Mark Evanier's Blog, page 40

Red Scary Story

Good Night and Good Luck is, among other things, the name of a play currently packin' 'em in Broadway. In it, George Clooney plays veteran CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow back in the fifties, standing up to those who saw Commies hiding under every bed and in every closet. It's about to conclude a very successful limited run in New York and this Saturday, CNN (of all channels) will broadcast its next-to-last performance live. It starts at 7 PM Eastern Time. For more details, click here.

Go Read It!

Ken Jennings, host and one-time champ of Jeopardy! writes about the value of facts in our society and how it's becoming beastly hard to find them at times. When the man's right, he's right.

Some Explainers

So…what do we really know about Donald Trump's presence in the much-discussed Epstein Files?

And what are new and current guidelines about vaccinations for COVID-19?

And lastly, can you explain how the Air Quality Index works? Thank you.

Today's Video Link

I feel like I embedded this before here but if so, I can't find where I did. So just in case…

This Year's Bill Finger Awards

The fine folks who run Comic-Con International today announced…

Don Glut, Sheldon Mayer to Receive 2025 Bill Finger Award

Don Glut and Sheldon Mayer have been selected to receive the 2025 Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. The selection, made by a blue-ribbon committee chaired by writer-historian Mark Evanier, was once again unanimous.

"As usual, the judges considered a long list of names, but these two jumped out at us," Evanier remarked. "They're two men who made important contributions to the comic book industry and artform and who haven’t received proper recognition and maybe not proper compensation."

Don Glut and Sheldon Mayer

Don Glut in his teens distinguished himself as an amateur filmmaker before embarking on a career that would include becoming a professional filmmaker, having co-produced, directed, and written eight feature-length films. He has also written TV shows and novels and, most important to this award, comic books. Much of that work was for Gold Key Comics, where he co-created and wrote three series that formed a little "Don Glut Universe" within the company’s line: Dagar the Invincible, The Occult Files of Doctor Spektor and Tragg and the Sky Gods. They attracted a loyal following then on the newsstands and more recently in fancy reprint collections. For Warren Publishing, Don authored tales for Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella, and for Marvel, his writing could be found in, among others, Captain America, The Invaders, Kull the Destroyer, Solomon Kane, Star Wars, and What If…? Don also has more than 80 books to his credit, including The Dinosaur Dictionary and the authorized novelization of the movie The Empire Strikes Back.

Sheldon Mayer (1917–1991) was a key contributor to some of the earliest comic books, with work traced back as far as the mid-1930s. After a brief stint at the Max Fleischer animation studio, he began writing and drawing for Dell Comics, producing some of the earliest original (i.e., not reprinted from newspaper strips) material featured in comic books. These included his semi-autobiographical strip Scribbly, about a boy cartoonist. In 1936 he began working with industry pioneer M. C. Gaines at the McClure Syndicate, and two years later he was the person who convinced Gaines to reconsider an oft-rejected submission. That submission — Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster — wound up appearing in DC Comics and revolutionizing the field. When Gaines (and partner Jack Liebowitz) formed the All-American comic book company in 1939, Mayer was their first editor and presided over the creation of many popular properties, including The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern. He also found time to write and draw humorous comics, including a revival of Scribbly. When All-American was acquired by DC Comics in 1944, Mayer came along as editor, but four years later he retired from editing to create, write, and draw new features for DC, most notably The Three Mouseketeers and his masterpiece, Sugar & Spike. Mayer later wrote for DC's ghost comics, co-created and wrote The Black Orchid for Adventure Comics, and even adapted The Bible into a special edition DC comic. He passed away in 1991, but his granddaughter Chelle will be on hand to accept his Finger Award at the ceremony.

The Bill Finger Award was created in 2005 at the instigation of the great comic book artist and cartoonist Jerry Robinson. It was his way of preserving the memory of his friend and colleague, William Finger (1914–1974), who was the first and, some say, most important writer of Batman. Many have called him the "unsung hero" of the character and have hailed his work not only on that iconic figure but on dozens of others, primarily for DC Comics. Evanier explains, "When Jerry first suggested this award, it was the worst-kept secret in comics that Finger had co-created Batman and much of the mythos and supporting cast of that character. Nowhere on the comics or movies or TV shows was Bill Finger credited. That has changed, but there are still plenty of important, undercredited writers for us to put into the spotlight. Which is what this award is all about."

In addition to Evanier, the selection committee consists of Charles Kochman (executive editor at Harry N. Abrams, book publisher), comic book writer Kurt Busiek, artist/historian Jim Amash, cartoonist Scott Shaw!, and writer/editor Marv Wolfman.

The major sponsor for the 2025 award is DC Comics; supporting sponsors are Heritage Auctions and Maggie Thompson.

The Finger Award falls under the auspices of Comic-Con International and is administered by Jackie Estrada. The awards will be presented during the Eisner Awards ceremony at this summer's Comic-Con International on Friday, July 25.

From the E-Mailbag…

I couldn't resist posting and replying to this message from David Daskal regarding this earlier post here…

Hi, Mark. Remember when we spoke last year about cold calls? Yeah, we did not.

I am a devoted fan of the blog, and there is no argument that your cold call stories provide you with non-stop opportunities for engaging content, but…why do you answer these calls?

I, and most other folks with Caller I.D., never answer calls from sources we can't identify. The State Lottery is not calling to tell me they found a missing million dollar ticket with my name on it. Hollywood is not calling to tell me they want to buy the rights to my life story (granted, in your case that may be a limited possibility). Even if similar circumstances were to occur, there is such a thing as Voicemail.

Meaning no disrespect, but certainly you never open e-mails from unfamiliar sources? (Speaking here about your personal email account) How is opening Spam e-mail any different than answering "mystery" phone calls? Do you secretly enjoy these telephone encounters?

Sometimes I think I might have missed meeting my ideal wife by not answering a Spam phone call (The male fantasy of redeeming a lost soul in a Strip Club may have been replaced by rescuing a desperate young woman from a Call Center). But then, I will readily admit I am delusional.

I will admit that once in a while, I enjoy sparring with Spam-Callers…but the real reason I answer calls of unknown origin is that in the past, I tried not answering them. And in so doing, I sometimes missed important calls that were, when the phone rang, indistinguishable from the calls trying to sell me a ten-year supply of War Surplus Mayonnaise or something. And when I say "important," I'm flashing back to the years when my mother was constantly in and out of the hospital…or later years when my lady friend Carolyn was in one.

I received a lot of calls from doctors or other medical personnel and when the phone rang, I dared not not answer. They were occasionally urgent and if I did let them go to Voicemail, it was sometimes a long and difficult process to get that person back on the line. My doctor and the folks in his office currently phone me from various numbers I can't know are or aren't legit without answering them.

And then the other day, a call came in — no Caller I.D. and I didn't recognize the number — and I took a gamble. I answered and it was someone I was glad I could speak to. I'm having a dispute over a bill I received. They think I owe them one amount. I think I owe them another with one less digit. It's impossible to reach anyone over there when I call them and it had been on my mind a lot. Talking to them then and there, we cleared it all up in my favor. If I hadn't answered what could have been a Spam call, I'd still be thinking about it a lot and they'd still be tacking on interest penalties. Now it's all settled and off my List of Things I Have To Deal With.

I do not like Spam calls. I find them annoying and intrusive and often insulting. I've sometimes even said to such callers, "I'm sorry but I'm not quite stupid enough to fall for your offer." But I've sometimes inconvenienced myself more by not answering a call I wasn't sure about.

From the E-Mailbag…

My friend Tom Galloway (who knows everything about everything) sent me this note about the video link just before this post…

FYI, the intersection they start off in, and return to a time or two, is Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, considered the busiest pedestrian intersection/crossing in the world. To the point where it's actually a tourist attraction (although being in a major shopping area doesn't hurt). At peak times, there can be literally thousands of people crossing in it. I'm curious how much work/time it took for them to get filming permits for their video there. Possibly worth looking at a YouTube video or two that just shows it in normal everyday use.

I am sometimes amazed (and at times, annoyed) at how much most cities in the U.S. are willing to discomfort and inconvenience their citizens if some movie or TV company wants to stop traffic or block off streets to film a scene for just about anything. I guess it's the same in Japan.

Today's Video Link

Here's another unusual dance video. The song is by a five-member Japanese group called World Order. Have a nice day…

Boop Check

I don't know why I've become such a champion for Boop! The Musical, a show I haven't seen. I guess it's just that I've heard good things about it from friends who've seen it, I like the online clips I've seen and I'd like the show to still be up and running if/when I get back to New York later this year. (By the way, the cast recording will be released before this week is out.)

This morning when I woke up, the first thing I checked online was to see if the folks who program The Tony Awards had found a place for the show to present a number on their telecast this Sunday. No word yet even though the online petition has over 5,000 signatures. That's almost half the people who watch the Tony Awards each year.

FACT CHECK: "You Had One Job to Do…"

Our floundering president is claiming that if the monstrosity he calls his "Big, Beautiful Bill" doesn't pass, the people of this country will suffer a tax increase of 68%. FactCheck.org explains the mathematical gymnastics required to arrive at that number.

And he's trying to sell that bill with a whole lot o' lying as The New York Times points out. Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post also points out the untruths that Trump's minions are spreading about the Congressional Budget Office's scoring of the bill

Also, Steve Benen points out the efforts of G.O.P. leaders to prevent the C.B.O. from doing its job of analyzing bills like the supposed "Big, Beautiful" one. It's even working on some of their own…like Marjorie Taylor Greene who's now saying she voted for the bill without knowing everything that is in it.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kessler also notes how the White House is lying about fraud in the Social Security system. But of course.