ElfQuest, Dissed by Warner Bros, Deserves Better

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 26, 2012

I’ve been a fan of ElfQuest pretty much since the day Phil Seuling visited the Starlog offices with a bunch of swag. He would come up and hang with the publishers but always drop off some product he was handling through his Seagate Distributors and one day there were some issues of this magazine-sized black & white comic about elves that I had really only heard about.

I read the books and were hooked, going on to cover the series in Comics Scene, and befriending Wendy and Richard Pini. They wrote a guest editorial for me, provided me with news as the Starblaze color collections were being produced and got along just swell. We’d see one another at conventions and eventually acquaintances became friends. Once, I ran into Richard on the ferry ride from Connecticut to Lon Island as we both headed for I-Con. I introduced him to Kate and some time later, he sent me a complete box full of ElfQuest trades, which Kate and then her friends devoured.

Years later, DC Comics acquired the rights to ElfQuest, both archival and new material. Since we’d start with reprints, it fell to the Collected Editions department to manage and since I knew the creators and property best, I suddenly became their editor. We had a jolly time together and brought our shared passion to not only turning the classic story into four handsome Archive volumes, but also creating new stories to further the saga. It was a stretch of the rules, but I was allowed to edit the new material as well and that was a rewarding experience, with people who cared deeply about storytelling and clarity in the process.

All along, they had hoped the deal with DC meant the parent Warner Bros would succeed where numerous other studios failed. ElfQuest was ripe for animation but for whatever reason, it never took off. With the success of Lord of the Rings on screen, everyone was scrambling for the next great franchise. New Line bet on The Golden Compass, Twentieth Century-Fox took a gamble with Eragon, and so on. None succeeded. And ElfQuest was left dormant and in time, disinterest among many DC execs meant the property was neglected and eventually the deal ended.

Oddly, about the time DC stopped living in the World of the Two Worlds, the parent company finally bit. They optioned the property and there was great excitement and hope.

This week, it seems, those hopes were officially snuffed out when Warner passed on the property. They were once more focused squarely on Middle Earth, feeling it had the only elves they could want which is odd coming from a company that owns more superheroes than most people can count.

Wendy, Richard, and the elves deserve far better and it’s a real shame Hollywood has yet to figure out how to successfully bring the charming Leetah, dashing Cutter, and their friends (and foes) to a wider audience.

Student Teaching Day One

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 24, 2012

After four weeks off, I returned to Darien today to begin my student teaching. On the one hand, it was incredibly familiar since I have been coming to the high school regularly and on the other, I was beginning an entirely new chapter in my teacher preparation.

I was welcomed back like a long, lost pal which felt great. I got a nice hug from the teacher who permanently replaced me replacing the now-gone English teacher from December.

I attended the back-to-back World Lit Seminar classes and was introduced although I knew many of the students fairly well alread7y. We spent the first day of the one semester class reviewing the syllabus and dealing with questions so we eased right into things together.

After a few periods off, I then attended the two English 10 classes, where I had previously subbed so was immediately made to feel welcome. There was a little confusion among them when it was explained that in a few weeks I’d be taking over the class and their regular teacher would be absent from the room but they were ultimately comfortable with it.

And after classes ended, the two teachers and I sat down to review the voluminous paperwork from University of Bridgeport and map out how the twelve weeks would work, when I would take over which class and which four week stretch all four would be mine. That allowed us to solidify that I would handle Macbeth for English 10, as planned, and now add in Imagining Argentina for World Lit, plus largely supervise their third quarter paper. We were fortunately all comfortable with one another and they have confidence in me after interning and the December trial by fire.

This is going to be fun, I think.

Catching Up

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 17, 2012

I’m overdue writing here, but it’s been busy.

I returned from a week in Florida to concentrate entirely on completing the manuscript to Star Trek: The Complete Unofficial History. In December, it became clear I was threatening to run amok with the word count and my editor kindly ratcheted me back into place. It did mean, though, that much had to be trimmed before I could complete a draft. Paul Simpson and Howard Weinstein stepped up and each took a decade and helped me whittle. I was sorry to see stories go and other material truncated but there’s a tremendous amount of history to cover.

Contractually, it was due January 9 but my editor recognized that between the holidays and word cutting, I needed time and said I had all week. As it was, Deb was out of town on business for a stretch allowing me to focus on little else but the book. This allowed me to complete a manuscript that was still over the contracted word count but now at a manageable level. Once my final sidebar was delivered, I gave the manuscript a once over and submitted it on Thursday which meant, I was more or less on time.

My attention now turns to graphics. I have a bunch of stuff in my personal collection that needs to be scanned and submitted for consideration. Other fans from around the world have begun sending in stuff, too. If you have Trek-related pictures form conventions, events, museum shows, etc., let me know. We can send you a release form and you can send in 600 dpi images for the designer to consider using.

Beyond that, I am now also turning my attention to student teaching, which begins one week from today. Yesterday, I watched Patrick Stewart’s version of Macbeth and followed along with the text. Today I will begin reviewing my teacher’s notes and materials so I can begin thinking about how I want to teach the Bard. Maybe it’s a good thing I’m starting with his shortest tragedy.

I’ve got a few small odds and ends to deal with such as cleaning up desk and office related things. There’s a wee bit of writing to do but doubt I will have all that much time to build up a head of steam on anything new.

I intend to read plenty, catching up on books and magazines while I can. After all, I’ve been warned how all-consuming the teaching can be and after my December taste of it, I see what they mean.

Chatting with Jenette Kahn for Back Issue!

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 10, 2012

I completely missed that my editor Michael Eury announced, just before Christmas the contents of the June issue of Back Issue! The cover story and bulk of the issue will be a career retrospective interview I conducted with Jenette Kahn. For those unfamiliar with Jenette, she arrived out of the blue to become DC’s publisher in 1976 and became its President as well in 1980, taking the title of Editor-in-Chief later on.

Jenette, with Paul Levitz, was responsible for DC experimenting with formatting such as 80-page dollar comics and adding eight-page backup stories in what was intended as a DC Explosion but management canceled the plan so today it’s better recalled as the DC Implosion. Still, she improved page rates and reprint rates for the talent, later ushering in the field’s first royalty plan and created an environment that encouraged talent to experiment.

Under Jenette, DC expanded in countless ways including creating its Special Projects division and upgrading the quality of the licensed merchandise the company approved. She championed the characters moving forward, heading into television and movies although that took a lot more time. It’s really her efforts in print that are best recalled since she allowed the content to mature and rewarded the efforts by creating Vertigo and later Piranha/Paradox Press. She also recognized when the time had come to spruce up the Big Three, using Crisis on Infinite Earths as the catalyst. It all culminated in 1986, the company’s biggest year when it released Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight, the revamp of Superman, and Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons’ The Watchmen.

Jenette left staff about a decade back and has gone Hollywood, a partner at Double Nickel Productions, which was responsible for Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. Through the years, Jenette has usually preferred to let everyone else talk so has been rarely interviewed. When Michael suggested it was time for a career look back, I jumped at the chance. Jenette agreed and we spent hours between June and August chatting. The resulting transcript is being fact-checked and edited right now and I should be delivering this to Michael in a few weeks.

Also in the issue will articles on those Dollar Comics, the unrealized kids’ line, the Wonder Woman Foundation, an interview with my pal and neighbor  Bob Wayne, the early days of Vertigo, and a tribute to the recently departed Eduardo Barreto. Should make for some fine reading.

The Cover Revealed

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 5, 2012

I was little surprised to see the cover to Star Trek: The Complete Unofficial History go live on the Facebook page last night, mostly because I had seen it for the first time in the morning and had asked for a tweak or two. Still, it’s a solid design and should be eye-catching enough given the inability to use licensed images. (By the way, click over to the FB page and “Like” us.)

I am now playing beat the clock as I complete my work on the manuscript, having lost a week to a Florida trip to spend the holidays with family. Thank goodness Howard Weinstein and Paul Simpson are playing beat readers for me, helping me trim excessive words and making my points sharper. This will make it a far better reading experience for you.

The Books of 2011

Posted by Bob Greenberger on January 2, 2012

I don’t know how I managed it all, but I read 75 books in 2011. That’s more than I have in quite some time. Admittedly, some of the reading was for school and some of it was also done at school when I had time on my hands early in my internship at Darien High School. Also, once I began commuting to school, I began “reading” via audio book, using CDs from the library to either read books being taught in school or the occasional personal choice. And with 75 books read, it’s interesting to note how there were long stretches where everything I read was not necessarily what I wanted to read.

Still, I managed to sample more than a few new authors, honoring my annual commitment to reach out. So, what stood out in my mind as worthy of recommendation? The full list is behind the cut but I should mention Colonel Roosevelt, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, The White Tiger, Juliet, Naked, Baseball in the Garden of Eden, The Magicians, and In the Garden of Beasts. I truly enjoyed Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy although felt the final chapters of book three fell apart and needed serious reconsideration. It did not dampen, though, my anticipation of the movie in April. I also enjoyed the final book in my friend Laura Anne Gilman’s Vineart War trilogy and wish she would write some more.

I continued to read my usual assortment of newspapers, magazines, and comic books although I always felt behind. Starting in the fall, my local weeklies and weekly magazines began showing up later and later. I called and complained to the post office and got a “we’ll look into it” but my local carrier told me that a new sorting system was screwing everything up and no one cared enough to fix it despite the complaints. So, Time, Entertainment Weekly and The Week – which normally showed up on Fridays – began arriving anywhere from Monday to Wednesday making them dated.

I’ve begun using the iPad for some reading and this week have begun downloading the magazines on their scheduled release date so I can remain contemporary. Earlier this year, I experimented with reading a text book via the Kindle app for my phone, laptop, and tablet and decided this was a useful step forward and suspect in the coming year, will switch more of my reading to an electronic device.

Here’s my reading list. What do you recommend I try in 2012? WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

Taking Stock

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 31, 2011

The end of the year is a time to take stock, look back and figure out if this was a good year or a bad year. I think, for me, it was a transitional year.

I began – and completed – a Master’s Degree program in education. I also did a full year’s internship at Darien High School al to prepare me for being certified to teach Secondary Education English. As I have written before, the coursework varied from a waste of time to quite interesting. Still, I value my time in the high school which really has prepared me. In just a few weeks the adventure continues as I begin Student Teaching.

On the freelance front, it was a steady, albeit slow, year with a few nicely paying gigs that made up for the $100 and $200 jobs that were done more for love than money. The first six months of the year I was a Patch columnist although that dried up when I became a candidate for office. I did a few pieces for Star Trek Magazine, Marvel Spotlight, and Back Issue! I continued to review tons of stuff along with some news writing and interviewing for ComicMix.

I did a pile of writing and editing for Dynamic Forces which stretched my muscles in nice ways. I also edited the Dinosaurs and Animal Planet graphic novels for Silver Dragon Books with the latter scheduled to now finally show up around February.

I wrote 24 columns for Westfield Comics, letting me interview old friends and recommend stuff that might have been missed otherwise. My comics writing, though, was minimal: one Scooby-Doo story that has yet to see print.

Odd jobs included legal research for a publisher and being paid to write a sample chapter for a project that I really wished happened because I think my partner and I did a good job. On the other hand, some other stuff I did and can’t really talk about yet kept me busy with more to come.

I also dipped a toe into the digital world by helping launching Crazy 8 Press. It’s been an uneven six months but I did manage to get an older story back into print. “A Matter of Faith” has been available since October and has sold a whopping four copies so far. May the next offering, the second Latchkeys story (due in early 2012), do better.

Beyond that, Deb and I celebrated our 31^st anniversary. We actually fit in a brief New Hampshire vacation along with spending Christmas week with Kate and our mothers. My mom turned 80 this week, surrounded by her siblings, children, and grandchildren so that was a special treat.

Looking ahead, I have to complete The Unofficial History of Star Trek in January and then hopefully other opportunities will present themselves. I suspect 2011 was a rebuilding year and all the time and investment of effort should pay off in 2012, making it a superior year.

Here’s wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Teacher’s Log: Internship’s End

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 23, 2011

My final week as an intern and fill-in teacher more or less went as scheduled and I have to say the time seemed to zip right by.

The World Lit kids had spent last week examining differing retellings of the Cinderella story so Monday we drilled down to the lessons one can learn from Hansel & Gretel. We watched the related Bugs Bunny cartoon and then got into the psychological underpinnings to a story of child abandonment, cannibalism, and the cruel duality of women. Tuesday we spent the day in the computer lab so they had time to complete their group presentations. My second World Lit class was slower on the uptake that there was a group project at all, so we spent a second day in the lab to give them a chance.

Meantime, the first class began presenting on Wednesday, finishing Thursday. They were encouraged to be as creative as possible, but clearly they went on autopilot so I got plain vanilla PowerPoint presentations. Some took it more seriously than others but my successor and I were equally disappointed in the lack of effort.

Yesterday, the second period kids did their work and it was more of the same. One had a great story to tell another had the most visually interesting presentation but it was still more PowerPoint. Now there’s a place for the program, and I admit to using it as well, but when 30% of the grade is given to the creativity of the presentation, they took the easy way out and the grades will reflect that.

My English 10 kids took a vocabulary quiz and were given a review on how to annotate a short story before we delved into Ursula K. LeGuin’s “The Ones who Walked Away from Omelas”. We worked together annotating the first page before I let them pair off and work through the remainder. Then we spent Thursday in the computer lab, as they arrived to see which of the CAPT prompts I selected for them to work from.

I stayed until 4 yesterday and was back in at 6:30 this morning to grade all three periods’ worth of papers in the hopes of getting them back today. One, to demonstrate their work had value and was worth some effort on my part. It was also another measure of the progress this quarter and I wanted them to have some constructive feedback before taking the break. As you can imagine, nearly five dozen 1-2 page essays on the same topic can grow tedious but the quality of the writing and points raised was varied enough to keep things interesting. My successor checked over my grading and agreed with it, so I proceeded apace. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

The Freelance Update

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 20, 2011

With all the focus on school and graduate school, I’ve had all too little to say about my freelance life. All year long, it has taken a back seat to my other obligations but remains a daily constant.

This week we should, at long last, send the Animal Planet project for Silver Dragon Books to the printer.  There were countless delays with approvals or communication while some of the talent I hired missed their deadlines with regularity. Overall, it looks pretty sharp and should be out in early 2012. There will be a Free Comic Book Day edition so you can sample it in May.

Due out this month is The Art of Howard Chaykin but there have been delays there, too, and only in the last few days I answered the final questions posed to me. This hopefully will also be out from Dynamic Forces in early 2012.

I worked on one project that had me write a sample chapter in about a week only to discover the publisher realized they botched the timing and couldn’t sell the project so it died. Too bad, I’m proud of the work I did. On the other hand, some writing I’ve done for a company has led to additional assignments but I can’t talk about it yet.

A different project I wrote an outline and sample chapter for was a ghost writing assignment and much to my disappointment, we couldn’t move the deadline meaning I had to bow out of the project since it overlapped with The Unofficial History of Star Trek.

That book is humming along. I have been delighting in researching but frustrated at the stop and start nature of it as school and other things get in the way. Fortunately, I seem to be building up a nice rhythm and should be pretty close with my deadline. It’s fascinating to see the conflicting accounts of how things happened along with really close versions so I am trying to sift my way through the accounts, apply some logic and my own knowledge to try and pin down what I think really happened. Similarly, I am trying to put a lot of the information into a context that I have not seen elsewhere so even those who think they know the history will learn a thing or two.

In case you missed it, my short story, “A Matter of Faith” is still available for the Kindle and the Nook.  Plus over at Crazy 8 Press, we announced the imminent arrival of the Latchkeys series where I am a contributor. More on that in the coming weeks.

Due out this week is The Art of Spider-Man Classic where I contributed the 1970s chapter and some shorter material. Gotham City 14 Miles, the anthology dedicated to the Batman television series, is now available at a lower price.

I am also working to wrap a career retrospective issue with someone rarely interviewed in the fan press and look forward to completing that and delivering it to Back Issue! in the first weeks of the New Year.

So yeah, I stay busy.

Teacher’s Log: The Second Week

Posted by Bob Greenberger on December 18, 2011

The week was a whirlwind as I struggled to stay a day or two ahead of the classes while sifting through the mountain of ungraded papers. By now the students had come to accept the new situation and there was a lot less anxiety.

On the other hand, I was making them work and they were unused to it in English classes. They also seemed to think assignments had optional due dates.

The World Lit classes began the week wrapping up Don Quixote. We started with songs and poetry written about the character, examining recurrent themes and how none focused on his madness. It gave me and opportunity to play “The Impossible Dream” from the Man of La Mancha cast album and Gordon Lightfoot’s “Don Quixote”. Tuesday they were to have come in with five questions to ask the class about the reading and I went around the room, randomly asking students to pose their questions. Sure enough, in both classes, at least one student had come without questions prepared.

The rest of the week was devoted to Fairy Tales. I prepared a PowerPoint presentation on their history and how they differed from Myth and Fable. I took them from the theories of their origins to the current resurgence of movies and TV shows using the fairy tales as source material. We then looked at the “Cinderella” story as told in seven different countries and had them work in small groups, analyzing the differences and discussing them with the class.

The English classes completed their work on The Whale Rider. We did an in-class lab studying Maori weaving patterns, what the symbols mean and had them design their own. On Wednesday, the classes participated in their first seminar-style discussion which would be their assessment for the material. Sure enough, they were a little uncomfortable not having done this before and they needed some direction but overall, all three discussions were quite different from one another and interesting. One girl warned me she hates public speaking and wouldn’t participate and I said her grade would reflect that. At the very last moment, as we wrapped up, she raised her hand, made some cogent comments and later told me she was shaking the whole time. I was proud of her. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »