Year: 2014

Informing the Misinformed

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published March 8, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1477

When you’ve had a career going long enough, certain misperceptions are going to start creeping in among the audience. They’re easy enough to spot: They’re the ones I see over and over on computer boards and such. No, I’m not referring to the same old saws, tossed around by people who seem to believe they have cameras set up inside my head, the ones who say with authority that I’m anti-this or anti-that. I’m referring to either misinformation or opinions which are groundless, but stated enough times that people seem to believe there’s some foundation in truth.

So I figured I’d address some of the most prevalent ones.

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Been two years

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Two years ago, I was lying in bed in a Florida hospital, sleeping for the most part, while the doctor was telling Kathleen that she might have to make some tough decisions if my stroke took a downward turn. At this point in time, Caroline was still being protected from the news about her father, but she was pretty much the only one who didn’t know. The internet was alive with word about my condition. Kath’s phone was ringing off the non-existent hook. Fans were buying my books like mad for financial support and the Heroes Initiative was amassing money to be sent to us.

And I was unaware of pretty much everything. I was barely conscious and of my ten day stay in the hospital, I remember perhaps sixty minutes of it. The rest is a complete blank.

Please remain vigilant for signs of a stroke. If your vision is blurring, if you suddenly start losing feeling on one side of your body, if you can’t stick your tongue out straight, get to a hospital immediately. Minutes count.

And if you’re one of the people who pitched in to help me two years ago, thank you.

PAD

Newspaper comic strips reviews

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published March 1, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1476

A couple weeks ago, I was told one of the topics being discussed in CBG would be newspaper strips. At the time I was writing about other things and so didn’t have the time or space to get into that. But I’ve got some free time now, and so thought I’d give a quick perusal of the funny papers and talk about the stuff that’s making an impression on me these days, both good and bad.

Understand going in: I think the hardest comics-related job there is is producing a daily strip. Particularly a gag strip. I can’t even conceive of doing such a thing myself, and even those strips that I’m lukewarm on, I’m still impressed that the writers and artists are able to hit their deadlines week in, week out. I could never, ever do it. With that said…

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Writers’ Rights

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published February 22, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1475

I’ve found myself sucked into discussions over in my Usenet newsgroup (the only one in which I still participate) involving the notion that writers should just stop being so darned upset about their work showing up on the Internet.

The arrogance one encounters from people who hold such a position can truly be astounding. The sentiments, boiled down, seem to be, “Information and literature should be available to all, and writers shouldn’t be carping about losing ‘a few pennies’ in royalties.” This displays an amazing amount of contempt for writers… or maybe not so amazing.

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Remembering John Buscema

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published February 15, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1474

I’d never been to a viewing.

You know: A viewing. Where the body of the recently deceased lies in a coffin while people gather, one at a time, and stare. It always seemed grotesque to me, an exercise in morbidity. Why gather in large numbers to stare at a shell? The body… the body isn’t the person. Whatever it was that made up the person, whether you believe that its purely biological neurons, personality traits hardwired into DNA, or a soul… whatever it is, it’s gone. To me it would be like appreciating a fine wine by gazing at an empty bottle. The whole notion just kind of creeped me out. It probably doesn’t help that I’m a regular viewer of HBO’s Six Feet Under where they show corpses being prepared for viewings while the ghost of the deceased chats with the morticians.

And there’s always people looking around saying, “(The deceased) would have liked that,” be it the flower arrangements or the suit chosen to be dressed in or the number of mourners showing up. Except I always think that what the deceased would really have liked is to not die, and everything else is just beside the point.

I’m sorry. I know it sounds like I’m making light of a topic that’s all too serious. I do that; I make jokes when I’m uncomfortable talking about something.

Like the death of John Buscema.

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How Would You Like to ask Stan Lee a Question?

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

I’m working with Stan Lee on a biographical project and I think what it needs is a Q&A.

So here’s what I’m looking for: What question would you like to ask Stan Lee about his life? I’m not looking for anything with inherent negatives (no “Did you hate so-and-so?” style questions.) If your question is interesting enough, I’ll ask Stan, and include it in the book with his answer and attribute it to you.

So what do you want to know?

PAD

Young Frankenstein

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

So forty years ago today, “Young Frankenstein” opened. And I find myself wondering how the Internet would react to it if it opened today.

And I came to the realization that the film would be crucified.

Why?

Because in the age of Bill Cosby rape allegations, and heated debates about “The Newsroom,” there would simply be no allowance for rape being treated as a joke.

Which “Young Frankenstein” does.

Madeline Kahn’s “Elizabeth” is carried off into the woods where the Monster is about to rape her. There is no question she doesn’t want to have sex, but the Monster doesn’t care. And she protests and protests…and then sees the size of his member. Suddenly it’s okay. Because even though she continues to protest as he penetrates, she doesn’t really mean it. Because when a woman is saying no, what she is really saying is that it’s fine if the guy is big enough.

What the hëll kind of message is that? The Internet would erupt with relentless fury, Brooks would be stunned by the reaction, and they’d probably have to edit it out for the home release.

Instead it’s a comedy classic.

Hah hah.

PAD