Todd Klein's Blog, page 10

My Music: ADVICE TO THE LOVELORN

This is one of my self-encouragement songs, intended to push me to get back into dating, something I was never very comfortable doing. As I recall, there were some efforts in that direction, a few in New York that went nowhere, and a few at home among my circle of friends, that did better. The song: Advice To The Lovelorn.

Advice to the Lovelorn is © Todd Klein, all rights reserved.

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Incoming: WONDER WOMAN BY GREG RUCKA OMNIBUS

Images © DC Comics

Another massive hardcover has arrived that includes Wonder Woman issues I enjoyed lettering such as the graphic novel THE HIKETEIA and some or all of WONDER WOMAN #195-226. Other issues are here as well. 1040 pages, release date is May 27, 2025. Retail price is $125. Check with your comics retailer or Amazon.

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Rereading: MR. WILMER by Robert Lawson.

Mr. Wilmer is an accountant, a shy man who has lived in a boarding house and worked at the same company for many years without attracting much notice. One day on his way to work, Mr. Wilmer is passing a mounted policeman and seems to hear the horse talking in his head. Thinking he’s mistaken, Mr. Wilmer goes on, but at lunch he visits a nearby zoo, and hears a lion there, Toby, complaining about a terrible toothache. Mr. Wilmer discovers that he can speak to the lion in the same small inner voice, and he finds a keeper and urges him to have Toby’s teeth examined. Doctors have been unable to find the source of the lion’s pain, and are amazed to discover he’s right.

Thus begins a whole new life for Mr. Wilmer. He’s fired from his accounting job, but quickly hired by the zoo as their animal liaison, tasked with talking to all the animals to see how they can be made happy. He’s soon acquired a secretary, Miss Sweeney from his old office, a beautiful Irish girl with red hair who was one of Mr. Sweeney’s few friends, and she helps him tremendously by organizing his time and fending off all the offers he’s getting from agents, sponsors, advertisers, and so on. What will happen when Mr. Wilmer gets his wish to live in the country with some of his animal friends?

Wonderful story, one of Lawson’s best. This would have made an excellent screwball comedy with James Stewart. The animal talking is handled differently, and perhaps less believably, than in Hugh Lofting’s Dr. Dolittle books, but it’s all great fun and recommended.

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Incoming: SUICIDE SQUAD BY JOHN OSTRANDER OMNIBUS VOLUME 1

Images © DC Comics

This is quite a large book reprinting issues 1-18 of the series plus many other early appearances of the characters/team members. Written by John Ostrander and others, art by Luke McDonnell and others, 1064 pages. Retail price $125, on sale May 20, 2025. Check with your comics retailer or Amazon. I enjoyed lettering the original series.

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Rereading: THE GIANT by William Pène du Bois

The author narrates this story as himself, describing how his stay at a Paris hotel leads to a startling discovery. He is on the seventh floor facing an odd featureless building of equal height with one large window opposite his own balcony. One day he looks out and sees the window entirely filled with a gigantic eye. Determined to find out more, the author investigates and learns about El Muchacho (the big one). Born in Argentina at a normal size, the child is cheerful and happy, and at first his parents are delighted with his rapid growth. That changes to bewilderment and fear, as the baby is already the size of a normal man at two years old. He continues to grow, and is brought by cargo ship to Europe, where a consortium is formed to help and protect the child, who is forced to keep moving from place to place due to unfortunate accidents typical of childhood, like tripping and falling on a house and destroying it.

By the time of the story, El Muchacho is eight years old and seven stories high, and being kept hidden in the large building next to the author’s hotel. The author convinces his keepers they should meet, and when they do, also convinces them he can help train the boy to emerge safely and carefully from his prison for a walk in the neighborhood. What happens then, and how the public reacts, is the rest of this unusual tale.

Wonderful illustrations, charming characters, recommended.

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My Music: SOMEONE DIFFERENT

I wrote, or at least began this song in the spring of 1978 based on the unfinished version from my notebook above. I may have added the additional verses later that year when I recorded it. I was still climbing out of the funk I had been in during the end and aftermath of my first marriage, but now could look back at that with a bit of humor and have fun with big words. Here’s the song: Someone Different.

Me in Baltimore, April 1978

I was not only enjoying my new job at DC Comics, I was doing some traveling with friends, as seen above, and generally having more fun than I had been the previous few years. It was a good time, and good friends helped me get my equilibrium back.

Someone Different is © Todd Klein, all rights reserved.

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Rereading: DONKEY DETECTIVES by Lavinia R. Davis

Illustrated by Jean MacDonald Porter

The second of two books by Davis featuring a donkey, my guess is she or someone she knew well had one that their kids enjoyed.

Duffy Agnew lives in a hot southern part of America with his family in the small village of Buckstown. He has a habit of getting into mischief and always being late for meals. His best friend is Mr. Willie Bills, owner of the leather and tack shop in town. On his way there, he spots a large animal in the woods that he thinks is a deer, but it turns out to be a burro, escaped from a neighbor’s farm, which is going to be offered in a raffle at the upcoming Friendship Fair. Duffy helps Willie give rides on the donkey at the fair, and they get on well, so the boy is thrilled when he wins the raffle. A new friend, Jeff Percy, has just moved to the area, and the two boys have lots of fun with the donkey, who Duffy names Honey Ruffle. Before long, the boys and the donkey are uncovering clues to a stranger lurking around in the woods nearby, and moving a large stone marker. What could he be up to?

A fun story, recommended.

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Rereading: THE EGYPTIAN BOX by Jane Louise Curry

Cover art by Robert Crawford

Tee (Letitia) Woodie is not happy about her new life in the American Southwest. She and her family have moved there because an uncle has left them an antique shop, a video store, and a large stone house. Tee’s parents and brother Charles seem fine with it, and are fitting in, but Tee hates the heat, the desert atmosphere, her new school, the house, and just about everything.

Great-Uncle Sebastian, among the things in the antique shop, has left special gifts for everyone in the family, and Tee’s is an ancient Egyptian box containing a wooden figure called a shabti. In Egyptian lore, it was a servant for a royal person in the afterlife. Surprisingly, the shabti comes to life and seems to think Tee is a royal princess who it must serve. At first there are many difficulties, but Tee likes having the help with family chores, and teaches the magical creature to become more and more like her so it can even go to school for her while she stays home and reads and sleeps. But this turns out to be a bad idea when the shabti becomes so good at being Tee that it wants to take over for her completely.

Tee is not an appealing person at first, but the story is well told, and in time Tee is forced to learn hard lessons about herself, with help from her brother and the shabti. Recommended.

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Rereading: THE BOGGART by Susan Cooper

Cover art by Trina Schart Hyman

The Volnick family of Toronto Canada, father Robert, mother Maggie, son Jessup, and daughter Emily, have inherited a small castle in Scotland from Maggie’s distant relative elderly Mr. MacDevon. Tommy Cameron and his parents live in the small store across the loch from the island where the castle sits, and Tommy often helped out Mr. MacDevon, so when the Volnick family arrives to see and spend a few days in their castle, he does the same for them, and becomes friends with Jessup and Emily.

The Boggart has lived in the castle for hundreds of years, as long as it has been there. He’s a spirit who loves to make mischief, play practical jokes, and startle people. He’s invisible to humans, though animals can see him. He and old MacDevon got on well, and Tommy also knows his ways. The Volnicks decide to put the land and castle on the market, but Maggie, who owns an antique shop, ships some of the furniture home to use or sell. That’s how the Boggart ends up in Toronto, inside a roll-top desk from the castle that Emily wants for her room. Before long the Boggart is playing his tricks on the Volnick family, but they don’t understand what’s happening, and he must do larger and wilder things to try to get their attention. This leads to all kinds of trouble.

A fun story, recommended.

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Incoming: DC FINEST BATMAN and DR. FATE Trade Paperbacks

Images © DC Comics

These arrived together, first up is DC FINEST: BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE AND OTHER STORIES, 608 pages, including material from 1987 and 1988. Collects Batman stories from BATMAN 413-422, DETECTIVE COMICS 580-589, plus graphic novels BATMAN: SON OF THE DEMON by Mike W. Barr and Jerry Bingham, and BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. Creators on the other stories include Jim Aparo, Jim Starlin, Norm Breyfogle, Dick Giordano and others. Retail price is $39.99

Next is DR. FATE BY J.M. DeMATTEIS, 776 PAGES, includes DOCTOR FATE #1-4 (1987), DR. FATE #1-24 (1988-1991) and DR. FATE ANNUAL #1. Artists include Shawn McManus, Keith Giffen, Tom Sutton, Jim Fern, Val Semeiks, and Joe Staton. Retail price is $59.99.

Both have a May 20, 2025 release date.

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