Mark Evanier's Blog, page 20

Scenes From Comic-Con #6

I like that of the nineteen panels I appeared on at Comic-Con, only four could in any way be considered "promotional" for anything in which I have even a teensy financial interest.  Two of my panels were about a new book I have coming out this October.  It's this one — The Essential Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz: The Greatest Comic Strip of All Time — celebrating the 75th anniversary of the most widely-read (and loved) comic strip ever.  So we did a panel about it…

Photo by Bruce Guthrie

The folks on the panel and in the above photo are as follows: First is Charlie Kochman (editor-in-chief, Abrams ComicArts, publisher of the book and one of the best editors I've ever had), then we have Chip Kidd (graphic designer), Paige Braddock (creative director emeritus at Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates), and Alexis E. Fajardo (editorial director, publishing & experiences at Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates). Chip did a superb job with the design and art direction of the project. Paige and Alexis, along with others who protect the heritage of Mr. Schulz these days, could not have been more supportive.

The reason I'm seated in this photo is that this was my fifth (of six) panels that day.

Photo by Bruce Guthrie

You kind of have to be an author of books to appreciate the above pic. The book won't be out until the first week of October but it's been printed and the printer has bound the books and inserted all the special bonus features and shoved it all into the wonderful slipcases Chip Kidd designed. The first chunk of the press run is currently on a very slow boat from China, inching its way to this country and, eventually, to warehouses from which it will be distributed. But they shipped one (1) finished copy over for the convention and I got to open the package on the panel. I think I looked into the open box and exclaimed, "My God! The Epstein Files!"

It's always a very special moment for an author to hold in his or her mitts, the finished product of what, in this case, was about a solid year of effort and waiting. You know every page of the book from studying and correcting proofs for months…but you're still not prepared to have a completed, you-can't-make-any-changes copy before you. Because suddenly, miraculously, there's a book where there wasn't one before.

Years ago, I wrote a line which has since been attributed to others. It's "When you get the first finished copy off the press, no matter how much you and others proofread it and no matter what page you open it to, you'll find a typo." So far, I'm happy to say, that hasn't happened. I've found all sorts of things I now wish I'd rewritten but I haven't found a typo.

As with everything I've ever written, I will always find things I wish I'd rewritten. On my deathbed, I will be thinking of a better joke I could have put into an issue of Groo I did in 1981. That's just how it is with us writers…most of us, anyway.

Now, this last photo on this page was not taken at Comic-Con. It was taken here in my home office yesterday…

Photo by me

My friend, photographer/designer/model Gabriella Muttone, came over and on her way in, she found a box on my front steps and brought it up here to my office…my first very own copy. I'm still delighted with it and I still haven't found a typo. You'll have to wait a couple of months to obtain yours but if you want to see what Gabriella looks like without a book covering much of her face, you can check out this Instagram page. [CAUTION: Not safe for some workplaces.]

You'll see more photos from Comic-Con here tomorrow. That is, if you can tear yourself away from Gabriella's page.

Fact-Checking the Fact Check

Yesterday in a Fact Check post, I wrote, "Trump claims that the bad jobs report that just came out is phony and he fired the man who reported it. FactCheck.org says there's no evidence that the reported numbers are inaccurate." As many of you wrote to tell me — and as I have corrected — the person fired was a woman. Thank you all for helping keep things right and proper here.

Today's Video Link

Hey, how do they do the Muppets when the Muppets go outside?

More Comic-Con News

Okay, so Comic-Con 2025 in San Diego is over. 2026 will take place July 22-26 that year and the con is committed to the San Diego Convention Center for 2027 for (probably) the same week of the year.

But what about 2028? That's where it gets interesting because the 2028 Olympic Games will be taking place in Los Angeles — spreading out over much of Southern California — from July 14-30. They will include a surfing competition in San Diego.

So what does this mean for the 2028 Comic-Con? I have no idea and as far as I can tell, neither does anyone else. The prevailing guess seems to be that Comic-Con will shift to some time in August but I don't think any of those making that guess have any sense how possible that might be or what complications it could bring.

That's literally all I know about this and it may be all there is to know at the moment. But we should be hearing something about it over the next year. Hey, do you think they'll let me host panels at the Olympics? Maybe we could make Quick Draw! an Olympic competition. I'm thinking Sergio Aragonés versus Simone Biles, both sketching on the Uneven Parallel Bars…

FACT CHECK: No Wonder Kessler's Giving Up

Daniel Dale over at CNN takes a long, deep dive into the history of Donald Trump rewriting history. He includes a number of examples where Trump spokespersons were asked the source of the man's claim and they either couldn't do it, wouldn't do it or just made up something that didn't prove anything.

Benjamin Netanyahu insists there is no starvation in Gaza and in so insisting, earns one of those coveted "Pants on Fire" awards from Politifact.

Is it true that since Reagan was president, the national deficit grew under every Republican president but decreased under every Democratic president? Snopes says, "Mostly True!"

The Associated Press explains why Trump's claim to be cutting drug prices by "1,500%" is ridiculous. But if you took fifth grade Math, you already know this.

Trump claims that the bad jobs report that just came out is phony and he fired the man who reported it. FactCheck.org says there's no evidence that the reported numbers are inaccurate.

Trump keeps claiming that Bill Clinton visited Jeffrey Epstein's island "twenty-eight times." FactCheck.org also says that there's no evidence of that.

The Internet abounds in claims about Seed Oils, some folks (including U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary) claiming they're very bad for your health while others say there's no proof of that and even that the opposite may be true. The folks at FactCheck.org — my, they've been busy — side with the latter view.

Lastly for now, as we noted here, the longtime Fact Checker for The Washington Post, Glenn Kessler, is tossing in the towel and stepping down. Here's a link to a video interview that he just did about his decision and the state of fact-checking in the world today. Thanks, Bruce Reznick.

Scenes From Comic-Con #5

More photos from what was maybe by favorite Comic-Con of all I've attended in years.  There was something magical about the early ones because everything was so new and exciting…and there was also this: My first few dozen years of attending comic book conventions, not just in San Diego but anywhere, I was constantly meeting — and in some cases, getting to know well — the men (and occasional women) who wrote and/or drew the comic books I read when I was a kid.  That's not possible anymore.  The few who haven't passed away are simply not attending cons at their current ages.

But along the way, I discovered another thing to enjoy about conventions…hosting or being on panels.  I help create events that I'd enjoy attending and it's even more fun when I get the best seat.  These first two photos are from this year's Groo Panel…

Photo by Bruce Guthrie

The lady is Carrie Strachan, who took over as colorist of Groo after our friend Tom Luth passed away.  Coloring Groo is not an easy job — see any page in any issue and you'll understand why — and Carrie is succeeding beyond the wildest expectations of mine, as well as those of that guy with the mustache who draws those pages.  The gent in the above photo is Stan Sakai who has lettered Groo since Day One….and he still letters it "the old-fashioned way," meaning that he letters by hand (not computer) on the same pieces of paper that Sergio draws on.  Close to zero other comics these days are done that way.

Stan is also, of course, the creator-author-illustration and even letterer of his own creation, Usagi Yojimbo, one of the best and most dependable comics you can but after you buy every issue of Groo.  But you already knew that.

Photo by Bruce Guthrie

And we had another participant, albeit from afar, on The Groo Panel.  This is me holding my cell phone up to the microphone so the audience (we filled the room) could hear the voice of that guy with the mustache who draws Groo.  Sergio Aragonés — my best friend in the Male Division and my collaborator since the early nineteen-eighties — isn't attending conventions these days so he phoned it in and everyone was happy to hear him. And before you ask: The WiFi in the San Diego Convention Center is insufficient to do this via video but I phoned him on this panel and the next day on Quick Draw! and that audience was thrilled to hear him also.

Photo by Bruce Guthrie

Right after The Groo Panel, I spent another hour in the same room with another great letterer. Todd Klein and Stan have occasionally taken turns winning the Eisner Award for Best Letterer of the Year. And Todd is not only great at calligraphy but he has researched and written extensively about his craft…a craft which is often underappreciated. I've read plenty of comics where the best thing on the page was what someone like Todd put there and I always enjoy talking with this man about what he does so well. More photos from more panels tomorrow.

Today's Bonus Video Link

Ah, here's another chapter in this series that's examining every season of Saturday Night Live, show by show and cast replacement by cast replacement.  This is Season 23 — another year when I barely watched the program — and we aren't even halfway through the history of this series…

Today's Video Link

Here's an episode of a show I watched every Saturday morning when I was twelve — Mighty Mouse Playhouse, which probably lasted on CBS longer than its ratings warranted for a simple reason: It was produced by the Terrytoons cartoon studio and that studio was purchased by CBS in 1955.  So it cost the network just about nothing to run Terrytoons and they even made a few attempts at programming them in prime time.

This video contains the original commercials and they're probably the best part of it. There's a commercial I must have seen seventy-eight skillion and a half times for Beefaroni. There's a spot in there for Kellogg's Froot Loops which then was a relatively new product…with Mel Blanc doing the voice of Toucan Sam and Lucille Bliss as the little toucans. Later on, Sam got the voice of Ronald Colman as imitated by Paul Frees and later, by Maurice LaMarche imitating Paul Frees imitating Ronald Colman. These days, Sam just sounds British and kinda boring.

That Group Pic

Photo by Bruce Guthrie

At Comic-Con, we took a rather amazing group photo of a whole lotta cartoon voice actors plus me. In , we — and by "we," I mean "I" — asked for help in identifying everyone in the photo. A number of you sent in identifications, including one person who I think got 25 out of 35 wrong. But most of you got a lot right and the three people who were the most help were Amber Jones and Seth Rohani (both of whom were in the photo) and Chris Brown. For their help, these three people will receive, as promised, absolutely nothing.

At least, I think we have everyone correctly identified. If you believe — or better still, if you know for sure — someone has been misidentified, send that info to me at this address and I'll see about correcting the list. In the meantime…

Click here if you'd like to view or download a full-size image of the group photo.Click here if you'd like to view or download a full-size image of the group photo with everyone numbered.And if you'd like to view or download a smaller image of the group photo with everyone numbered and a list of names.

And thanks to all of you who played Name That Voice Artist…all of you except the guy who insisted #1 was Jeffrey Epstein. You'll pay for that, Eric.

Semi-Important Announcement

Lately, I've been serializing the story of a panel I moderated at Comic-Con in 2003 with Forrest Ackerman, Julius Schwartz and Ray Bradbury. Steady readers of this blog may have noticed that not only has the last chapter of this tale not appeared here but the first five which were here are no longer here. Here's why…

I said in the first part that as far as I knew, no tapes of this panel — audio or video — existed and I was reconstructing what was said from memory. Well, it turns out I was wrong: An audio tape does exist and I will soon have a copy of it. So I decided to take down the chapters I'd already posted and wait until I have the tape and then rewrite the whole thing with actual quotes. Once that's possible to do, I will post the new, improved version here. It might be a few weeks but it'll be here eventually. Thank you for your patience.