FEAR OF BLOGGING JOINS A FLASH MOB…

 But more about that later.

It’s been so long (it is ALWAYS so long!) between blogs, that I have to start back in August. That month, I went to New York to meet with and interview, Fran Hopper, who drew a whole bunch of great comics for Fiction House comics back in the 1940s. Fran is 90 years old, and I had not known she was still alive, but I found her due to some Nancy Drew-level detective work on the part of Alexa Dickman (I am forever grateful, Alexa!).

Fran has trouble with her eyes, but otherwise she’s just fine, and, comparing her to the self-portrait she painted in about 1947, she still looks like the old Fran Hopper, just with some years added. And, looking at early photos of Fran, I couldn’t help but notice how much she resembled the character she drew, Mysta of the Moon, the most intelligent person in the universe. Isn’t it nice to have a superhero whose super power is smarts?

I also visited the wonderful and talented Ramona Fradon, who in the 1950s and 60s was one of only two women drawing for mainstream comics, because only she and Marie Severin could draw superheroes. I have said this before: women tend to not be interested in drawing overly muscled, thick necked guys with big chins beating each other to a pulp. So bravo for Marie and Ramona, who could do it (ever though they didn’t really like it)!

Ramona took me to Hyde Park, the home of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and here we are, sitting with them. Oh, Franklin, where are you now that your country needs you more than ever?

Books! I have more books and comics out! (Yes, the rumors are true: I never sleep) Part 2 of my Honey West story, “Murder, Forsooth,” is out and Silvestre Szilayi is almost finished with the inking of my next Honey West two-parter, “Death in the Desert,” which takes my favorite TV heroine to old Vegas.   And the 5th in my Chicagoland Detective Agency series is out: “The Big Flush” is the best yet of the series, and I’m delighted with the job that Tyler Page did with it — his best yet. Look for ghosts from the Titanic, a haunted toilet, a mysterious locket (Isn’t there always a mysterious locket?).

Recent news: starting in September, I’ve been volunteering at Obama headquarters here in the Castro district, twice a week. I made myself an Obama dress to wear when volunteering, and here it is, in this photo of me and Steve, and our cardboard pal. I found the fabric at a thrift shop! (It is not for nothing that I am called the thrift shop queen of San Francisco) It’s made in Tanzania, from 2008.

What else I did for Obama: I joined a flash mob that danced for Obama at the Ferry building here in San Francisco on October 3rd. Here’s the lnk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGZ-jw...

The reason for my magical change of clothing from a grey Obama tee and black pants to a long striped dress is that after we danced the first time, I changed clothes, only to discover that everybody had so much fun (me too!), we did it all over again.