Mark Evanier's Blog, page 46

I’m Still Away…

As most of you have correctly deduced, I’m dealing with some more medical issues. They’re minor and already solved and I should be back to full presence in a day or so. I’m feeling pretty good and one of the things that made me feel pretty good waa watching this. It’s Jon Stewart firing up America to save America…

Please forgive any typos in this post. I’m doing it on my iphone while in a hospital bed while a man is doing an Ultrasound on my abdomen to verify that my liver is as sound as the last Ultrasound on my liver said it was. If only this nation’s economy was functioning as well as my liver…

I Know I’m Away…

….but this is too important not to embed. If you haven’t already seen it, see it…

P.S. If the above video is not John Oliver explaining what an unqualified dufus Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is, refresh your browser until that video appears and then watch it. Thank you.

Once Again Now…

Sorry but a whole bunch of minute problems banded together. I should be back in a few days.

Today's Video Link

You've doubtlessly been asking yourself, "Evanier's been doing that blog of his for twenty-four years! When the hell is he going to get around to writing something about Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp?" Well, that time is now.

Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp was a Saturday morning series on ABC in 1970 that was kind of like Get Smart! if Get Smart! had featured a cast of chimpanzees. It was created by Stan Burns and Mike Marmer, a very successful comedy-writing team who'd not only worked on Get Smart! but also on The Carol Burnett Show, The Flip Wilson Show, The Steve Allen Show and many others.

Apart from its all-chimp cast, it was unique in the way it was written. They'd write a script with mostly action and the trainers would do their best to coax those actions out of the chimps. Then the writers, including Burns and Marmer, would write actual dialogue to the footage and it would be dubbed-in by a voice cast that included Joanie Gerber, Dayton Allen, Bernie Kopell, Malachi Throne and Steven Hoffman. I believe Hoffman was the lead singer in the show's band, The Evolution Revolution.

Seventeen episodes were made and its first season, the show had an hour time-slot with Lancelot Link adventures occupying much of the hour and the remaining time filled by classic Warner Brothers cartoons. The second season, it was in a half-hour time slot with the cartoons eliminated and the same Lancelot Link material edited down to fit. I believe it is just the half-hour episodes that have since been syndicated.

I don't remember ever making it all the way through a single episode but it achieved some popularity and a lot of merchandising in 1970. Gold Key put out eight issues of a comic book largely written by Paul S. Newman and largely drawn by Mike Sekowsky. Here is a little documentary about the series that interviews Mssrs. Burns and Marmer. Thanks to "John G." for calling it to my attention.

Today's Video Link

Mark is spending most of today resting after yesterday's surgery. It went so well they let me go home the same day but more sleep is feeling like a great idea so that's what I'll be doing.

Shelly Goldstein was nice enough to send me this link to four numbers from the current Broadway revival of Gypsy starring Audra McDonald. It's for NPR's "Tiny Desk" program and I saw no reason not to share it with all of you. Enjoy. I'll be back at full strength in a day or so…

FACT CHECK: Ukraine, Gas, Eggs, Enlistments…

Donald Trump said he'd solve the Ukraine/Russia nastiness within twenty-four hours of taking office. He might not even wait that long. But now, a hundred-plus days into his second presidency, people still seem to be killing each other over there so he's trying to back-pedal from his claims or promises or whatever you want to call them. But Daniel Dale of CNN has found fifty-three times Trump said he could settle it in one day.

Fact-Check.org chimes in with fact-checking of Trump's claims about the price of gas and eggs. Politifact tackles his claims about getting gas prices down to $1.98 in some states.

Meanwhile, Trump is claiming credit for a rise in military sign-ups but as the Associated Press notes, that rise started under Biden.

Jack Katz, R.I.P.

Photo by me

Professor (and author) Arnold Kunka is reporting the passing of his friend — and I guess, mine — comic book creator Jack Katz. Jack Katz was born born September 27, 1927 so he made it to the age of 97. Like just about everyone who got into comics when he did, he was enraptured by "the funnies" in the newspapers when he was kid, loving especially the work on Hal Foster and Alex Raymond. Jack attended the School of Industrial Art in New York City and began drawing comic books while still there.

Throughout his career, he bounced around so many companies and worked under so many different names that it's difficult to list all the work he did but his first job would seem to have been assisting C.C. Beck and Pete Costanza on the comic Bulletman maybe the original Captain Marvel, which they were then producing.  This would have been around 1943.  He worked for many of the "shops" that cranked out pages for various publishers of the day including The Jerry Iger Shop, The Harry Chesler Shop and the shop of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.  Katz considered Kirby a person mentor and always said, "Jack Kirby taught me how to ink and to spot black areas in my work."

He worked for everyone over the years and under many names including Jay Hawk, Vaughn Beering, Alec Justice, and David Hadley. Never very happy with the scripts or assignments he was given, he took advantage of the growing market for underground comics in the seventies and embarked on an amazing endeavor: He wrote and drew one of the first graphic novels to attract serious attention. Starting in 1974, he created The First Kingdom, an incredible fantasy story that he announced would span 24 issues.

Many doubted he would complete it, especially since the detailed art style he applied to it often required several days to complete one page. But finish it, he did: 768 pages done over twelve years. Each of its twenty-four issues was dedicated to his then-wife Carolyn who was as committed to seeing her husband fulfill his mission as he was to fulfill it himself. He later attacked shorter (but always epic in some sense) projects with the same intensity of effort.

Jack and I were friends for a time. He and Carolyn even once stayed a few days at my old apartment in Los Angeles where Jack spent almost every minute drawing about half of a page of The First Kingdom on my drawing table. The intensity with which he pursued it and everything else he did was amazing and, at times, a little scary. At some point, we drifted apart and I don't think we spoke in the last twenty-some-odd years. I don't know why.

The photo at the top of this piece was taken by me at a San Diego Con around — this is a guess — 1977. The one below is probably from the same convention. It's Jack at right with another of his many heroes, Joe Kubert. Jack Katz was a rare talent and of all the people I've met in the comic industry, I can't think of one who was more passionate and dedicated to his work or willing to spend every waking hour for days getting things the way he wanted them to be on the page. Just an amazing guy.

Photo also by me

Sergio!!! Live!!!

One of the world's greatest cartoonists — and of course, I'm only saying that because he's my best friend in the male division — Sergio Aragonés will be appearing online in a live virtual event on Monday, April 28. It's for a good cause: The National Cartoonists Society, which among its other purposes in life, raises money to benefit cartoonists who could use a little help. You do not have to be an N.C.S. member to join in this online event. You just have to pay twelve bucks. More details can be found at this address.

Today's Video Link

Tim Conway liked to tell this story about his frequent co-star, Don Knotts…

The Afternoon Report on me

I am still fine but now I have no gall bladder.