck at one of the Big Two, is available. Jerry Carr and Allan Gross from Insight (and creators of Cryptozoo Crew) are fun guys. Michael Davis and Rick Marshall are funny guys who can draw a crowd.

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Last weekend, I found myself in southern Florida, visiting my father. It’s something I’ve done a whole bunch of times since he moved down there twenty years ago, but it’s the first time I’ve been there in a July.

This doesn’t bother my Dad, whose home is nicely air-conditioned, and whose car is nicely air-conditioned, and who is fortunate enough to only need to go to offices, stores, and other places that are nicely air-conditioned. And for me, it doesn’t feel that much different from being there in December, February or March.

Except for the lizards. They’re huge in July. By “huge,” I mean they are five to six inches long, instead of the two to three inches long they are when I usually see them. I don’t mean five or six inches is huge by any other frame of reference.

For some reason, on this trip, I was mesmerized by the way they acted.

If you live in a warm climate, you may be less than charmed by the kind of lizard I’m talking about. They are little, brown (light and dark, or a combination thereof) and they are everywhere. If I lived in Florida, I might regard them with the same disdain I heap upon roaches and pigeons.

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About a year ago, I wrote about The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Wisdom and Wit in the Wild West. A series of short stories inspired by Jewish folklore and set in the Old West, the book was charming, light and funny – a great way to introduce young children (and their grandparents) to graphic storytelling.

Now, artist/writer Steve Sheinkin has created a sequel, Rabbi Harvey Rides Again: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Folktales Let Loose in the Wild West. It’s an unusual book. There are plenty of disagreements, but no fighting. The most action takes place on a baseball field. The women can be differentiated from the men, not by their massive cleavage, but by their lack of beards … and occasional dresses.

So why do you want to read it? Or, more precisely, why do you want to read it if you are neither a young child nor a grandparent? What if you aren’t Jewish?

Don’t worry. Rabbi Harvey, although a rabbi, does not proselytize, nor does he spend much time in his synagogue. He’s the kind of rabbi Andy Griffin would play, if he played a rabbi instead of a sheriff in Mayberry. This isn’t surprising when one considers who created the show and its characters.

The art style is not in the least bit sophisticated. There isn’t a lot of detail in the drawing, nor perspective. Heads seem to be a bit large, and shoulders are small. Most people are about the same height. The effect is actually quite charming, working well with the gentle intelligence of the stories.

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