Marc Tyler Nobleman's Blog, page 110

Election Day surprise

On 11/6/12, AKA Election Day in America, I made my second appearance at the annual conference of New York City school librarians. 

The day’s duties comprised a presentation on Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman (in the city where it took place), a book signing, and author speed dating. I’ve long wanted to do that. In this case, it was six or seven tables of librarians, six or seven rotating authors, sixty minutes of madcap Q&A.

The conference was held in a high school and the book sales/signings were in the gym. I was thrilled to see that a gym teacher there not only gets blood pumping but also gets minds whirring: s/he has the students write. In gym class.



If that had been part of my high school gym class, maybe I would not have been so anxious to be there.

Harvey Awards 2013: a beg for a vote

The Harvey Awards are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by comic book pros.


If this sounds like you, please consider Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman for these categories:

Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger ReadersBest Biographical, Historical, or Journalistic Presentation
And please spread the word to your own kind.

Vote by 5/6/13.
 
I would be most grateful. If you don’t believe me, check back for the gushy blog post as proof.

Last thing I remember winning was at my high school graduation party. It was a cheap, plastic hot dog cooker. It did not involve a vote.

The hot dog cooker, perched inexplicably on the hood of my old car.

Bill Finger returns to radio (again)

On 1/11/13, at 11:30 p.m., I was interviewed for the second time by a radio show out of New York called Destinies: The Voice of Science Fiction.


The topic was Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman; though Batman is not sci-fi, the show host, Dr. Howard Margolin, is good to me. This is the second time he has had me on...and my Boy Wonder illustrator, Ty Templeton, beat me to it by, oh, 21 years. Yes, he was first interviewed by Howard in 1987. 


Bill the Boy Wonder interview 1/11/13Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman interview 10/10/08Ty Templeton interview 8/21/87
Thank you again, Howard.

Highest known rank on Amazon for "Bill the Boy Wonder"

The week after my appearance on NPR (August 2012), I ritualistically checked my Amazon ranking for Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman.

The highest rank I saw:


It may never go higher. But then there’s the thing with Batman. He’s a loose cannon. Unpredictable. Could sneak up on you and you wouldn’t know it till your front two teeth were whirligigging across the sidewalk.

Delivering Chris Crutcher’s keynote

You are a middle school teacher.

You signed up for the Kennesaw (GA) State University Children’s Literature Conference.

You are excited for the three author keynotes spread over the course of a day.

You are especially excited for the first keynote—Chris Crutcher.

But only after you get there do you learn you will miss Crutcher.

Because even Chris Crutcher gets sick sometimes.

*    *    *

I was honored to be asked to deliver one of the other Kennesaw keynotes. The first day of the conference (3/20/13) was aimed at elementary educators, the second at middle and secondary educators. Three keynotes were scheduled per day; mine was on the first day.

The night before, Bryan Gillis, the infinitely thoughtful conference organizer, emailed to ask if I would also be willing to fill in for a keynoter on the second day. While en route, Chris Crutcher (whom I’ve not met) had started to feel unwell and was advised to turn back.

When you’re asked to pinch-hit for a legend in your industry, you do two things:
Say you’re not worthy.Say yes.
The first day, I was the second of the three keynotes. I focused on two fliers—Superman and Nobuo Fujita.

The second day, I was the last of the three keynotes. The topic that time was Batman.

Being the last keynote of the day is typically challenging; people are tired and eager to go.

Being the last keynote of the conference amplifies the challenge.

And being the last keynote of the conference when people were expecting an A-list author is a challenge wrapped up in a Come to Georgia moment.

But with Batman on my side, I took on that challenge with enthusiasm.

And the audience was most gracious. (It helped that Bryan gave me one of the most humbling intros I can recall receiving.)

Plus I got to see my photo inside a waterfall:


Even before my first keynote, Chris was feeling better, which I was relieved to hear. I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet him but did get to meet three other authors and spend time getting to know a fourth I already knew.


Thank you to Bryan and his wife Nancy for their tireless efforts, genuine interest, and trusting manner. Thank you to the conference attendees for not running me off the stage—and for expressing considerable support for my work, notably my Fujita project.
 
 
And with full respect, thank you to Chris Crutcher for the opportunity you didn’t plan nor want to give me. I’ll sub for you anytime…though I’d rather meet you.

Ad for new magazine called..."Nickelodeon"

In 1990, an ad that ran in comic books announced the launch of a magazine based on a TV channel...


Just over a decade later, I began to write for that magazine, and continued doing so until it was canceled almost a decade after that, in 2009.

I love discovering modern artifacts like this, especially when they relate to an institution whose creators were charmingly unaware of the cultural impact they were about to unleash.

Batman is not the lead

Jerry Robinson, one of the first (and best) ghost artists on Batman, who passed away in 2011, was a member of the National Cartoonists Society.

For a time, so was I.

And so I was given a copy of the NCS membership album (50th anniversary edition, no less). 


Robinson had a long, renowned career—so long and renowned that he did not mention Batman till halfway through his NCS bio! 


Imagine having a string of accomplishments so impressive that you don’t lead with the fact that you drew the first Joker story…

We all miss you, Jerry. You were truly the goldest of the Golden Age.

"Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" - won't you be my writer?

Thanks to Angela Santomero, with whom I have collaborated on another smaller venture, I had the opportunity to write an episode (“Fruit Picking Day”) of a recently launched TV show that spun off from a TV show I grew up on. 

The old: Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. 

The new: Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, an animated sequel of sorts, aimed at preschoolers.




I wrote the script under tight deadline in the summer of 2010; it debuted the fall of 2012. I don’t normally write for people that young, and won’t be writing more Daniel, but this was a great challenge and a true honor. As is typical in TV, my script was reworked in parts, but my core idea (“Everyone is big enough to do something”) is there, plus it’s always fun to see one’s name in the credits of anything.

I hope one day I’ll get the chance to write for youth-directed spin-offs of other favorite shows of my formative years: Saturday Night Live, Family Ties, and The Twilight Zone.

A quiet, great honor

Being asked to speak at your alma mater...


...which, in my case, is Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. Two of my favorite college professors kindly attended. If, 20 years earlier, you would have told me...

Thank you to the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Data...

Thank you to the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database, a well-respected one-stop shop of youthlit reviews and other resources, for a most kind write-up about my speaking and my books.


Thank you, in particular, for calling me a “highly qualified, talented” presenter and “a fine example of the new crop of authors that are making a difference in literature that will become the ‘classics’ of the future.”

I can’t imagine that is the case but it would be impolite to not accept the compliment!